USTA National Champions; USTA Announces USO Wild Card Tournament Participants
While I was providing coverage of the Boys 18 and 16 National Championships here in Kalamazoo last week, gold balls were awarded at five other sites across the country. Tennis Recruiting Network will have a story on each of those championships beginning on Tuesday, so check back there daily for more in-depth coverage. Below are the results of the finals. For more, including all the doubles results, see this release from the USTA.
G12s: Kaitlyn McCarthy(5) def. Sofia Kenin(1) 6-4, 6-0
B12s: Robert Levine(3) def. Nathan Ponwith(4) 6-3, 6-2
G14s: Jessie Lynn Paul(5) def. Lauren Goodman(9) 6-2, 6-3
B14s: Benjamin Tso(1) def. Henrik Wiersholm(7) 7-6(6), 7-5
G16s: Kyle McPhillips*(1) def. Spencer Liang(7) 6-0, 6-3
B16s: Michael Redlicki*(4) def. Shane Vinsant(1) 7-5, 6-4
G18s: Shelby Rogers*(3) def. Nicole Gibbs*(4) 6-3, 5-7, 7-6(4)
B18s: Jack Sock*(3) def. Bob van Overbeek*(9) 6-2, 7-5, 6-4
G18s doubles: Lauren Herring and Grace Min*(5) def. Kaitlyn Christian and Whitney Kay(9) 3-6, 7-5, 6-3
B18s doubles: Sekou Bangoura and Nathan Pasha* def. Matthew Kandath and Jack Sock 7-5, 6-3.
*Have earned wild cards to US Open. Click here to see the various wild cards for USTA National Level I tournaments in 2010.
For more on the Girls 16s and 18s in San Diego, see Rhiannon Potkey's story on usta.com. For more on champion Shelby Rogers, see this article in the Charleston The Post and Courier.
The Lincoln, Neb. Journal Star ran this piece on Jack Sock, and Pam Shebest completed her usual excellent coverage of the Nationals for the Kalamazoo Gazette with these two articles.
The USTA has announced the names of the players participating in the US Open wild card tournament beginning Wednesday at the USTA Player Development Center in Boca Raton, Fla. If you are in the area stop by; it is free and open to the public, with play beginning at 10 a.m.
MEN:
Chase Buchanan
Andrea Collarini
Alexander Domijan
Ryan Harrison
Jarmere Jenkins
Steve Johnson
Austin Krajicek
Tim Smyczek
WOMEN:
Julia Boserup
Madison Brengle
Beatrice Capra
Irina Falconi
Krista Hardebeck
Nicole Gibbs
Madison Keys (I mistakenly didn't include her earlier)
Alison Riske
24 comments:
Irina Falconi's a personable, very mature young woman who started on the poorly maintained public courts of upper Manhattan's Inwood Park tennis courts. I remember her and her father practicing just a few yards away and Irina in her element, smacking those tennis balls around with a look that was at once determined and joyful. She would play anyone for practice and was always polite and good natured. I'm sure all the young women in the USO playoffs are deserving as well, but if someone is going to attend the matches this week who does't already have a rooting interest, I'd urge you to support Irina.
Klahn's exclusion must mean that he's already been promised a wild card. I can't imagine him being excluded otherwise.
Seems like the guys' WCs are accounted for: Blake, Sock, Klahn, Ginepri and Young (as the highest ranked American not already in). Plus the Aussie, French guys & US playoff winner.
@David:
Agreed. I am sure he has a main draw wild card
@just guessing
that playoff winner you are referring to gets a qualifying wild card, not a main draw
What about Gullickson? She has played only one tournament this summer and hasn't been mentioned in any of these playoffs. You'd think she already has a MDWC or else the USTA would let her play in this random, new playoff.
What about Jamie Hampton, McHale, Stephens, and Vandeweghe?
just guessing:
I believe Ginepri received direct entry.
By the way, it's interesting that Sweeting isn't included in the playoff.
@clueless
I think Gullickson will get one, meaning that one of the four women you mention will not.
@David
You are correct that Ginepri is already in MD on his own ranking.
