First Impressions of the Dow Corning Tennis Classic

©Colette Lewis 2007--

Midland MI--

It's my first visit to the USTA Women's Pro Circuit event in Midland and the 19 years they've spent perfecting their formula is evident.

The matches that I attended during the day session were free and for tennis fans with the day off, there was a chance to see both the No. 1 seed, Jill Craybas and the No. 2 seed, Laura Granville--if they didn't blink. Craybas, No. 67 in the current WTA rankings, took barely an hour to dispose of Anda Perianu of Romania, 6-2, 6-0 and Granville, 73 on the WTA computer, finished just as quickly, defeating Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Repbulic 6-1, 6-1.


After Roger Federer's blowout of Andy Roddick and Serena Williams' annihilation of Maria Sharapova in Australia, many fans debated whether they would classify those routs as enjoyable. I like close contests, but I also appreciate beautiful tennis, and there was absolutely no question that Laura Granville played near-perfect tennis today. I watched every game, and the pace and depth with which she struck the ball were astounding. Hradecka could also hit ferocious winners, but she couldn't do it as consistently as Granville, and her serve wasn't nearly as effective. A Granville fan standing behind me said it best--"she gives the ball a big fat smack, doesn't she?"

Hradecka probably erred in repeatedly giving Granville so much pace, but it was difficult to envision anyone outside of the top ten beating Granville as well as she played today. I didn't see the Craybas match--they were played simultaneously in different areas of the facility--but I suspect she played just as impressively.

I also had a chance to see some of wild card Lauren Albanese's 6-1, 6-4 win over Seiko Okamoto of Japan. After a lengthy first game, Albanese dominated the rest of the set, but the second set was anyone's when Albanese served at 4-4. Another marathon game transpired, but the 17-year-old from Florida finally held, and Okamoto couldn't handle the pressure of the 4-5 game, double faulting to give Albanese the win.

Albanese, by the way, was one of three players (Audra Cohen and Michelle Larcher de Brito were the other two) who admitted to me they had never experienced cold like the sub-zero readings that have settled into Michigan in the past week. I assured them that many Michiganders as young as they are have never felt it this cold either; it's been decades since temperatures have dropped and stayed this low here.

But even the bone-chilling weather didn't deter an impressive number of fans from the first night session of the tournament. This is where the tournament really shines--giving the night matches the feel of a top professional event. The valet parking, patron reception, VIP seating, free ice cream, ball runners, T-shirt tossing, deejays and master of ceremonies all contributed to the feeling that tournament director Erin Mazurek and her staff have created a special tennis festival for the city of Midland.

The feature evening match was much closer than those of the top two seeds, with unseeded Angela Haynes eliminating No. 8 seed Maria-Jose Argeri of Argentina 5-7, 6-2, 6-1. The tennis wasn't particularly distinguished, but it did have numerous changes in momentum, leaving the outcome unpredictable until Haynes went up 4-0 in the final set.

I left before the second match, which was a doubles first rounder, but on Wednesday I'll be there until very late. The first evening match is Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada against Brenda Schultz of the Netherlands; the second features Puerto Rico's Kristina Brandi and 14-year-old wild card Michelle Larcher de Brito of Portugal.

For complete draws and schedule, see the Pro Circuit page at usta.com.

TAGS: tennis, junior tennis, Laura Granville, Dow Corning Tennis Classic

USC Women Claim Top Recruiting Class; Polansky Named ITF Player of the Month

The Tennis Recruiting Network revealed their Women's Recruiting Class Winter Rankings on Monday, and USC took top honors, with Duke second. USC, which was third in the most recent ITA team rankings, didn't participate in the Women's Team Indoor last weekend (neither did No. 2 Florida), so it will be interesting to see the impact of that (and of Georgia Tech's upset of Stanford) in this week's rankings. My point, I guess, is that the rich get richer, but it's still early in 2007, so by this autumn the recruiting rankings may have changed dramatically.

Bob Larsen's Tennis News posted this item on Peter Polansky being named ITF Men's Circuit player of the month. One of my January aces, Polansky just won his third Futures tournament of 2007 over the weekend in Costa Rica, after qualifying, no less. His record for 2007 stands at 18-1, and he will be playing for Canada's Davis Cup team this coming weekend.

Somdev Devvarman of the University of Virginia was named to India's Davis Cup team and will travel to Uzbekistan for that tie in Group 1, but UVA head coach Brian Boland assures me that he will be returning to the U.S. in time for the Men's Team Indoor in Chicago the following weekend.

