Hodge Hired as Associate Head Coach at Georgia; Fritz Receives Main Draw Wild Card into ATP Nottingham; Examinations of British Tennis Begin

Just a week after Will Glenn left his position as men's associate head coach at the University of Georgia, Bo Hodge has been named to replace him.  Hodge, an All-American at Georgia from 2001-2004, is leaving the same position at the University of Oklahoma, where he has coached since November of 2011.  Prior to that, Hodge was an assistant at the University of Alabama.

"It was a family decision to accept the associate head coach job at Georgia. I am from Athens and UGA is my alma mater. My wife and I are expecting a baby girl in November and we wanted to be closer to our families,” Hodge said in this release announcing his departure from Oklahoma.

In the release from Georgia announcing his hiring, Hodge again emphasized his interest in returning home.

"Being from Athens and playing at Georgia, it has always been a dream to come back and coach my alma mater. I also want to thank John Roddick and the University of Oklahoma athletic department. I spent the last four years at Oklahoma and learned so much from John. I'm so excited to wear the red and black again, and my wife and I are thrilled to return to the Classic City."

Taylor Fritz has received his first main draw wild card into an ATP event at next week's tournament in Nottingham. Fritz received qualifying wild card into the BNP Paribas Open in March and beat ATP No. 109 Dudi Sela of Israel 6-3, 6-0 in the first round before falling to ATP No. 125 Thiemo De Bakker of the Netherlands 6-4, 6-4 in the second round. 

In Nottingham, Fritz will face ATP No. 66 Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain in the opening round. The draw can be found here.  Connor Smith and Daniel Nguyen are in the qualifying draw, which unfortunately hasn't been posted on the ATP website yet, but is available via live scoring.

A few more Wimbledon wild cards have been given out and I've updated the post from yesterday.  Josh Meiseles of the ATP has tweeted that Denis Kudla, who is in the final of the $50,000 Ilkley Challenger tomorrow against Matt Ebden of Australia, will get the final men's main draw wild card if he wins. Ebden won last week's Challenger and already has a Wimbledon main draw wild card. Qualifying for Wimbledon begins Monday.

With Wimbledon just days away, the state of British tennis is again foremost in the minds of the media.  The BBC reported late last week that Mark Petchey, Andy Murray's former coach, believes the LTA National Centre, which opened in 2007, is a white elephant, with the money better spent on multiple small training centers rather than one big one. With the USTA's Lake Nona project underway, I'm sure they are paying close attention to what are perceived as the shortcomings of the LTA's National Centre in Roehampton.

Twenty-six-year-old David Rice is Great Britain's 12th ranked men's player at No. 421. (Jared Donaldson, the 12th ranked US player, is 158).  According to his current coach, he shouldn't be training at a multi-million pound facility with that ranking, which topped out at 283 in February of 2014.  In this article, the coach, Hamid Hejazi, explains his position, and Rice discusses why he thinks his previous high performance coaches were not getting the best out of him.

Twenty-year-old Katy Dunne, who received a Wimbledon qualifying wild card, feels she needs to leave the country to get the competition she needs, according to this article, although Dunne herself is not quoted. The article says Dunne needs sponsors in order to do this, although I can't imagine that the British No. 6 (at WTA 331) would not be providing her with funds for coaching and travel. (WTA No. 38 Varvara Lepchenko is the US No. 6).

Quarterfinals Set at Sumter $25K, Buffalo Futures; Reactions to Paul Turning Pro; Ostapenko Receives Main Draw Wimbledon Wild Card

The USTA Pro Circuit tournaments have reached the quarterfinals, and as was the case last week, college players are again having an impact.

