ZooTennis

50,000 Balls; Roland Garros Junior Acceptances Released

2008-05-08T16:33:00.006-04:00

My weekly article for The Tennis Recruiting Network is a Q and A session I conducted with Tom Pura late last week about the documentary he made called 50,000 Balls. Unlike Unstrung, it is not a professionally produced documentary; it is a look at 12-and-under tennis from the eyes of a parent who is living that life. I've seen the DVD several times, as I have known Tom since 2005, when he contacted me as an early reader of zootennis.com. The final edition, which Tom has since learned has been accepted at the Newport International Film Festival, not only provides a contrast to Unstrung, it also has lengthy interviews with Jay Berger, Dave Licker, Al Parker, Tom Gullikson and Chris Lewis among others. I'm not going to do a full-fledged review, since I am much too close to the project to assess it properly, but I will say that I found it to be more authentic--I didn't detect any false notes in the 67 minute production--than Unstrung. For more information on the film, see the website,50kballs.com.

The acceptances are out for the French Open Juniors, and there are four U.S. boys--Ryan Harrison, Bradley Klahn, Chase Buchanan and Jarmere Jenkins--in the main draw as of now. There are three U.S. girls directly accepted: Melanie Oudin, Madison Brengle and Mallory Burdette, although Brengle was quoted as saying in her hometown newspaper today that she didn't know if she was going to play the juniors there. I suppose it depends on how she does in the main draw.

And don't forget to chime in on who you think is going to win the NCAAs by leaving your picks in the comments of this post. Deadline is Wednesday, May 14.

Getting Ready for the NCAAs

2008-05-07T19:30:00.006-04:00

It's good to see so many stories about the upcoming NCAAs surfacing in the MSM (mainstream media in blogspeak). Some are about programs, some about players, some about coaches. The Miami Herald has this article about University of Miami women's coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews. Yaroshuk-Tews, who is expecting her second child in July, recently became the winningest women's tennis coach in Miami history. Here are the final three paragraphs from the story:

The players said Yaroshuk-Tews has softened since having a child, but she still demands impeccable behavior, top-notch academics, a rigorous fitness regime and overall consistency.

"I love the fact that they come into a program and it's not just about tennis," she said. "It's about academics and growing up as people. When they leave here they're more mature, more independent, more accountable.

"It's easy to have a great season, but it's very difficult to have a great career. That's how I come to work every day and lead my life here, making decisions for the betterment of a program, not the betterment of a season."

USA Today published this story on the University of Virginia men's program and its quest for its first national team title in tennis.

The San Francisco Chronicle turned its spotlight on Stanford's Hilary Barte, who explains why she put her pro tennis career on hold in favor of college. (The actual career high in WTA ranking for Barte was 455).

And finally, Jon Wertheim, who has always railed against foreign players in college tennis, does it again today in his mailbag at SI.com. I too wish the majority of players in U.S. colleges were from the United States, and that the sport of tennis was popular enough and produced enough revenue to assure its continued existence on the college level. I admire coaches who can find and develop talent here in the United States and also incorporate talented players from other countries into a team that broadens the cultural perspective of all its members. That is certainly the ideal and Jon is within his rights to call out programs that don't find that happy medium. If he uses his column as a soapbox/bully pulpit, that's fine. But I notice he did stop short of suggesting a solution, because, in this flattened world, I think he knows there isn't one--at least one that will keep college tennis as a viable option for those who want to use it as another developmental tool. My complete response to his earlier Tennis Magazine column two years ago (sorry, no link available) is here, and it, and my Racquet Sports Industry column from last year, thoroughly covers my thoughts on the topic.

Brengle Wins French Open Wild Card, More From Buchanan & Gordon; NCCA Cites 8 Tennis Programs for Falling Short in Academic Progress Report

2008-05-06T17:47:00.008-04:00

Madison Brengle has won her fourth Grand Slam wild card, and third main draw one, defeating Ahsha Rolle last Saturday 6-3, 6-0 in the eight-player tournament held in Boca Raton. For complete results, see usta.com.

Sally Milano of usta.com spoke with Chase Buchanan about his win Sunday in Vero Beach and posted the conversation today. Bonnie Ford has more on Alexis Gordon at espn.com.