Speaking of indoors, I'll be on my way to Midland, Michigan Tuesday to spend some time at the $75K women's Pro Circuit event there. To follow the results, visit dowcorningtennisclassic.com.

TAGS: tennis, junior tennis, Peter Polansky, The Tennis Recruiting Network

Stanford Shocked at ITA Indoor; Gibbs, Harrison Fall at Les Petits As

On Saturday evening, the Georgia Tech women's team ended Stanford's 89-match winning streak, defeating the No. 1 ranked Cardinal 4-3 at the ITA Team Indoor Championships in Madison Wisconsin.

Georgia Tech was seeded No. 4, so it's not a George Mason situation, but when you consider that no one who is on the Stanford team now, including seniors Theresa Logar and Anne Yelsey, had ever lost a team match until last night, it's a pretty big deal. Stanford's streak dates back to May of 2003, when they lost in the NCAA final to Florida.


Tech started off by taking the doubles point, and freshman Kirsten Flower, who has had an astounding start to her college career, gave her team a 2-0 at No. 2 singles. But Stanford won the next three matches at Nos. 3, 4 and 1, and looked like a good bet to extend the NCAA record streak. But once Amanda Craddock, also a freshman, evened it with a three-set win at No. 6, it came down to No. 5 singles, and Tech senior Tarryn Rudman withstood that only-in-college pressure to take a 6-4 in the third win.

Georgia Tech today downed No. 2 seed Notre Dame 4-2, indicating that coach Bryan Shelton was able to keep his team focused despite the heady win on Saturday.

The ITA website has the details of the big upset. And here's ramblinwreck.com's version.

And while you are at the ITA's website, stop by the home page to read Jon Vegosen's NY Times op ed piece on the Rutgers tennis team's fight to survive.

In Tarbes France on Sunday, both Nicole Gibbs and Christian Harrison came up short in their bids to upset the top seeds and overwhelming favorites at Les Petits As--Hanna Orlik and Carlos Boluda. Belarus's Orlik defeated Gibbs 6-4, 6-1 to win, by my count, her fourth straight tournament, one of which was a Grade 4 ITF event. She turns 14 next month.

Harrison can take some comfort in the fact that he won twice as many games as any other player against defending champion Carlos Boluda of Spain, but lost 6-2, 6-2.

Harrison and partner Emmett Egger lost in the doubles final to the top seeded team from the Czech Republic on Saturday 6-1, 7-6 (4).

The current edition of the Inside Junior Tennis podcast is now available. Those of you put off by the poor quality of the sound will be happy to know that a new headset microphone has made a big improvement.

TAGS: tennis, junior tennis, ITA Womens Team Indoor, Kirsten Flower, Les Petits As, Inside Junior Tennis podcast

Book Review: Paul Fein's You Can Quote Me on That (Foreword by Billie Jean King)

With a full-fledged blizzard swirling outside, it’s a good time to curl up with a book, or to write a review of one.

Paul Fein’s You Can Quote Me On That, isn’t a classic page-turner, full of mystery, plot and intrigue. It’s just what it sounds like--a collection of quotes about tennis.

Although it consists of 35 chapters, a necessity for organizing the vast material, I still found it difficult to stop when reaching a chapter’s conclusion.

Under the chapter entitled "The Feminine Mystique" for example, Fein ends with a quote from Anna Kournikova saying:

You cannot just be a great tennis player, or just be a beautiful person anymore to succeed in the game. You have to have it all, the talent, the looks, the brains and the drive.

The next chapter, "Paeans To the Champions", starts with this praise for Pete Sampras from Jim Courier:

He can hit shots the rest of us can’t hit and don’t even think of hitting.

And then continues as Becker, Agassi, McEnroe and Emerson assess Pete’s standing in the tennis pantheon.

What makes the book more than a sum of its considerable parts is the sense of history that pervades it. Nineteen twenties star Bill Tilden, who wrote several books on tennis, is quoted regularly, and we hear from Jack Kramer on early professional men’s tennis, Billie Jean King on the struggles of the women’s tour, Arthur Ashe on the class and race barriers, Martina Navratilova on sexual orientation. Not to mention Gussie Moran’s panties and Suzanne Lenglen’s rock star status in the 20s.

It’s a whirlwind tour of tennis history in doses as small or large as you like and it's also a reminder that the more tennis changes, the more it stays the same.

