Entries Close Thursday for USTA National Championships; Kudla in Newport Quarters; Q&A with DC Hitting Partner Johnson; Parenting Athletic Children

I just noticed that entries close for August's USTA National Championships at 11:59 a.m. on Thursday. I hope everyone who wishes to play has entered, but every year I hear stories from tournament directors about someone who missed the deadline. The information on applying for a wild card can be found in the USTA's Player Development section at usta.com, which also has a complete list of what wild cards are awarded for winning not only the Nationals, but the Clay Courts, which begin on July 17th. The winners of the 18s Clay Courts get a wild card into the US Open Juniors. I don't know if that's the reason the Girls 18s Clay Courts field is so strong this year, but I'm excited to be covering that tournament in Memphis for the fourth time, with defending champion Caroline Price, finalist Whitney Kay, semifinalists Gabby Andrews and Catherine Harrison all returning, along with 18s Spring National champion Danielle Collins and International Spring Champion Samantha Crawford. The complete list can be found at the TennisLink site.

Denis Kudla's followed his surprise first-round win over Ivo Karlovic at the ATP Campbell's Hall of Fame Championships with an even more impressive one this evening, beating No. 2 seed Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria 6-1, 6-4 to advance to the quarterfinals. Dimitrov was coming off a good showing at Wimbledon, where he lost in four entertaining sets to semifinalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France in the second round, and at 62, Dimitrov is 332 ranking spots above Kudla. In this Providence Journal article about Kudla's win over Karlovic, Kudla gives Ryan Harrison credit for changing his mental approach. Kudla will play qualifier Michael Yani in the quarterfinals Friday.

NCAA champion Steve Johnson, who is serving as a hitting partner this week for the US Davis Cup team, is the subject of this Q and A at usta.com. Johnson talks about returning to USC for his senior year in the spring of 2012 and about winning the hotdog eating contest Andy Roddick organized for the Davis Cup rookies on the 4th of July. Evan King, who was also a contestant, gave his version of the event in his second blog post for usta.com.

And finally I ran across this piece by Paul Stanford in the British paper The Independent about the challenges, rewards and drawbacks of raising an athletically gifted child. Stanford recognizes there are no simple answers to the question of when and even why a child should seek sports stardom, and that federations, parents and everyone else who wants only the best for the child are never quite sure when encouragement ends and pushing starts. Does jealousy cause us to automatically think the worst of a prodigy's parents? Is missing out on some of the normal teenage activities to pursue excellence in sports really such a bad thing?

These are just a couple of questions that occurred to me as I read the article--there are plenty of other thought-provoking directions you may take after reading it.

Kudla Beats Karlovic in Newport; USTA Women's Pro Transition Camp; Evan King's Davis Cup Blog; Midwest Closed Results

Denis Kudla received the final wild card into the ATP Campbell's Hall of Fame Championships late last week and he made the most of it today, defeating former world No. 14 Ivo Karlovic of Croatia 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-4 on the grass at Newport, Rhode Island. According to this article from the ATP website, the 18-year-old not only survived 24 aces from the Karlovic racquet, but also an alarm clock failure, to earn his second ATP tour level win. His first was last year at Newport. Ryan Harrison, who reached the quarterfinals in Newport last year, lost to Arnaud Clement of France in the opening round. John Isner is the top seed in this year's tournament. For an analysis of the strength of the field, which is frequently one of the weakest on the ATP World Tour, see the blog Heavy Topspin.

The USTA's Pro Tour Transition camp for women is underway this week in Boca Raton. The following players are participating:

Hilary Barte (Stanford)
Brooke Bolender (Michigan)
Lauren Embree (Florida)
Nicole Gibbs (Stanford)
Rachel Kahan (Duke)
Denise Muresan (Michigan)
Allie Will (Florida)

Grace Min

USTA National Coach Mark Freddie Rodriguez is conducting the camp, assisted by Jamea Jackson and Audra Cohen, the USTA Collegiate Team coaches.

Barte, Embree, Gibbs and Will are members of the recently named USTA Collegiate team, but the USTA is not limiting the camps or its assistance to just those six women (Maria Sanchez and Kristie Ahn are the other two Collegiate Team members).

An overview of the selection process for both the men's and women's Collegiate Teams can be found at the College Tennis section of usta.com.

One of the men's team members, Evan King, is serving as a United States Davis Cup hitting partner for this weekend's quarterfinal tie with Spain. King is writing a blog for usta.com, and the first entry is chock-full of details on what exactly the three hitting partners are required to do. Steve Johnson and Bradley Klahn, the other two collegiate team members in Austin, get their share of grief from Andy Roddick, and I suspect it's only the beginning for all three.