The NCAA has posted the names of the schools and teams who are not meeting the requirements of the Academic Progress initiative. Tennis makes up a tiny number (the NCAA's list by sport is here) and unlike other sports, there are no high profile programs. The good news is there are many, many more tennis programs listed in the Public Recognition Awards, which honor high academic performance.

Picking the Winners in NCAA Division I, Care to Try?

2008-05-05T18:16:00.006-04:00

Today on the Tennis Recruiting Network, Harry Cicma, Marc Lucero and I weigh in on the upcoming NCAA Division I tournament. As most of you know, I'm not one for predictions, but I did pick the team finalists, and in a zootennis post last week, picked Barte and Devvarman to take the individual titles.

Last year for the Kalamazoo tournament, I asked readers to select their winners, and I'd like to try that again for the NCAAs. Leave a comment with the names of your men's and women's team winners and men's and women's individual champions, and the school you think the women's doubles champion will come from (as a tiebreaker). That's it. When making your comment (to this post) use a name that has some relation to you, although it does not have to be your real name, post it, and if you are right, you'll be recognized in the Honor Roll and receive the designation of "college tennis expert" just like Harry, Marc and me!

Seriously, I ran across this blog today on D-III men's college tennis, and I'm jealous of all the comments and knowledge bandied about there. (The defending national champions, UC-Santa Cruz, lost in the round of 16, so they've already had a lot to discuss). Although we have some serious college tennis fans here at zootennis, we need more. Take a guess (deadline is next Wednesday, the 14th), there's no cost to this lottery! (I'll add a category called "contest" to this post, so it will still be easy to find a week from now.)

To follow up on the results from yesterday, the U.S girls' victory over Canada in the Junior Fed Cup qualifying is detailed here, and the unbelievable eight-hour length of the tie makes it all the more unfortunate that Canada has been deprived of a spot in the final 16 in September.

TCPalm.com had this story on Chase Buchanan's win in Vero Beach, with an interesting set of statistics of the sort you get from Grand Slam matches at the bottom. The Daily Progress talks with Alexis Gordon about her first pro win in Charlottesville and her future goals.

Buchanan and Gordon Win Pro Circuit Titles

2008-05-04T20:02:00.006-04:00

Chase Buchanan and Alexis Gordon won titles on the Pro Circuit Sunday, and in doing so, once again reminded those of us who love the game that the pathways to success are as unique as the individuals who play it. Buchanan is 16-years-old, has played a lot of Futures qualifying in the past year or two, but until this week, hadn't gotten past the quarterfinals in any of those tournaments, which meant he needed a wild card into the main draw. Today he outlasted the 27-year-old Venezuelan Jose De Armas on the Vero Beach Har-Tru, winning 4-6, 7-5, 7-6(2). The Tennis Hacker blog has the details of the final here.

Former Florida Gator Alexis Gordon is 25 years old, has a three-year-old daughter and a very short resume in professional tennis. She needed to qualify for the $50,000 Boyd Tinsley Pro Circuit event in Charlottesville. Today she downed her second consecutive Top 130 player, upsetting No. 2 seed Olga Puchkova of Russia 6-3, 6-3. An excellent piece of reporting by Whitey Reid in the Daily Progress after Gordon's win yesterday over Yanina Wickmayer provides a look at her decidedly different path to professional tennis.

A new ITF junior event in Hawaii, a Grade 4, wrapped up yesterday and top seed Harry Fowler and No. 2 seed Ester Goldfeld were the winners, taking both singles and doubles titles. For complete draws, see the ITF junior website.

Thanks for the news from commenter t3nnis that the U.S. girls have advanced to the World group in Junior Fed Cup play in Canada. As of the time of this post (9 p.m. Eastern), there was no information posted about Day 3 on the Tennis Canada site.