Young, Sweeting and Levine are not, so I'm not sure why they are not in the playoff
to usopened
I agree and will support - she is a great player and person.
Well, it looks like Domijian and Harrison should have played the Zoo. You can't assume you'll get wildcarded. It's tougher to win the playoffs than it is the win the Zoo.
If Domijan and Harrison chose this path as their best path to New York instead of the Zoo, they are out of their minds.
Whats with all the college guys in the playoff? Didn't they already have their playoff at the Ncaa's. Now they get another chance. Why aren't the other American pros in it since it is for pros. Kind of ironic they didn't give Harrison one after the wildcards hes had this year. You would think with his ranking and age your countries biggest tournament would be where they would support him most. No pressure what so ever on the college guys here. Kind of strange that they were even invited. U.S.T.A. must be going in another direction of some sort again.
Well, with 2 previous Zoo winners in the field, Harrison & Domijan will each have the chance to silence some folks on this board. They clearly did not want to take the easier route to reaching the Open main draw.
The choices for the WC Open playoff make sense...there is nobody with standout results who was not included (correct my anybody if I am wrong here) but it does indeed underscore the true lack of depth in USTA men's tennis vs. Spain, France etc...... Cox and Britton were left out but based on thier complete lack of results in the challenger level for the amount of tennis they must play as pros that is not surprising
Harrison hasn't done much with all the wild cards he's had this year, given the amount of opportunity he's had - still struggling at Challenger level. I presume the USTA is trying to avoid making the mistakes with him people perceive them to have made with Young.
"They clearly did not want to take the easier route to reaching the Open main draw."
I think it's more a case that they had expected a wildcard. From their point of view, maybe they though that if they enter the Zoo and didn't win, they wouldn't deserve a wild card. By avoiding an "expected to win" pressure, they hoped to bypass the test. Now I like this decision by the USTA, it may establlish a precedent that if you are young enough to play the Zoo, then that is your path to the wildcard which would strengten the Zoo's field in the future.
Seems like the draw should be
#1Smyzcek (196) vs #8 Buchanan (952)
#4 Domijan (580) vs #5 Jenkins (736)
#3 Collarini (561) vs #6 Krajicek (757)
#2 Harrison (222) vs #7 Johnson (810)
Hi everyone.
Where is the draw listed for the U.S. Open wild card playoff?
How many male players does the US have in the top 12? I wonder..... Why are all these wild cards given to players who are still choosing an alternative career in their lives, ie a college degree and job, these wc selections are turning these tournaments into mini NCAA championships. I do not decry the college route for players, but give the young pros who have made the choice of making tennis their life, a chance. This is turning tennis in this country into a farce, with the result that poor Andy has had to shoulder US expectancy on his own for the last 8 years. Encourage the young pros and stick with them, as they do in other countries, who just happen to have more players in the top echelon ie Spain, Russia, France.
to USA tennis
Respectfully disagree. I think it is a real positive that the USTA is finally encouraging collage tennis. If you look at the odds of making a living on the men’s side it’s a crap shoot unless you pop through quickly like Roddick. For those young players who opted to go pro without those type of real results and are duking it out in the futures it’s an even bigger roll of the dice. With the depth in the men’s game there is no rush and finally the USTA is taking a logical move. Support these kids while they develop their games and maybe one will pop through and if they don’t well, they have other options.
"Getreal" I could not have said it any better. After it seems years of bashing the USTA, I 100% commend them for what they are doing.
They not only have other options, they also can write a readable paragraph.
to other options
"also can write a readable paragraph"...That is a legit concern. A huge negative/downside of the direction junior tennis has been going is this ridiculous, absorb etc. non-stop traveling to tournaments around the world starting at age 15. It is irresponsible of the ITF to promote this, but then again they don’t care if 98% of these kids end up essentially illiterate. If you look at the travel skeds of a few of the top ranked current US juniors its hard to believe much education at all going on, and what makes it even more ridiculous is none of these kids are exactly getting to the final rounds of these tournaments. But the bottom line is when you look at the most promising US juniors, Domijan, Sock or Harrison , none spent their teen years chasing points around the globe and two of three will be going to college to develop their games, which will be more the trend these days because of the depth of the men’s game.
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