The Midwest Closed finished last week and the results of the finals are:

18s:
Ronnie Schneider(2) def. Christopher Diaz(3) 6-4, 6-4
Kasey Gardiner(3) def. Madeline Lipp(4) walkover (ill)

16s:
Konrad Zieba def. Thomas Fawcett(4) 6-3, 6-1
Alexandria Chatt(15) def. Alexandra Solovyev(4) 6-1, 6-1

14s:
Vincent Lin(1) def. Eddie Grabill(3) 6-0, 6-0
Francesca Dilorenzo(1) def. Dominique Vasile(7) 6-1, 6-0

12s:
Gianni Ross(2) def. John McNally(1) 6-4, 6-2
Abigail Desiatnikov(3) def. Isabella Lorenzini(2) 6-4, 6-1

June Aces; Williams, Davis Win Pro Circuit Events; Vicky Duval Feature

My monthly article featuring some of the top performances from June can be found today at the Tennis Recruiting Network. After following Wimbledon so closely the past three weeks, from qualifying through the finals, some of the other accomplishments of the past month probably were overlooked, so I hope this fills some of the gaps I may have left.

A couple of those gaps that didn't make the June Aces involved two wins by American boys in ITF Junior events outside the United States. Javier Restrepo of Miami won the Grade 5 in Havana Cuba as the No. 8 seed, beating No. 5 seed Rogelio Siller of Mexico 6-3, 6-2 in the final. Jordan Daigle won the Grade 5 in Bermuda that same week, a tournament that featured four semifinalists from the US in the boys draw. The unseeded Daigle defeated Daniel Shebshayevich, also unseeded, 6-2, 6-3 in the final.

In the US Pro Circuit tournaments last week, Rhyne Williams won his first Futures singles title in four years yesterday, defeating Mississippi State's Artem Ilyushin 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 in the final. Williams, who has not yet decided whether he'll return for his junior year at the University of Tennessee, won the Pittsburgh Futures as a 16-year-old in 2007. For more on Williams' win, see utsports.com.

The Pittsburgh Futures tournament, which is the only Pro Circuit event in the United States this week, features an interesting name among the qualifiers: 26-year-old Brian Baker of Nashville, whose promising pro career was cut short by injuries.

At the $50,000 Challenger in Winnetka, James Blake won the singles title with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Bobby Reynolds in the final. Reynolds and former University of Virginia star Treat Huey took the doubles with a 7-6(7), 6-4 win over Jordan Kerr of Australia and Travis Parrott of the US.

Lauren Davis captured her third ITF Women's Circuit title, but first as a professional yesterday, beating Nicole Gibbs in the final of the $10,000 event in Buffalo 5-7, 6-2, 6-4. Davis, who was said to have suffered a concussion this spring when a camera fell on her while she was doing an interview at a professional tournament, returned to action in the Cleveland 10K last month, but lost in the first round. Her previous two titles, at a $10K in Virginia and a $25K in Puerto Rico last fall, came before she turned pro at the beginning of this year. For more on her win over Gibbs, who recently completed her freshman year at Stanford, see this article from the Buffalo News.

Complete draws can be found at the Pro Circuit page at usta.com.

Last week at Wimbledon, Filip Bondy of the New York Daily News spoke with Vicky Duval, a quarterfinalist in the juniors there, about her family's experiences during the Haitian earthquake last year, and about their earlier decision to establish a residence in the United States for Vicky and her mother, while her father maintained a medical practice in Haiti. The 15-year-old Duval also reiterates that she has not yet decided whether to attend college or turn pro.

Barty Gives Australia Sweep of Wimbledon Junior Singles Titles; Min Wins Girls Doubles Title

Fifteen-year-old Ashleigh Barty capped off an exceptional fortnight at Wimbledon for Australian teenagers Sunday, defeating Irina Khromacheva of Russia 7-5, 7-6(3) to claim the girls title, the first for her country since 1980.

After 18-year-old Bernard Tomic had reached the quarterfinals as a qualifier in the men's draw and 17-year-old Luke Saville had captured the boys title yesterday in come-from-behind-fashion, Barty, the No. 12 seed, handled any pressure she may have been feeling very well despite a slow start. Trailing the No. 3 seed by two breaks in the first set, Barty fought back to 4-4 and kept the pressure on, taking a 6-5 lead, then breaking the left-hander to snatch the opening set.

It was Barty who took the lead in the second set, but her early break didn't last, with Khromacheva, who trains at Justine Henin's Sixth Sense Academy in Belgium and had her mentor watching on Court 1, breaking Barty at 4-2 and holding for 4-4. At 5-5, Barty was broken quickly, but Khromacheva failed to capitalize on her opportunity to serve out the set, losing the game without reaching a set point to set up a tiebreaker.