US Girls Face Tough Test in Jr. Fed Cup Sunday, Buchanan & Gordon Reach Pro Circuit Finals

2008-05-03T19:36:00.005-04:00

The U.S. remained undefeated in the ITF junior team competition qualifying in Montreal, but the girls 14s World Junior Tennis team needed to win the doubles point to get by Canada 2-1. With both boys and girls 14s having 2-0 records, they have earned their spots in August's international competition in the Czech Republic, as the top two teams advance. Christian Harrison had a very impressive 6-1, 6-3 win over Edward Nguyen of Canada, who succeeded Harrison as Les Petits As champion this year. (Correction: Harrison was a finalist at Les Petits As last year. Carlos Boluda won the title.) The US Junior Davis Cup team has also clinched their spot, because their opponent Sunday, Cuba, is 0-2 and the U.S. will have already beaten the other team should both finish 2-1. But because Mexico is guaranteed a spot as host country, there is only one spot available, and one very good team isn't going to make the Junior Fed Cup world championships in September. The U.S. and Canada play tomorrow for that one spot. Both are 2-0, and Canada has two excellent singles players in Gabriela Dabrowski and Katarena Paliivets, so it should be a tense and exciting match.

Evan King and Beatrice Capra are blogging from Montreal for usta.com. King's post is here; a link to Capra's is at the bottom.

For complete results from Montreal, see Tennis Canada's website.

In today's action at the $50,000 Boyd Tinsley Pro Circuit tournament in Charlottesville, qualifer Alexis Gordon, who played for the Florida Gators through 2006, reached the final, taking out 128th ranked and No. 3 seed Yanina Wickmeyer of Belgium in straight sets. She will play No. 2 Olga Puchkova of Russia in Sunday's final.

Easter Bowl champion Chase Buchanan has had his best showing at a Pro Circuit event, reaching the final of the $10,000 Futures tournament in Vero Beach, Fla. after a straight set win over No. 6 seed Luka Gregorc of Slovenia. Buchanan, a wild card, will play unseeded Jose De Armas of Venezuela in Sunday's final.

For complete draws, visit the Pro Circuit homepage on usta.com.

ITF Junior Team Qualifying Begins; A Look at Newcombe's Tennis Academy, News from the Charlottesville Women's Pro Circuit Tournament

2008-05-02T19:14:00.003-04:00

The qualifying for this summer's ITF World Junior Championships and the Junior Davis and Fed Cups is underway in Montreal, and it was a very good day for the U.S. All four teams won their matches 3-0, with the girls 14s--Madison Keys, Grace Min and Kyle McPhillips--winning every GAME they played with Guatemala. Saturday's matches pit three of the U.S. teams against the Canadians, with the Junior Davis Cup match between the two countries being webcast. For complete results and times, see the Tennis Canada website.

The San Antonio Express-News ran a feature story today on life at the John Newcombe Tennis Academy in New Braunfels, Texas. Although I don't agree with Ryan Harrison, who is quoted as saying "It's next to impossible to become a great tennis player if you don't go to an academy," I understand that he hasn't been around long enough to gain some perspective on other methods. And if you consider Pete Sampras as a product of an academy--this story puts him in the Bollettieri camp--Harrison may be right, but Grand Slam champions like Sampras, Davenport, Nadal and Federer really aren't products of academies. And of those more contemporary in age with Harrison, neither are Ryan Thacher, Bradley Klahn and Bernard Tomic. With that said, I don't want to come off as denigrating academies in any way. I think they are often the best option for a player seriously committed to improving their tennis and getting the most out of the sport.

The Charlotteville Daily Progress always provides excellent coverage of the $50,000 Boyd Tinsley Pro Circuit event, and this week is no exception. Kim Couts, who lost today to Bethanie Mattek in the quarterfinals, talked about her win Thursday over Brenda Schultz-McCarthy and her choice of professional tennis in this story. And I admit I wasn't all that familiar with Alexandra Podkolzina, who won the girls USTA 18s national title back in 2002, before I began to follow junior tennis as I'm doing now. She went Cal-Berkley the following year, quit the team after her freshman year, and is now about to graduate, while winning enough matches to be ranked inside the WTA Top 500. This story details her background, and it might not have gotten written if she hadn't beaten top seed Stephanie Dubois in the first round.

April Aces, "Unstrung" Debuts, French Open Wild Card Playoffs

2008-05-01T17:54:00.008-04:00

My April Aces for The Tennis Recruiting Network are primarily the champions from the two events I covered in California, but there are a half dozen others that I didn't have time to write about while I was busy at those tournaments.

The long-awaited broadcast debut of Unstrung, the Mike Tollin-Jim Courier-produced documentary which culminates in the 2005 championships here in Kalamazoo is Saturday on ESPN Classic. For more information about the film, visit the site--unstrungmovie.com. There also have been several reviews (mine, originally for The Tennis Recruiting Network, is here), some of which can be found in links from the blog category "Tennis Movies" on the left. Jon Wertheim of Sports Illustrated talked with Mike Tollin (pictured below during filming at Kalamazoo), and posted this Q & A today.