At the $25,000 women's tournament in Sumter, South Carolina, NCAA finalist Carol Zhao, the rising Stanford junior, is into the quarterfinals after defeating 16-year-old wild card Alexa Graham 2-6, 6-3, 7-5. Graham had taken out top seed Taylor Townsend 6-4, 6-4 in the opening round.  NCAA champion Jamie Loeb, who received main draw entry as a lucky loser, was beaten by No. 2 seed Jennifer Brady 7-5, 6-3. Brady told me at the NCAAs that she would would not be returning to UCLA after her sophomore year.

Other quarterfinalists with college ties are Danielle Lao (USC), who beat ITA Rookie of the Year Brooke Austin 7-6(2), 6-3, No. 8 seed Sanaz Marand (UNC), who topped longtime friend Ashley Weinhold 6-3, 3-6, 6-0, and  No. 5 seed Lauren Embree (Florida), who defeated 15-year-old qualifier Michaela Gordon 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.

At the men's $10,000 Futures in Buffalo, recent Georgia graduate Nathan Pasha is among the quarterfinalists, advancing when top seed Jose Statham of New Zealand retired trailing 6-2, 2-2.  Pasha will play recent NCAA quarterfinalist and Columbia grad Winston Lin, a wild card, on Friday.  No. 4 seed Wil Spencer (Georgia) and Hans Hach of Mexico (Abilene Christian) are the other quarterfinalists with college backgrounds.

You can track the Pro Circuit results of all the former and current college men at College Tennis Today.

Pasha warmed up for the Futures tournament by winning the men's singles title at the Tennessee Valley Open Championships in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Pasha defeated University of Florida junior Maxx Lipman 6-4, 6-2 in the final and collected $3,000, more than twice what he would win if he took the Buffalo Futures singles title on Sunday.  Maya Jansen beat Alabama teammate and doubles partner Erin Routliffe 6-4, 7-6 in the women's open final. Complete results can be found in this article.

This types of tournaments are crucial to players starting out on the USTA or ITF Pro Circuit.  Big Time Tennis, a well-known stringer, was working the recent $15,000 Wake Forest Futures, and he posted this look at the expenses, estimating that the winner most likely barely broke even for the week, leaving the other 100 or so participants in the red.

This financial scenario is one that must be addressed when a player is considering whether to go to college or to go immediately onto the pro circuit.  Tommy Paul, who recently signed with Nike, has the support of his federation and a clothing contract, but no one but he and his family and advisers know all the financial considerations that had to be weighed when making his choice.

Two bloggers have addressed his decision, here and here, but without any reference to the economics, which of course they can have no knowledge of, the arguments are bound to be incomplete.  I do disagree with the second post that college would somehow "stunt" Paul's growth in tennis. It's another level, above juniors, to test your game. If you pass all the tests, you leave, with increased confidence and an entire collegiate community behind you.  I am not criticizing Paul's decision, at all. But the level of tennis played at the top of Division I college tennis isn't going to keep anyone from improving.

Wimbledon announced its first batch of wild cards on Wednesday.  As he had said in his interview with me, boys champion Noah Rubin did not request a qualifying wild card.  Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, the girls champion, received a main draw wild card, probably because her WTA ranking was already high enough to compete in the qualifying tournament.  Great Britain juniors Katie Swan and Gabriella Taylor received qualifying wild cards.  The current list (GBR unless otherwise listed):

MEN'S MAIN DRAW:
Liam Broady
Kyle Edmund
Lleyton Hewitt (AUS)
Nicolas Mahut (FRA)
James Ward
Brydan Klein
Matthew Ebden (AUS)
TBA

WOMEN'S MAIN DRAW:
Naomi Broady
Johanna Konta
Anett Kontaveit (Estonia)
Jelena Ostapenko (Latvia)
TBA
TBA
TBA
TBA

Men's Qualifying:
Edward Corrie
Daniel Cox
Joshua Milton
Dan Evans (WC playoff winner)
Richard Gabb (WC playoff winner)
TBA
TBA
TBA
TBA

Women's Qualifying:
Amanda Carreras
Harriet Dart
Katy Dunne
Katie Swan
Gabriella Taylor
Tara Moore (WC playoff winner)
Naomi Cavaday (WC playoff winner)
TBA

Doubles and wheelchair wild cards can be found in the release.

