FOX SPORTS | Australian Open 2005 | Obsession of a child prodigy (January 29, 2005)

FOX SPORTS | Australian Open 2005 | Obsession of a child prodigy (January 29, 2005)
I should have found this story yesterday, but have been on the road this weekend. The reporter is interested in all the questions everyone has about a prodigy, and he asks them. I wouldn't expect a sincere interest in Donald's tennis skills from a FOX story, and sure enough, there really isn't any mention of them. A minor quibble--I don't think that the club Donald Sr. runs in Atlanta is actually an "academy," as we use the term in the US, but most of the rest of the story seems accurate. To clarify one other point, Donald won the 16s title at the Orange Bowl when he was 14, but he lost in the 18s final last month to Timothy Neilly.

News From Over There

US Dominate Teen Tennis - LTA Tennis Nation
England's Lawn Tennis Associaton is providing the only coverage of this major 14 and under tournament, but there's actually a lot of news to chew on.

I ran into USTA High Performance coach Martin Van Daalen at the Tampa airport a couple of weeks ago, and learned from him that Lazare Kukhalashvili would be making his debut respresenting the United States at this tournament. Van Daalen, who has recently taken over the junior boys born in 1991, told me that Kukhalashvili is training at Saddlebrook and was eager to be on the US team, though he played as a Georgian as recently as the 2004 Jr. Orange Bowl and Eddie Herr.

Ryan Harrison, who lost in the final to Kukhalashvili, is only 12, but has been touted as a rising star for some time. He has been playing the 14s with mixed results (lost in the first round at the Jr. Orange Bowl and in the quarters at the Winter Nationals), but his win in the semis over Chase Buchanan, who has been the gold standard of his age group for years, shows he is learning from his losses. And four Americans in the boys semifinals might have been more impressive than four American boys in the 2004 Orange Bowl semifinals, because all four who made the trip made the semis. And they played each other in the doubles final!

Even the US girls are starting to get into the act, as Gail Brodsky succeeded Delaware's Madison Brengle, who won in 2004.

News From Down Under

Grand slam a real eye-opener for Pat--The Border Mail
Any tennis story from a publication called the Wodonga Border Mail makes ZooTennis, even if it is as flawed as this one. It had me totally confused when I read it the first time, what with no punctuation and a "he said" that had me thinking the reporter had talked to Donald Young, when it appears he spoke only to Pat Nicholls. But I learned Australia has a promising player not named Bernard Tomic, and if he can win a set from DY, he obviously has game.

Australian Open Tennis Championships -Keeping an Eye on the Kids

Australian Open Tennis Championships - Keeping an Eye on the Kids
Wonderful atmospheric stuff. I've never seen Jelenic play, but after reading this, I know much more about him, physically and mentally. And any story featuring quotes from the ITF's Faye Andrews is a must-read. Surprising that she didn't mention the USTA as a federation much in evidence at the Australian. They took an even dozen male players over, three of whom are in the quarterfinals.

Young to Make Tour Debut at SAP Open (usta.com)

Young to Make Tour Debut at SAP Open
Maybe a WC into the qualifying would have been enough for Donald? We saw what happened to Scoville Jenkins at the US Open (with a wild card he earned by winning Kalamazoo) when he drew Roddick in the first round. It's not necessarily a bad thing when a junior gets a chance to measure his game against an established ATP player, but expectations get raised to a point where disappointment is inevitable. He's only 15 and still growing, physically and mentally, and he hasn't won a Futures event or gotten through qualifying to reach an ATP main draw. The relative obscurity of junior tennis is probably the best place for him at this stage of his development.

Seen Any Talent Lately?

ThisisLondon: Seen Any Talent Lately?
Level-headed look at the current state of British tennis, with a dead-on description of the spartan surroundings found at Futures events. Still I can't fancy GB's chances in Davis Cup without Tim.