Although none of the seven US men in Wimbledon qualifying made it through to the main draw, four of the 15 US women had success in the final round of qualifying today at Roehampton.
Top seed Katie Volynets saw her matches get progressively easier in the past three days, beating Talia Gibson of Australia 6-0, 6-1 today.
Alycia Parks ended the run of 15-year-old Hannah Klugman of Great Britain 6-3, 6-3, although Klugman did win as many games as Parks' first two opponents combined.
After her three-tiebreak, three-hour victory yesterday, 19-year-old Robin Montgomery probably needed to close out Valentina Ryser of Switzerland in two sets, and she did, qualifying for her first main draw appearance at Wimbledon with a 7-6(3), 6-2 win.
Former University of Florida All-American McCartney Kessler qualified for her first Wimbledon the hard way, winning all three of her matches in three sets, and the last two from a set down. Kessler, the No. 20 seed, defeated No. 3 seed Renata Zarazua of Mexico 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.
I spoke with Kessler last fall at the WTA 125 Dow Tennis Classic as she was moving up the rankings for this Tennis Recruiting Network article, and she has been continuing to tick off milestones ever since. The 24-year-old from Georgia won the USTA's Australian Open Wild Card Challenge and picked up her first slam win in Melbourne; won a WTA 125 in Mexico in February as a lucky loser, and now has qualified for a major for the first time. Her brother McClain, who also played at Florida, has been coaching her, and was with her this week in Roehampton.
One answer from the article linked above has stuck with me over the months:
CL: What is the most important lesson you learned in college tennis that's helped you in the pros?
MK: The main thing is just the competing aspect, the mental part. It's so different in college; you're playing and it doesn't matter if you don't feel well, if you're having a bad day, you just have to do your best to compete, to stay on the court as long as possible, even if you're not going to win your match, to give your teammates peace of mind.
In the pros, you have so many tournaments, and if you're having a bad day, it's pretty easy to let the match go and move on to the next week. Which is nice, but coming from college, I feel like I do a pretty good job of winning, or at least competing, on the days I don't feel well or don't feel like I'm playing well.
After her three wins this week, Kessler has demonstrated that she's still drawing from that lesson in competing she learned in college.
The two Americans in action today who fell short of qualifying are Max Cressy(UCLA), who lost a three-hour battle to Felipe Meligeni Alves of Brazil 6-4, 1-6, 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-4; and Amanda Anisimova, who was beaten by Eva Lys[25] of Germany 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
The main draw ceremony is scheduled for 10 a.m. local time Friday.
The
ITA announced today the six Division I collegiate women who have qualified for the second year of the ITF Accelerator Program. They are: Mary Stoiana(Texas A&M), Amelia Rajecki(NC State), Alexa Noel(Miami), Dasha Vidmanova(Georgia), Kari Miller(Michigan) and Anastasiia Lopata(Georgia). The first five qualified by ranking, Lopata by reaching the NCAA final.
I've expressed my dismay over the inequity between the men's and women's Accelerator Programs several times; 20 men, and more, if they reach the NCAA quarterfinals, get the benefit of the ATP Accelerator Program, and all the wild cards they receive are for the ATP Challenger level.
The ITF does have a more or less comparable level for women, the W75s, but instead of the eight wild cards the Top 10 men get into Challengers 50 and 75s, the six women get only four wild cards and it is said to be to W60s, W40s and W25s. I think this may be a mistake in the release, as, at least in the United States, there are no longer any W60s or W40s or W25s. The current categories on the
2024 USTA Pro Circuit women's calendar are W100s, W75s, W50s, W35s and W15s. Even if the wild cards are to W75s, W50s and W35s, the opportunities are much reduced compared to the men.
I'm baffled as to how the ITF can justify this disparity; when I asked them about it last year, I didn't get a satisfactory explanation, only assurances that they would continue ongoing discussions of the program. I understand anything is better than nothing, but how can they let this disparity go on for another year, while continuing to send out press releases about how important gender equity is to them?
If Dave Mullins, the new CEO of the ITA, should decide that upgrading the women's Accelerator program is a top priority, I don't know anyone who would argue against that.
If you've looked closely at Zootennis the past week, and I hope you do check out the sponsor ads on occasion, you'll notice two ads for the Les Petits As Regional Playoffs next month at the John McEnroe Tennis Academy. These are just two of the tournaments that are being held across the country this summer that provide 13 and under players with the opportunity to compete in the National Playoffs this fall that will determine the players who will represent the United States in Tarbes in January of 2025.
All the LPA Regional Playoffs are UTR events; you can find a complete list of all the tournaments
here.
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