My Interview with Noah Rubin; Tommy Paul Turns Pro; USTA Names Pan American Team; New Balance High School Tournament Registration Closes Thursday; New Bollettieri Scholarship Available

At last month's NCAAs, I sat down to talk to with Noah Rubin, who was on his way to reaching the singles final. At that time, he was still undecided about returning for his sophomore year at Wake Forest, but earlier this month he decided not to go back.  I spoke to him briefly after he made that decision, and those questions are included at the end of this interview for the Tennis Recruiting Network.

For more on Wake Forest's reaction to Rubin's decision, see this article from the Winston-Salem Journal.

Wimbledon boys champion Rubin won a junior slam and decided to go to school, but Tommy Paul, who won the French Open boys title and two Futures since the beginning of May, has decided not to attend the University of Georgia.  Paul, 18, signed with Nike this week, although he is not currently represented by a sports management agency. He is back in Europe now, where he is entered in both the Roehampton Grade 1 and Wimbledon Junior championships after being home for a week.

The USTA announced the team that will represent the United States at the Pan Am Games next month in Toronto.  Louisa Chirico, Lauren Davis and Sachia Vickery are the women's team, coached by Kathy Rinaldi.  Jean-Yves Aubone, Dennis Novikov and recent Vanderbilt graduate Gonzales Austin are the men's team, coached by Brad Stine.
For more on the team, see this article at USTA.com.

The New Balance High School tournament, now in its second year, will be held next month in Boston.  Registration closes Thursday, June 18 at 11:59 am (click the above link or the banner at the top left of this page). For more about the tournament, read this recent post at the Tennis Recruiting Network.

I just received an announcement on a new scholarship available at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida.  Developed in honor of Nick Bollettieri, this scholarship will be given to a rising senior interested in spending the upcoming school year at the Academy.  The deadline to apply is July 10, 2015.  See this article for more information.

USTA Collegiate Team Announced; Perkins Jasper Takes Position at ITA; US Open National Playoffs Update

The USTA announced the 2015 Collegiate Team, which this year consists of seven American players who have not yet completed their collegiate eligibility.

They are: Mackenzie McDonald, UCLA, Noah Rubin, Wake Forest*,
Ryan Shane, Virginia, Brooke Austin, Florida, Jennifer Brady, UCLA,*
Julia Elbaba, Virginia, Jamie Loeb, North Carolina
*Player has indicated he/she will turn pro.

When current Virginia assistant Dustin Taylor was the USTA's National Collegiate coach, the team had a set number of spots and the possibility of earning a place on the team through a summer training camp, as detailed in this Tennis Recruiting Network article I wrote back in June of 2013. It also included an opportunity to earn a place on the team with the best results in a number of designated Futures events.

With Stephen Amritraj taking over for Taylor, changes were made, including in some of the automatic criteria. In addition NCAA singles champion, ITA Rookie of the Year, ITA All-American singles champion, USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships singles champion, the highest-ranked American in the final ITA rankings was added as an automatic qualifier, and the ATP and WTA rankings were changed to Top 400 for women and Top 600 for men. (Tommy Paul with his ATP ranking of 451, would be eligible to join the team if he does enroll at Georgia this fall). I spoke with Amritraj about his plans for the program for the Tennis Recruiting Network last fall.

The college coaches traveling to USTA Pro Circuit events for the men are: Bo Hodge (Oklahoma), Derek Schwandt (Georgia Tech), and Christian Groh. For the women, the coaches are: Sara Anundsen (Davidson), Laura Granville (Princeton), Lee Taylor Walker (TCU) and Riza Zalameda (Columbia).

