Orange Bowl 16s Recap; My Podcast Conversation with Alex Gruskin on Eddie Herr and Orange Bowl; Junior Orange Bowl Seeds; USA Today Looks at Cheating in College Tennis

On a very wet day in South Florida, I am looking back with fondness on the Orange Bowl tournament last week, which did not have any rain, a decidedly rare scenario for that event. 

My Tennis Recruiting Network review of the Orange Bowl 16s tournament is available today, with two 16-year-old New Yorkers taking the singles titles; the ITF J500 recap is coming up on Friday.

I spoke with Alex Gruskin of Cracked Racquets yesterday for the Mini-Break Podcast, and we did not discuss the 16s, but did go deep into the 18s tournaments at both the Eddie Herr and the Orange Bowl. We also took a few minutes at the end to talk year-end junior rankings and college tennis, finishing with my enthusiastic support of Alex's idea for a US Pro National Championship.

Biltmore Courts saw no play Wednesday

The Junior Orange Bowl main draw is scheduled to begin tomorrow at 8 a.m., but after a mostly all-day rain that allowed only G14s final round qualifying matches to get on court, Thursday is looking similarly ominous. As is Friday, Saturday and Sunday, unfortunately. None of the final round qualifying matches in the girls and boys 12s and boys 14s, which are on hard courts at Crandon Park and the Biltmore, were started today. Twelve G14s final round qualifying matches were completed on the Har-Tru at Salvadore Park before heavy rain postponed the four on court until Thursday, weather permitting.

The draws are out however, and can be found here.  Below are the top 16 seeds in each age division. Some names you might recognize from the Eddie Herr, including girls 12s champion Caroline Shao, boys 12s champion Jang Junseo and girls 14s champion Joyce Geng. Boys 14s Eddie Herr champion Michael Antonius is not playing this tournament.

Junior Orange Bowl Seeds:

B12s:
1. Tristan Ascenzo, USA
2. Nicholas Du, USA
3. Rafael Pagonis, GRE
4. Jang Junseo, KOR
5. Smyan Thuta, USA
6. Andres Quijada, USA
7. Fu Wang Choi, HKG
8. Thamma Kosiri, THA

9. Siyun Kim, KOR

9. Blount Williams, USA

9. Dani Lagarija, USA

9. Rex Kulman, USA

9. Xiaohan Jiang, CHN

9. Daniel Gardality, USA

9. Luke Jones, USA

9. Frederick Fabricius, GBR

G12s

1. Carolina Shao, USA

2. Paweenon Nualsri, THA

3. Kathryn Cragg, USA

4. Yui Watanabe, USA

5. Nikol Davletshina, USA

6. Daniela Del Mastro, USA

7. Megan Knight, GBR

8. Sakino Muiyazawa, JPN

9. Daniela Davletshina, USA

9. Sofiia Bielinska, UKR

9. Daniel Baranes, ISR

9. Juliana Diianni, USA

9. Yanziye Zhang, GBR

9. Adriana Khomyakova, USA

9. Anna Scott Laney, USA

9. Grace Hong, USA

B14s

1. Tanishk Konduri, USA

2. Andrew Johnson, USA

3. Colin McPeek, USA

4. Izyan Ahmad, USA

5. Tyler Lee, USA

6. Jerrid Gaines Jr, USA

7. Safir Azam, USA

8. Matei Victor Chelemen, ROU

9. Aditya Pandey, USA

9. Navneet Raghuram, USA

9. Anay Kulkarni, USA

9. Marcel Latak, USA

9. Kayden Colombo, USA

9. Jordan Lee, USA

9. Emilio Camacho, ECU

9. Mason Vaughan, USA

G14s

1. Anna Bugaienko, UKR

2. Sarah Ye, USA

3. Carrie-Anne Hoo, USA

4. Giulia Safina Popa, ROU

5. Charlie Celebrini, CAN

6. Lyla Middleton, USA

7. Margaret Sohns, USA

8. Joyce Geng, CAN

9. Jana Kovackova, CZE

9. Ariana Ikwueme, USA

9. Hanne Estrada, MEX

9. Haniya Aman Minhas, PAK

9. Sephi Sheng, USA

9. Ellery Mendell, USA

9. Welles Newman, USA

9. Alina Vysochenko, UKR

USA Today is doing a 10-part series on cheating in sports and college tennis is in the spotlight today. This article by Dan Wolken goes through the issues, some of which are unique to college tennis, but many of which are encountered in junior tennis (and recreational tennis) too. I wish the overrule progression would have been discussed as an attempt to control cheating. I will say I find those who officiate college tennis matches to be among the best at any level, but I watch only top level college, mostly at neutral sites, so I'm sure I have view of collegiate officiating that may not be representative of what's the norm at the majority of dual matches. 

As someone who is unequivocally a fan of the Electronic Line Calling at the US Open, I can't wait for that to make its way to college tennis. But despite a lot of talk about a more affordable version being developed for college tennis, it's been extremely slow going on the actual implementation.