The USTA is holding their wild card tournaments for the French main draw berths, and today Wayne Odesnik earned the men's with a victory over Jesse Levine. The women's tournment, as for Australia, has twice the number of particpants, and won't finish until Saturday. The usta website posted this story on the results today.

Fields Revealed for NCAA D-I Individual Championships

2008-04-30T18:42:00.008-04:00

In college tennis, we don't have just one "Selection Sunday" as they call it basketball, but two days of announcements for the NCAAs. Yesterday was the NCAA team selection, today the individual fields were posted on ncaa.com.

The men's subcommittee made one change that affected the seeding, with Virginia's Dominic Inglot, who is 17th in the latest rankings, bumping Ohio State's Bryan Koniecko out of his 16th spot. Inglot does have a win over Koniecko last fall at the Indoor, but he's lost his last three completed matches, while Koniecko hasn't lost since he dropped that clinching match to Treat Huey at the Team Indoor. Being members of the two top-ranked teams, they wouldn't meet until the team final, and probably not then, with Koniecko playing at No. 1 now. The draw for the individual tournament is a long way off, but I'll be looking for that potential matchup.

The final at-large bid in the men's went to No. 58 ranked Guillermo Gomez, the Georgia Tech freshman. Luis Flores of Georgia, ranked 59th, is not in the field, but he's also not listed as an alternate, which sounds ominous for Georgia's chances in the team event. Stanford's Matt Bruch and Boise State's Luke Shields are also not in the field, although Shields will compete in doubles with his brother Clancy. For a complete list of the men's field, click here.

Two-time NCAA runnerup Lindsey Nelson of USC was 57th in the most recent rankings and that was just high enough to get the final at-large bid. Kelley Hyndman of Georgia, ranked No. 58, is the first alternate. Notable women not making the cut this year are Stanford's Celia Durkin and Lindsay Burdette, a quarterfinalist last year. All of the alternates should take heart, however, from Washington's Alex Slovic, who reached the semifinals last year as the sixth alternate and the final player to make the field.

For the women's complete list, click here.

I would love to hear from anybody (no anonymous comments please) who thinks that Devvarman will not win the men's title again this year. Although I could come up with a scenario that would make his losing possible, I don't expect it to happen. As for the women, the crystal ball is much murkier. Mijacika of Clemson has been the most consistent all year, but at this stage, I wouldn't bet against Hilary Barte of Stanford.

Studying the NCAA brackets

2008-04-29T19:01:00.004-04:00

I didn't see the ESPNews show announcing the Division I draws for this year's NCAAs (Charter Cable doesn't offer it here in Kalamazoo), so any of you who would like to comment on it, please enlighten me.

But I have spent a few hours studying the selections, and have a few observations. Usually, the last rankings are followed pretty closely, but the men's subcommittee made one big change this year, moving Georgia, ranked fifth, to the fourth seed, and dropping fourth-ranked Ole Miss to the five seed. Should they meet in Tulsa in the quarterfinals, it will be settled on the courts, but I'm not sure I understand the reason for the switch. It's true that Georgia beat Ole Miss 5-2 back in early March in their only head-to-head, but Ole Miss just won the conference tournament, so I would have been inclined to stick with the rankings. The other change flipped Florida and Baylor, with Baylor moving up to 9, where Florida was in the latest rankings.

Michigan's men captured the 16th spot, which means I'll be able to travel to Ann Arbor for that regional, where they will host unranked Western Michigan, No. 51 Harvard and No. 17 Texas Tech.

Western is one of 12 unranked conference winners in the field of 64, which means that there are teams in the Top 50 who did not get in. The highest ranked, at 45, was the University of New Mexico of the Mountain West Conference. St. Mary's College of California (47), Arkansas-Fayetteville (48), Louisville (49) and Fresno State (50) are others who did not receive at-large bids.

