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Friday, June 17, 2011

ITA Summer Circuit; Geatz Named Head Coach at Penn; Stineman, Zabor Featured in SI's Faces in the Crowd; Novikov in Halle Final

The ITA Summer Circuit begins next month at sites across the country, so junior and college players looking for more competitive opportunities this summer should find a local tournament that fits their schedule and sign up. I attended the final day of last year's tournament here in Kalamazoo (unfortunately this year it conflicts with the Clay Courts) and I was impressed by the relaxed atmosphere that still provided a competitive structure and plenty of match play. The article I wrote last year about the Summer Circuit can be found here. This year's schedule, which includes tournaments at 31 sites plus the National finals August 13-17 in Bloomington, Indiana, can be found at the ITA website.

The University of Pennsylvania announced yesterday that long-time University of Minnesota coach Dave Geatz had been hired to lead the men's tennis program. Geatz, who coached the Golden Gophers from 1988-2006, coached at the University of New Mexico prior to that. Recently, he spent a year as the assistant at Ohio State, and as men's and women's coach at Cornell. Geatz replaces Nik DeVore, who resigned in April.

Last week's Faces in the Crowd at Sports Illustrated featured NCAA champion Steve Johnson, this week two high school tennis players get their due. Alabama recruit Emily Zabor, who helped Walton High in Georgia win its eighth consecutive state title, and Stanford recruit Robert Stineman, who led Illinois' New Trier High to its second straight title, while winning his second consecutive state singles title, are featured here.

It's been very damp in England, setting back the completion of Wimbledon qualifying yet another day, but the juniors appear to be on schedule at the Grade 2 Gerry Weber in Germany, with the finals set for Saturday. Dennis Novikov of the US has reached the final, where he will play French Open boys finalist Dominic Thiem of Austria, seeded No. 2. The unseeded Novikov beat the No. 5 and No. 3 seeds in straight sets on the grass, but was fortunate to have his semifinal opponent, Dennis Novak of Austria, retire when leading 7-5.

Qualifying is nearly finished for Roehampton, the Grade 1 that precedes Wimbledon, with Emmett Egger and Catherine Harrison the only US players attempting to make the main draw. Egger lost his second round match, but Harrison has qualified. I don't know if they escaped the rain or played indoors, but results of the qualifying can be found at the LTA website (on the righthand side).

In the $10,000 Women's Pro Circuit event in Delaware, unseeded 16-year-old Denise Starr has reached the semifinals. On Saturday she will play No. 2 seed Lena Litvak for a place in the final.

For complete results, see the Pro Circuit page at usta.com.

9 comments:

Fugu said...

You should have mentioned that there are already a number of American junior players in the main draw of Roehampton. Your article makes it appear that no American player is in the tournament.

TennisMom said...

Novikov's score in Halle was posted incorrectly. Novikov was up 5-2 when Novak retired. ITF will correct the score.

Colette Lewis said...

@Fugu
Sorry for the misunderstanding. Since the main draws weren't yet posted, I was confining my comments to the qualifying.

Colette Lewis said...

@TennisMom:
Thank you for that correction. Not too often a player retires when leading, but sometimes it does happen. The perils of not being there....

TennisMom said...

Dennis Novikov just lost in Halle's finals. It was 2.5 hour rain delay. Started really well. Was up 2-0 in the first... got upset about ref's call ...lost his focus... lost 5-7. Lost 1-6 second. This is his third time playing Thiem but first time in finals.
Overall Dennis is happy with his results and is very much determined to continue playing well on grass in Roehampton and Wimbledon.
Colette, thank you for your support of American juniors! They appreciate it a lot!

get real said...

Anyone know what harrison did to get fined for his conduct at the Wimbledon qualies. Thought he had outgrown that part of his game...

AR Hacked Off said...

Wow Harrison is really making a run on fines, he got fined pretty good at French Open Qualies as well.
Hopefully he will grow-up a little, but look at Roddick 10 years his elder

bullfrog said...

Apparently Harrison started "losing it" when it was 6-5 40-15 in the 5th and it started to rain. Furious and frustrated at the rain i guess. Supposedly he was slamming rackets and cussing.

get real said...

Seen Harrison play a few times and he seems to be one of those rare players that can still play very well when angry. Because in sports bad behavior is overlooked if the results are there, gives these top players little incentive to act like adults on the court. Harrison is not alone at all in that.