My Conversation with USTA National Coach Jose Caballero; ITF J500 Milan Acceptances Include 13 Americans; Joint Reaches W75 Charlottesville Semifinal; Woestendick and Razeghi Play for Vero Beach $15K Doubles Title Saturday

When I travel to major junior tournaments I see many of the same players, families, officials and coaches. In that latter category are the USTA National Coaches, many of whom have been in those positions for many years. One of those is Jose Caballero, a National Coach for men's tennis, and with all the talk last month about the Jose Higueras email criticizing the USTA management and board for their lack of support for Player Development, I thought it might be a good idea to talk to someone on the PD side. Although I'm aware of most of the duties of a USTA National Coach, just from observing them over the years, many people in the junior tennis world aren't quite sure what the job entails. 

So, while at the ITF J300 in San Diego, I sat down with Caballero to discuss how he came to be a coach and a USTA coach, and what his responsibilities are, whether he is traveling or back at the USTA National Campus in Lake Nona. We also discussed the impact of the recent budget cuts and why he's unlikely to follow many of his former colleagues now coaching college tennis. The interview appears today on the Tennis Recruiting Network. 

The acceptances for next month's ITF J500 Trofeo Bonfiglio in Milan Italy were released this week, with eight US boys and five US girls getting into the main draw.

The US boys entered are Kaylan Bigun, Cooper Woestendick, Jack Kennedy, Ian Mayew, Alexander Razeghi, Maxwell Exsted, Roy Horovitz and Matthew Forbes. Jagger Leach is next in.

The US girls entered are Tyra Grant, Kaitlyn Rolls, Iva Jovic, Thea Frodin and Shannon Lam. A trio of US girls are first, third and fourth out of the main draw: Kate Fakih, Kristina Penickova and Christasha McNeil. 

As of now, both 2024 Australian Open junior champions, Renata Jamrichova of Slovakia and Rei Sakamoto of Japan, are entered. The tournament, finishing just one week before the Roland Garros Junior Championships, often has fields nearly as strong as those in Paris. The RG acceptance list should be out next week.

Eighteen-year-old Maya Joint of Australia continues to post wins at the top level of the ITF women's World Tennis Tour, advancing to Saturday's semifinals with a 6-3, 6-4 win over No. 7 seed Hanna Chang at the W75 in Charlottesville Virginia. Joint, a University of Texas signee, will face unseeded Luisa Chrico in the semifinals; Chirico defeated No. 4 seed Valentini Grammatikopoulou of Greece 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.

In the top half, No. 1 seed Kayla Day will face No. 3 seed Lulu Sun(Texas) of Switzerland. Day defeated No. 8 seed Varvara Lepchenko 7-6(6), 7-5, while Sun got past No. 5 seed Elvina Kalieva 6-2, 3-6, 6-4.

The only American still alive at the Savannah Challenger, No. 6 seed Tristan Boyer, lost in the quarterfinals today to unseeded Maxime Janvier of France 2-6, 6-2, 6-3. Janvier will face qualifier Andres Andrade of Ecuador. The former University of Florida star, a member of the 2021 NCAA championship team, had never reached a Challenger quarterfinal until this week in Savannah.  Former University of Virginia standout Alexander Ritschard of Switzerland, also an NCAA team champion, is the only seed left, at No. 5. He will play Dmitry Popko of Kazakhstan in the top half semifinal.

With Boyer's loss, Nicolas Moreno de Alboran will clinch the USTA Roland Garros wild card, according to Challenger expert Damian Kust, who has been tracking it the past month.

2021 US Open girls champion Robin Montgomery has inserted herself in the conversation for the women's Roland Garros wild card, by using her wild card to reach the third round of the Madrid WTA 1000 this week. Today she beat WTA No. 28 Katie Boulter of Great Britain 1-6, 6-3, 6-4. 2021 USTA National 18s champion Ashlyn Krueger has also advanced to the third round, beating WTA No. 16 Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia 6-3, 6-3.

Four Americans have advanced to the semifinals of the $15,000 men's USTA Pro Circuit tournament in Vero Beach Florida: No. 2 seed Garrett Johns, Will Grant, Victor Lilov and Miles Jones.

Duke senior Johns, the No. 2 seed, defeated wild card Rudy Quan 6-4, 6-4 and will face former Florida Gator Grant, who came back to beat wild card Chad Kissell(Valparaiso) 5-7, 6-2, 6-4. Jones ended the run of qualifier Dian Nedev of Bulgaria 6-3, 6-1 and Lilov, the No. 3 seed, defeated Louisville fifth-year Etienne Donnet of France, the No. 8 seed, 6-1, 6-3. 

Cooper Woestendick and Alexander Razeghi hadn't partnered in doubles before this week, but the two 17-year-olds are rolling through the draw, advancing to the final with a 6-3, 6-2 win over No. 3 seed Miguel Angel Cabrera of Chile and Ivan Marrero Curbelo of Spain. Razeghi and Woestendick, the latter with nine ITF Junior doubles titles, including the Australian Open boys championships this year, beat top seeds Sekou Bangoura(Florida) and Noah Schachter(Texas A&M) 6-3, 6-4 yesterday. They will play the unseeded Jones brothers, Miles and Alex, who defeated another all-junior team of Meecah Bigun and Mitchell Lee 6-3, 3-6, 10-7.