The ITA announced last week that Angel Prinos, the longtime Associate Director and Chief Operating Officer of the organization, would be leaving for a position at the University of Pennsylvania, and today Erica Perkins Jasper was named to succeed Prinos. Perkins Jasper was head women's coach at the University of New Mexico for the past three years; prior to that she was Senior Manager of Junior and Collegiate Competition at USTA Player Development in Boca Raton.  I interviewed Perkins Jasper about her background and USTA responsibilities back in 2010 in this Tennis Recruiting Network article. 

Assistant Kelcey McKenna will take over for Perkins Jasper at New Mexico.

 

Three more sections completed their US Open National Playoff competitions recently with the results below. It's great to see so many future and current college players begin to take advantage of this opportunity. Links to all the draws can be found here.

Midwest:
Women’s Singles: Sara Daavettila
Men’s Singles: Martin Joyce
Mixed Doubles: Tyler Faulkner and Simone Jardim
Women’s Doubles: Daavettila and Alyvia Jones
Men’s Doubles: Charlie Emhardt and Jeffrey B. Schorsch

Southern Cal:
Women’s Singles: Megan McCray
Men’s Singles: Henry Craig
Mixed Doubles: Danielle Lao and Jonny Wang
Women’s Doubles: Lorraine Guillermo and Lao
Men’s Doubles: Haythem Abid and Joel Kielbowicz (Kielbowicz also won men’s singles & mixed doubles in Southwest section competition)

Eastern:
Women’s Singles: Julia Elbaba
Men’s Singles: Nikita Kryvonos
Mixed Doubles: Rima Asatrian and Ilia Shatashvili
Women’s Doubles: Magda Okruashvili and Ketevan Okruashvili
Men’s Doubles: Daniel M. Cochrane and Phillip Simmonds

==========================================
Previous results:
Southwest:
Women’s Singles: Jacqueline Cako
Men’s Singles: Joel Kielbowicz
Mixed Doubles: Cako and Kielbowicz
Women’s Doubles: Savannah Slaysman and Allie Sanford
Men’s Doubles: Ben Newell and Zachary Newell

Intermountain:
Women’s Singles: Gail Brodsky
Men’s Singles: Chris Wettengel
Mixed Doubles: Brodsky and Brian Wilson
Women’s Doubles: Jacqueline Cako and Keri Wong
Men’s Doubles: Jordan Kerr and Travis Parrott

Missouri Valley:
Women’s Singles: Sophie Chang
Men’s Singles: Dusty Boyer
Mixed Doubles: Boyer and Julia Schiller
Women’s Doubles: Katherine Cao and Jaci Cochrane
Men’s Doubles: Julio Peralta and Matt Seeberger

Mid-Atlantic:
Women’s Singles: Nika Kukharchuk
Men’s Singles: Mikelis Libietis
Mixed Doubles: Sydney Rider and Matt Stillwagon
Women’s Doubles: Lizzie Baker and Mackenzie Clark
Men’s Doubles: Mikelis Libietis and Hunter Reese

Andy Roddick and Mardy Fish Optimistic about US Men's Tennis: Eubanks, Tiafoe Receive BB&T Atlanta Open Wild Cards

Mardy Fish and Andy Roddick will play doubles together at next month's BB&T Atlanta Open, as announced during a conference call held this morning by the ATP tournament and the USTA.

Fish has dealt with an anxiety disorder for several years, and progress in his return to regular competition has been slow, but he did play in Indian Wells this year and has committed to Atlanta in singles, although he doesn't have plans beyond that.  With Roddick coming to Atlanta for an exhibition, it was natural that the two long-time friends, dating back to their junior days in Florida, would team up for doubles. They had talked about doing that for the US Open last year, but with Roddick retired he did not realize he'd need to meet the drug testing requirements well in advance, so he and Fish could not play in New York.

In the course of the conference call, Fish and Roddick were asked for their thoughts on the state of men's tennis today in the United States.

ANDY RODDICK: I've actually never heard that question before (laughter).