There are five men's teams with losing records with three of them, Southern (10-11, SWAC), Oral Roberts (7-9, Summit), Hawaii (8-10, WAC) winning their conference championships. Auburn (10-12) of the SEC was ranked 35, with wins over Oklahoma State, LSU and Vanderbilt helping their cause. The ACC's Duke, 10-13, was ranked 43rd, and was probably one of the last teams in since their only win against a team in the tournament was over No. 19 Miami. Denver's 4-3 win over New Mexico back in February may have been the match deciding the final at-large bid, with 44th ranked Denver getting it.

By the way, there are two undefeated teams on the men's side. Everyone knows about top-ranked Virginia, of course, but Drake, ranked 46th, is 24-0. They will meet LSU in the Illinois-hosted regional.

The women's subcommittee made no notable changes. There are 15 unranked conference winners in the draw, and four Top 50 teams who were not extended at-large bids: Virginia (47), Brigham Young (48) Marshall (49) and South Alabama (50). The last team in was probably 8-13 Wake Forest, ranked 46th, and with wins over Virginia and two tournament teams--No. 25 Tennessee and No. 30 Indiana. The only other team with a losing record on the women's side is 9-10 Quinnipiac, who won the Northeast Conference tournament bid.

As for most intriguing round of 16 match, I'll go with Ohio State vs. Illinois on the men's side given Sunday's 4-3 barn burner in the conference final and the Illini's quarterfinal win over the Buckeyes at last year's NCAAs. For the women, it's got to be No. 13 Clemson against No. 4 Stanford. Not only will it feature two of the top three women players in the country in Ani Mijacika of Clemson and Hilary Barte of Stanford, but it will pit arguably the hottest team (excepting Northwestern, of course) against the most storied program. Stanford has something to prove after losing last year in the semifinals to UCLA, and if they come through this year with Clemson, Baylor, Duke, Cal and Northwestern all in their half, they will have earned their berth in the finals.

For complete draws, click here for the men, and here for the women. The individual tournament field will be released on Wednesday at ncaa.com.

Expected and Unexpected Winners at Conference Tournaments

2008-04-28T14:46:00.005-04:00

The Big Ten's conference tournament champions have been the same for the past three years now, with the Northwestern women and the Ohio State men claiming titles yesterday. The nation's No. 1 ranked team, Northwestern breezed past No. 21 Michigan 4-0, and the only blemish on their record is their loss to Georgia Tech in the finals of the Team Indoor back in February. The Ohio State men also have suffered only one loss, and theirs also came in the finals of the Team Indoor, when Virginia beat them 4-1. Yesterday Ohio State came close to their second defeat, when Illinois took a 3-2 lead, but both No. 2 Justin Kronauge and No. 3 Steven Moneke came through in three sets after dropping the first to give the Buckeyes the win. The Buckeye website has the details here and Marcia Frost of collegeandjuniortennis.com was also there.

If those results were expected, the Big 12 produced a surprise, as the Baylor men, ranked 11th, upset No. 6 Texas 4-2. The third-ranked women came through as expected. For more on both finals, see kwtx.com.

In the WAC, there was also a surprise on the men's side as No. 4 seed Hawaii, led by freshman Dennis Lajola, defeated both No. 1 seed Boise State and No. 2 seed Fresno State to take that conference's automatic bid. The Fresno State women won their seventh straight WAC title.

The Mid-American conference also produced a surprise in the form of the Buffalo women defeating regular season conference champions Western Michigan 4-3. The Western Michigan men, who like the women, won the regular season conference title, did earn the NCAA bid.

For a wrap up of the Pac-10 singles and doubles at Ojai, click here. (Note to photo caption author: Van't Hof is left-handed).

Tomorrow (Tuesday) the bids and regional sites are announced at 2:30 p.m. Eastern on ESPNews.

Alison Riske's Fed Cup Diary

2008-04-27T19:23:00.004-04:00

When I interviewed Alison Riske last year at the U.S. Open for a Tennis Recruiting profile (now available in its entirety only to Recruiting Advantage members), she mentioned writing as one of her favorite subjects in school. The recently named Bill Talbert Sportsmanship award winner got an opportunity to put that creative writing talent to use this weekend in Moscow, when she kept a diary of her experience as a "Future Fed Cupper," during the semifinal tie.

