Due to the declining health of my father, I was unable to cover the 18s semifinals today in Kalamazoo, and the 16s and 18s doubles finals.
But I do have photographs from today's matches, and below are links to the stories from Pam Shebest, writing for the Kalamazoo Gazette. Pam has been covering the tournament for decades and always does an outstanding job.
Her article on the singles upsets is here.
The doubles article, particularly big news in Kalamazoo this year, is here.
I hope to go to the finals on Sunday, but am not sure I will be able to.
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| 16s Finalist Jake DeVine |
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| 16s Finalist Tommy Paul |
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| 18s Finalist Jared Donaldson |
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18s finalist Collin Altamirano
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| Taylor Fritz and Anudeep Kodali, 16s Doubles Champions | | | | | | |
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| Ronnie Schneider and Paul Oosterbaan, 18s doubles champions |
12 comments:
There is no question where you should be. Best and warm wishes to you and your family during this difficult time.
"OOPS,there goes another one.."
Backdraw Flu strikes again..Luca Corintela wd(inj) ...Kozlov advances to Finals of Consolation
I'll repeat what I said when the seeds first came out and a few people lamented the quality of this group: don't underestimate these guys. In fact this group might even be deeper than I thought. Kozlov, Escobedo, Rubin, they still remain high on my list and Donaldson and Altamirano whose names and games I noticed in the Futures and Challengers certainly moved up in my estimation. And how about Mackenzie McDonald beating Mahut? Like the NFL draft, let's wait a few years to assess this group.
And we wish you the best Coolette.
So let's see, McDonald just beat Johnson 6-4 in the third (after losing the first and being down a double break 0-3 in the first) to EARN a spot in the Masters. Hmmm, I would say that's a major positive for this Kalamazoo group, wouldn't you say?
1 Stefan Kozlov
2 Noah Rubin
3 MacKenzie McDonald
4 Ronnie Schneider
5 Ernesto Escobedo
6 Gage Brymer
7 Martin Redlicki
8 Connor Farren
9 Jared Donaldson
10 Luca Corinteli
11 Henrik Wiersholm
12 Deighton Baughman
13 Michael Mmoh
14 Daniel Kerznerman
15 George Goldhoff
16 Quentin Monaghan
17 Mitch Stewart
18 Henry Craig
19 Elliot Orkin
20 Alexandru Gozun
21 Robbie Bellamy
22 Willam Griffith
23 Joseph DiGuillio
24 David Hsu
25 Logan Staggs
26 Thomas Fawcett
27 Collin Altamirano
28 Thomas Pura
29 Thomas Mayronne
30 Maxx Lipman
31 John Mee
32 Shane Monroe
These should've been the seeds. I made these before the tournament started. Any thoughts?
"Achoo...Gesundheit..."
Backdraw Flu hits Girls 18's National Hard Courts...Taylor Townsend pulls out WO(inj) ..Brooke Austin wins 3rd and Bronze Ball
Russ,
Did you actually look at Altamirano's Futures record? He's 0 fer in the 12 main draws he made it into. That to me doesn't bode well. Yet more proof how weak this group of boys are. Maybe the weakest in the 71 years of Zoo tennis.
And I have no respect for all the players calling in sick for their back draw matches. When the going gets tough, quitters always will find excuses NOT to play!
Major props to Eeyore on calling that an unseeded player this year would win. I was the first to doubt you and I want to be the first to praise that prediction.
I agree with russ on this group though. I don't think they were weaker this year because of lack of talent. The top talent was just much younger this years than years passed.
Rubin, Donaldson, Escobedo, Baughman; these guys were all born in '96 and still have another year of eligibility.
Wiersholm born 97 and has 2 years left.
Kozlov, Mmoh have 3...
6 of the top 14 seeds have at least another year left, that's almost half! And I just checked the draws of the last 5 years, the overwhelming majority of kids that went deep were in their last year of eligibility. Some were turning 19 soon a la Novikov. Youth is what killed the seeds this year. I think if we give them a few years, we'll be very impressed.
@Dr. Love. No one really cares about your backdraw flu. Playing the backdraw is nice but not that valuable to many of these kids. And they've done very well with sticking in it this year anyways. We should be commending them not bickering about the few cases of backdraw flu we've had this year.
Again, playing the backdraw doesn't do much for those who's ultimate goal is going pro. There are no backdraws in pro tennis, and all they're doing is risking injury. For someone young like Kozlov I see much more value than these older guys who pulled out.
I admit it'd be nice to see them prove they can bounce back, especially for the college coaches out there. But it's really unnecessary.
Yes I did. Have to admit he surprised me the way he dominated the latter rounds, but I did pick him to win his quarter based on his futures results even though he didn't win a point. In the Claremont future from last year, for example, when he was 16, he won four matches in qualies, He beat John Lamble, who plays #1 for Santa Clara, he beat Michael Grant who played an occasional six for USC, and he beat Charles Boyce who has a few points. In some other futures, he had close three set losses to Clay Thompson, Aubone, and Winston Lin. All three of those guys are/were good college players. Aubone just made the semis of this week's future in illinois, btw. Finally I actually saw him play against Ryan Thacher in Tiburon last year. Although he lost 1 and 2, the match was more competitive than that. He showed some weapons (serve and forehand, of course) and often had Thacher on his heels. What I didn't like about his performance was his temperament. Way too whiny for my taste. So does his win mean a weak player won over a weak field or does it mean it is an incredibly deep group? I don't know, but I have seen Kozlov, Rubin, McDonald, Escobedo, Redlicki all play and I can see they have great potential and that's why I say let's wait awhile, after all Donald Young the most dominant American Junior in last decade didn't presage a stellar pro career. You never know at this stage.
GOAT
There are no teenagers in the Top 200 in the World and possibly in the Top 300. These juniors are very far off from a consistent pro career, so they need the competitive matches, like in the back draw. That is called DEVELOPMENT!!! The more matches against good players the better they will become.
How are they risking injury? By playing more tennis matches? More explanation needed please.
We all know Mackie McDonald qualified into Cincinnati which is great but does not mean he can do that all the time.
I agree with Russ. Lets see where this group of youngsters are in a year. They have 10-11 more years before they reach the age of the current average age of the Top 100 ATP. Does that put things in perspective?
My wish is the USTA PD stop polluting USA juniors, they all get injured in Boca and none of the previous 5 years of groups achieved anything, decent college players at best. Also they are forcing their coaching philosophy on already established programs across the country. Stop forcing your rules on everyone else. Coach the pros and leave the juniors alone.
U people can't ask for 256 draws then complain when tey play 2-2 at clay courts and super breakers for third set. You people have no idea what goes into all of these decisions.
Talk to parenting aces and her crew who think that every kid should play at nationals.
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