MARDY FISH: I can start a little bit because I'm out at Carson at our West Coast base for the USTA. I'm out here quite a bit. I've hit a lot with a lot of those guys.

We got a lot of young players coming up. By 'young' I mean obviously Jack Sock, who is 22 years old, but some of these guys are 17. No. 1 junior in the world right now, Taylor Fritz, has a big future. There's quite a lot of young guys that really can play.

I think age-wise underneath those young Aussies that are coming up in Kyrgios, some of those kids, Tomic, who are 22 and 21 years old, 20, we have some 16, 17, 18-year-olds who can play, apart from Jack.

These guys, what you don't understand, too, Donald Young, Sam Querrey to a certain extent, Sam is only 27 years old. It sounds old, and he's been out here for a long time, but it's still really young. He's got a lot of time if he can figure out and rekindle a lot of the stuff that he did early in his career.

There's a lot of guys age-wise just underneath those Aussies that everyone is talking about that are really good players that you'll hear a lot from in the next couple years.

ANDY RODDICK: I think probably for the first time in a while, we can say we're cumulatively as a tennis community in the States, there seems to be some really legitimate, authentic excitement. Not just around one or two guys, but around a handful, five or six. That's the recipe.

When Mardy and I were coming up, we trained with six or seven guys. Normally two come out of that and are top-10 players. That's what you need.

I love the way that Jack has taken ownership over his ability. It seems like there's a sense of belief. Getting that first-round draw at the French Open against Grigor Dimitrov, going out and beating him in straight sets I thought was a huge mental step that now should pay itself forward. Now it's just a matter of playing like he did at Roland Garros and doing that every week. That's how you become one of the best players in the world. He certainly has the tools.

I just learned at the beginning of this phone call the Monday night exhibition I'm playing against Frances Tiafoe, which literally scares the s**t out of me. Trust me, I went worse than, Oh, God! I'm excited to see it. The easiest way to kind of know what you're dealing with is to see it firsthand. I'm excited about it. These guys are good. I'm pumped about it. I think there is some sense of optimism. Let's not compare them to the long shadow of American tennis; let's let them make their own way.

Roddick and Fish were asked if they would be interested in coaching college tennis or helping some of the younger Americans.

ANDY RODDICK: You know what, I don't know if I'd be interested in college tennis. My brother has done such a good job, but it's such a foreign place for me. I never played college tennis. I don't know that I can relate to it.

I know where he goes, the parts of the world he goes to to recruit. It's a hustle. Frankly, it's more of a commitment than I'm willing to put forward maybe ever again.

I have worked with some of the young USTA guys. They've sent guys in for three or four days. I've always been available for those guys. I'm just glad that I'm getting taken up on it.

I think you don't go through a career in U.S. tennis and not want to pay it forward and see the success of the next generation. I'm happy to be involved in that in some way if I can going forward.

MARDY FISH: Yeah, it's funny, I owe a lot to the USTA sort of for my second career, if you will, after 2009. They allowed sort of an old, broken-down player that wasn't working as hard as maybe he could have, didn't reach the potential maybe he could have, and they still let me take a coach with me in David Nainkin and share him with Sam Querrey. I always remember that. Obviously it paid off for me and hopefully for them. But I always feel indebted to them because of that.

I always enjoy helping, asking questions about how guys are doing when I'm on the court practicing with them. It's a lot of fun to sort of give some of the knowledge that you've learned over the years.

The Atlanta tournament's field was announced today and in addition to Fish, John Isner, Jack Sock, Donald Young and Tim Smyczek are Americans scheduled to compete.

The two wild cards announced today are Frances Tiafoe, who received a qualifying wild card in Atlanta last year, and Georgia Tech rising sophomore Christopher Eubanks.  You can read more about Georgia Tech's connection to the tournament here.

The complete transcript of the conference call can be found here.