I’ll close with two of my favorite quotes:

Under these absurd and antiquated amateur rules, only a wealthy person can compete, and the fact of the matter is that only wealthy people do compete. Is that fair? Does it advance the sport? Does it makes tennis more popular—or does it tend to suppress and hinder an enormous amount of tennis talent lying dormant in the bodies of young men and women whose names are not in the social register.

and

Certainly there does not appear to be anything much wrong with the game of tennis itself, although proposals for changing it always are with us. There has been little change since the rules were settled upon and possibly improvement can be had by changing some rules, but a game so stylized as tennis should be treated with great restraint. One of the things wrong may be that so many people keep trying to alter it to suit other people who do not really play it.

The first quote is from Suzanne Lenglen, circa 1920s; the second from Al Laney in 1968.

Autographed copies of the book are available by contacting Paul Fein via the website www.tennisquotes.com.

TAGS: tennis, junior tennis, Paul Fein, You Can Quote Me on That

Gibbs, Min and Harrison Advance to Semis at Les Petits As

Americans Grace Min and Nicole Gibbs will have a chance to meet in the final at Les Petits As in Tarbes France, while Christian Harrison hopes to get the opportunity to face defending champion Carlos Boluda with a victory on Saturday. Harrison and Emmett Egger have advanced to the doubles final.

Gibbs, the No. 8 seed, takes on Romanian Ingrid Radu, seeded seventh, in one semifinal. Radu squeezed by U.S. qualifier Ellen Tsay 7-5, 7-6 (3) on Friday while Gibbs defeated No. 4 seed Kristina Mladenovic of the host country by a symmetrical 7-6 (3), 7-6 (3) score.

Min, who has yet to lose a set in the tournament, including her three matches in qualifying, faces a tough task in the semifinals however. She will need to depose No. 1 seed Hanna Orlik of Belarus, who not only captured the 2006 Eddie Herr and Junior Orange Bowl, but just two weeks ago won an ITF Grade 4 18-and-under event in Germany.

On the boys side, Harrison, seeded eighth, took out No. 3 seed Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-2 in Friday's quarterfinals and will face the last French player in the draw, unseeded Sébastien Boltz. Boltz upset top seed and recent Teen Tennis champion Anton Volkov in the second round, but hasn't faced a seed since.

Like Min and Gibbs, Harrison hasn't dropped a set; that accomplishment pales however, when compared to No. 1 seed Carlos Boluda's race through opponents.

As a recent commenter pointed out, the Spaniard has lost only four games in four matches in his title defense, and that display of dominance can intimidate even seasoned competitors. Boluda's next opponent is Romanian Ciprian Porumb, the fourth seed, who defeated Emmett Egger of the U.S. 6-4, 6-2 in the quarterfinals.

Egger and Harrison, the sixth seeds in doubles, will face the top seeded team of Robert Rumler and Lukas Vrnak of the Czech Republic in Saturday's doubles final.

It's also noteworthy that the boys' consolation final will feature U.S. teammates Mika De Coster and Sean Berman.

The tournament website, which features live scoring, is here.

TAGS: tennis, junior tennis, Les Petits As, Nicole Gibbs

January Aces (and a word from our sponsor)

My weekly entry for The Tennis Recruiting Network is a monthly version of the weekly SMASH online column I did in 2006, but with more photos and less words. I'm very happy to have signed on for a regular Thursday article for tennisrecruiting.net, and have much to thank them for, including my recent affiliation with Tennis Warehouse.

When I started this blog over two years and 829 posts ago, I didn't know where it would lead. Zootennis started as a place to explore issues in junior tennis that interested me, and a space where I could regularly report on the accomplishments of young players. The more I did those things, the more I enjoyed them, and what started as a hobby quickly turned into a second career. I am writing regularly for SMASH and The Tennis Recruiting Network, occasionally for Tennis Magazine and doing a weekly podcast, Inside Junior Tennis. Those things help support the travel I do, but one of the main questions I get when talking to parents and coaches at tournaments is "how do you make money on your website?"

The answer has always been a straightforward "I don't." (Quite a few people think I'm employed or somehow compensated by the USTA). But this Christmas, my Amazon store experiment turned out more profitably than I could have hoped, encouraging me to explore an affiliation with a partner that would have an interest in my visitors. That partner, Tennis Warehouse, is not an advertiser. Rather, like Amazon, I will benefit if sales are made through the link on my site.

As far as traffic goes, I'm never going to approach the numbers of tennis.com or si.com, but I'm happy as long as I have readers and commenters who care about junior tennis and junior tennis players. Juniortennis.com has now gone to a paid subscription for anyone but junior players. I'm not going to adopt that model--I want the site to be as widely read as possible--but I would like to see ZooTennis contribute to the travel fund.

That's a long way of saying please use the link at the top, but I did want you to understand the background on its sudden appearance.

TAGS: tennis, junior tennis, Tennis Warehouse