Barty never trailed in the tiebreaker, and when Khromacheva dropped both her serves down 2-3, Barty took control. Khromacheva saved one match point with a bold drop shot/volley combo, but that was all she could muster, as Barty closed it out on the next point.

Juniors rarely indulge in the same theatrics as men's and women's champions, and according to Sandra Harwitt's article on the ITF junior website, Barty was no exception. Winning Wimbledon as a junior is certainly satisfying, but most probably recognize that the true pinnacle of tennis is reached on the professional level, with years of work still ahead of them.

Barty now joins Debbie Freeman, won won the title 31 years ago, as the only two Australian girls champions at Wimbledon. Barty is the first Australian junior girl to win a slam since Jelena Dokic captured the US Open girls title in 1998.

The Wimbledon website, providing its first comprehensive coverage of the girls championships today, had this account of the final.

Fortunately wimbledon.com had a second reporter to cover the girls doubles final, because it was a very exciting championship match, with No. 2 seeds Eugenie Bouchard of Canada and Grace Min of the United States saving two match points while posting a 5-7, 6-2, 7-5 victory over unseeded Demi Schuurs of the Netherlands and Hao Chen Tang of China.

Bouchard and Min failed to convert any of the four break point chances they had in the final set, and were themselves broken at 4-4, leaving Schuurs and Tang to serve for the match. Up 5-4, 40-15, they had two match points, but failing to convert those, Schuurs and Tang lost their chance, and serving to stay in the match at 5-6 were broken at love to deliver the match to the Bouchard and Min.

In the boys doubles final, Great Britain's George Morgan bettered his runner-up status of last year, taking the title with Mate Pavic of Croatia. The No. 2 seeds defeated Oliver Golding of Great Britain and Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic, the top seeded team, 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 in front of a large and appreciative Court 1 crowd.

More on the boys doubles can be found at wimbledon.com.

Saville Wins Wimbledon Boys Title; Min in Girls Doubles Final; Kvitova Flashback

One of the four junior Wimbledon champions was decided today, with No. 16 seed Luke Saville of Australia coming from behind to beat No. 15 seed Liam Broady of Great Britain 2-6, 6-4, 6-2.

Broady seemed to have the match under control when he took a 2-0 lead in the second set, but the 17-year-old left-hander didn't slam the door, losing his serve at 2-1, and again up a break, at 4-3. Given that third chance, Saville, also 17, seized it and even with a large Court 1 crowd behind him, Broady could not regain any momentum. Saville, who had lost the Australian Open boys final in January in a similarly supportive environment, is the first Australian to win the boys Wimbledon title since Todd Reid in 2002. Reid, who also reached the Australian boys final in 2002 (losing to Clement Morel of France), has become something of a cautionary tale in Australian junior development circles, with his career-high ATP ranking of 105 coming in 2004. He was out of professional tennis by 2007.

Saville told Guy McCrea, who called the match for Radio Wimbledon and will be doing the same for Sunday's girls final, that he isn't certain whether he'll play the US Open juniors in September or not.

For more on the boys final, see the ITF junior website and wimbledon.com.

Sunday's girls final will also feature an Australian, with 15-year-old Ashleigh Barty, seeded 12th, meeting No. 3 seed Irina Khromacheva of Russia. Barty is playing in only her third junior slam, but she has already won enough ITF women's circuit matches to be ranked in the 500s, which is where her 16-year-old-opponent Sunday is also ranked. Barty defeated unseeded Indy De Vroome of the Netherlands 6-4, 6-1 to end the Roehampton champion's grass streak at 10 matches. Khromacheva reached the final, her first in eight junior slam appearances, with a 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-1 win over No. 2 seed Caroline Garcia of France. It was revenge for the Russian, who lost to Garcia 6-1, 6-3 in the Australian Open girls quarterfinals in January.

Grace Min of the US has reached the final of the girls doubles with partner Eugenie Bouchard of Canada. No. 2 seeds Min and Bouchard defeated Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil and Mayya Katsitadze of Russia 6-1, 6-3 in Saturday's semifinals and will play the unseeded team of Demi Schuurs of the Netherlands and Hao Chen Tang of China. Tang failed to qualify for singles, but she is an Junior Olympic gold medalist in doubles, although not with Schuurs, who won the Australian Open girls doubles this year with An-Sophie Mestach of Belgium. Schuurs and Tang defeated Khromacheva and her partner Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-2 in today's semifinals. For more on Min and Bouchard, see Stephanie Myles' blog at the Montreal Gazette.