Price Outlasts Herring for Charlotte $10K Title; Olmos Wins Second Straight Singles Crown in Mexico; Sandgren, Baughman Also Claim Titles; Katie Swan Feature

Caroline Price (photo via twitter)

Recent North Carolina graduate Caroline Price won her first pro title Sunday, outlasting recent Georgia graduate Lauren Herring 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in the final of the $10,000 women's Pro Circuit event in Charlotte, North Carolina.  The 22-year-old Price, a wild card, got a break at 3-4 in the third set of the three-hour match and held on for the win over Herring, who was playing in her eighth match in nine days, not including doubles.

It was a great week for both women, who were playing their first tournament since competing at last month's NCAAs.

Giuliana Olmos (photo via Facebook)

Price lost in the second round of the NCAA singles tournament last month, as did another of this week's champions, Southern Cal rising senior Giuliana Olmos. Olmos captured her second straight title this week in Mexico at a $10,000 tournament in Manzanillo after winning her first pro title the previous week. Receiving main draw entry via a special exemption, she beat the No. 1 seed in the semifinals, WTA No. 335 Fernanda Brito of Chile, 6-2, 4-6, 7-6(4) and defeated No. 2 seed and WTA No. 363 Gaia Sanesi of Italy 6-1, 6-2 in today's final. Olmos also reached the doubles final, with Constanza Gorches of Mexico, falling to top seeds Camila Fuentes of Mexico and Francesca Segarelli (Florida State) of the Dominican Republic 2-6, 6-4, 10-5.

At the $15,000 ITF Futures in Charlottesville, Virginia, No. 3 seed Tennys Sandgren took the title, beating Ernesto Escobedo, seeded eighth, 6-4, 6-4.  Sandgren had reached three Futures finals in the past month, with this his second Futures title in 2015.

At the $15,000 Futures tournament in Bosnia-Herzegovina, 19-year-old Deiton Baughman won his second career Futures title. The No. 6 seed beat top seed Nils Langer of Germany  0-6, 6-2, 7-5 in the semifinals and in the final outlasted No. 8 seed Duje Kekez of Croatia 7-5, 2-6, 6-4.

This week's ITF Grade 1 in Germany is complete, with players from India claiming both singles titles.  No. 5 seed Sumit Nagal defeated No. 3 seed Mate Valkusz of Hungary 7-6(5), 6-4 for the boys championship, while unseeded Karman Kaur Thandi beat No. 15 seed Jessica Hinojosa Gomez of Mexico 6-1, 6-4 to take the girls title.

Valkusz won the boys doubles title with Tim Sandkaulen of Germany with the No. 2 seeds beating top seeds Marcelo Barrios Vera of Chile and Jake Delaney of Australia 6-4, 6-3.  No. 8 seeds Olivia Hauger and her partner Jade Lewis of New Zealand fell in the girls doubles final to unseeded Jule Niemeier and Linda Puppendahl of Germany 1-6, 6-1, 10-3.

In Challengers overseas, No. 7 seed Bjorn Fratangelo fell to unseeded 19-year-old Elias Ymer of Sweden 6-3, 6-2 in the final of the €106,500 tournament in Italy, and No. 4 seed Denis Kudla lost to unseeded Matthew Ebden of Australia 6-7(4), 64, 7-6(5) in the final of the €42,500 tournament in England.

Seventeen-year-old Ana Konjuh of Croatia has reached her first WTA final after beating both Sachia Vickery and Alison Riske today in rain-delayed quarterfinal and semifinal matches in England. The 2013 Australian and US Open girls champion will face Monica Niculescu of Romania in the Nottingham final on Monday.

Sixteen-year-old Katie Swan of Great Britain, who lives in the US, will make her WTA debut Monday at the Premier tournament in Birmingham. The wild card, who reached the Australian Open girls final this year, will face Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria.  Swan is the subject of this Daily Mail feature, which casts her in the role of Britain's top prospect among the juniors.