Although Broady couldn't provide the home crowd with a singles champion this year, there will be another boys doubles title for a British boy. Oliver Golding of Great Britain and Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic, the No. 1 seeds, will face Great Britain's George Morgan and Croatia's Mate Pavic, the No. 2 seeds, in the championship match Sunday. Morgan and Lewis Burton lost in the final last year to Broady and his partner Tom Farquharson.

For complete draws, see wimbledon.com.


Twenty-one-year-old Petra Kvitova powered her way to the women's title today, beating Maria Sharapova 6-3, 6-4 to become the first grand slam singles champion born in the 1990s. Kvitova played very little outside her home country of the Czech Republic as a junior, but her affinity for grass was evident four years ago, when she won Roehampton, and competed the following week at Wimbledon, the only junior slam she ever played. She lost in the third round to Katarzyna Piter of Poland, but I did snap the above photograph of her there in 2007, the only year I attended Wimbledon. She hasn't changed much, but I can't say when I saw her play then that I had any inkling she would win Wimbledon a mere four years later.

Saville Reaches Second Junior Slam Final, Plays Broady for Boys Wimbledon Crown; Buffalo 10K Semis Feature Four US Teens; Tournament Tips

For the second consecutive year, an Australian boy has reached the Wimbledon junior final, but unlike Ben Mitchell, who lost to Hungary's Marton Fucsovics last year, Luke Saville has experience in a grand slam final. The 17-year-old was runner-up in his own country's junior slam back in January, and he is no doubt hoping his opponent tomorrow, Great Britain's Liam Broady, suffers the same fate in his first junior slam singles final, as Saville did when he was the home favorite.

In today's semifinals, neither boy faced too much stress, with Saville taking out unseeded Kaichi Uchida of Japan 6-4, 6-1, and Broady easing past an out-of-sorts Jason Kubler of Australia, also unseeded, 6-4, 6-3. Broady, the No. 15 seed, who has won 11 straight singles matches on grass the past two weeks, is also still in doubles, and on Saturday, he will first play the final against No. 16 seed Saville on Court 1, and then play the semifinals with Filip Horansky of Slovakia in the doubles. Broady and Horansky, the No. 4 seeds, will face No. 2 seed George Morgan of Great Britain and Mate Pavic of Croatia.

For more on the boys final, see wimbledon.com.

The girls quarterfinals saw the end of the American junior hopes for a Wimbledon singles title, with No. 16 seed Vicky Duval falling to No. 12 seed Ashleigh Barty of Australia 6-3, 6-2. The match took only 58 minutes, and nearly a quarter of that time was in fourth game of the first set, when Duval was trying to hold on to her break, leading 2-1. Duval saved 5 break points, but Barty took the sixth, and from there the young Australian provided few chances for Duval, and didn't surrender another break of serve after losing the first game of the match. Barty will play Roehampton champion Indy De Vroome of the Netherlands in Saturday's semifinal, a clash of two of the most promising 15-year-olds in the world. The unseeded De Vroome beat 2010 US Open girls finalist Yulia Putintseva of Russia 6-3, 6-1, a performance that drew praise from Andy Murray's mother Judy, who is a development coach in Scotland.

No. 3 seed Irina Khromacheva had a surprisingly easy time with No. 5 seed Eugenie Bouchard of Canada, taking their quarterfinal 6-2, 6-2, and the 16-year-old Russian will face No. 2 seed Caroline Garcia of France in the other girls semifinal Saturday. Garcia had the one nail-biter of the day, defeating No. 6 seed Montserrat Gonzalez of Paraguay 6-1, 6-7(2), 8-6. I don't see any articles on Wimbledon.com on the girls semifinals, but the ITF junior website daily article has some quotes from De Vroome.

The US does have one junior still vying for a Wimbledon title, with Grace Min in the girls doubles semifinals. Min and her partner Bouchard, the No. 2 seeds, will play unseeded Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil and Mayya Katsitadze of Russia on Saturday.

For complete draws, see wimbledon.com.

In the $10,000 Pro Circuit women's event in Buffalo, four American teens have advanced to the semifinals. Unseeded Danielle Collins will play No. 5 seed Nicole Gibbs in one semifinal, and unseeded Robin Anderson faces No. 2 seed Lauren Davis in the other. For draws and results, see the Pro Circuit page at usta.com.

My weekly piece for the Tennis Recruiting Network is a summer rerun, but it's been years since the Twelve Tips for a Better Tournament Experience was first published on the site, so with all the summer tournaments in the next couple of months, it's an appropriate refresher.