The U.S. was beaten by Russia 3-2, with the final two matches dead rubbers, but from Riske's charming posts, it sounds as if it was anything but a loss for those making the trip. Although Riske is not quite as off-the-wall as Dmitry Tursunov, the resident ATP blogger, the copious use of exclamation points and the tale of harrowing foreign car rides brings to mind his famous Estoril blog of two years ago. (For the right chronology, start at the bottom and work up.) Coco Vandeweghe was also in Moscow as a hitting partner, but she managed just two posts, in contrast to Riske's eight.

I will be posting a wrap on the major college conference tournament results tomorrow.

Kalamazoo College Wins 70th Consecutive Conference Title and NCAA D-III Bid

2008-04-26T19:12:00.009-04:00

The Northwestern women meet Michigan tomorrow at the conference tournament for their 10th straight Big Ten title, an impressive accomplishment. But if the the top-ranked Wildcats win as expected, they will still need 60 more to match the Kalamazoo College Hornets.

I decided to head to Stowe Stadium today, in spite of the cold front that came through last night, dropping the temperatures from the low 80s to the mid 40s. The stiff north wind was an unpleasant reminder of a very long winter here in Kalamazoo, but the sun came out in time for the afternoon's championship contest between Kalamazoo and Calvin College, located an hour north in Grand Rapids.

Kalamazoo, which had already clinched a share of the championship by finishing atop the MIAA regular season standings, had not only sole possession of the title, but also the NCAA bid on the line today. Coach Mark Riley, in his first year at Kalamazoo, knew well the tradition of the streak, having played on the team in the early 80s when George Acker was in charge. But there didn't seem to be any particular pressure evident; and even the Calvin fans, of whom there were plenty, seemed to be resigned to a second place finish.

Kalamazoo ended up winning by a 6-3 score. For those of you who don't follow Division III tennis, the format differs from Division I only in that all three doubles contests have a point at stake. After Hornets Matt Wise and Patrick Boyd won at No. 2 by an 8-5 score and Calvin's No. 1 team of Marcus Zeilstra and Steve DeMaagd had prevailed 8-6, it was down to the threes. K's Joe Unger and Cyrus Jaden had a 6-2 lead, only to see it evaporate, but they won the tiebreaker to give K a 2-1 advantage heading into the singles.

The power that dominates in Division I tennis is rare in DIII players, and the standard baseline game isn't much in evidence either. Getting to the net was the goal, and I saw more approach shots today than I saw all week at the Easter Bowl. For these players, hitting a winner from the baseline is rare, so many of them have adopted a game style that dares their opponent to pass. I saw K's No. 1 Jason Brown make good on that dare often today in his 6-2, 6-3 win over Ricky Tilton, but more often the player at the baseline was unable to put pressure on the attacker, even when the latter had hit an indifferent volley.

Brown's point gave the Hornets a 4-1 lead, with Tim Hubbard at No. 4 having collected the third point, so the Knights needed to take the remaining four matches on court to pull the upset. It wasn't out of the question--they had the lead in three of them--but couldn't finish any of them before Boyd, at No. 5, put it out of reach with a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Mike Goorhouse of Calvin.

Boyd, who makes Roger Federer look demonstrative, gave a small fist pump, and Riley raised both his arms as if signalling a touchdown, but the celebration was decidedly low-key.

I guess that happens when you've done it 69 times before. For all scores, click here.

Marcia Frost is in Iowa City for the Men's Big Ten championships, which finds Ohio State battling Illinois for the title for the fifth straight year. Go to collegeandjuniortennis.com for Marcia's coverage.

And Ken Thomas of radiotennis.com will be in Ojai on Sunday, covering the Pac-10 individual championships. This is a FREE service, so log in and listen to it, streamed live to your computer. I can confidently say that USC will win at least one of the finals as the men's features Kaes Van't Hof against teammate Robert Farah. In fact all four semifinalists were Trojans on the men's side. The women's final has USC's Amanda Fink taking on UCLA's Riza Zalameda. For complete draws, see the Ojai TennisLink site.

Coaches Q &A: Now we have to play doubles!

2008-04-25T11:54:00.005-04:00

Today we tap the professional expertise of Andy Brandi and Harold Solomon of the Harold Solomon Tennis Institute in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on the subject of doubles. Andy Brandi provies these tips:

Not so long ago, it was not popular to play doubles. In the last few years the ITF and the USTA and its sections have combined their rankings and we are now facing the task of having to play doubles. It is interesting watching juniors playing doubles because it is like two players playing singles. As it is, two good singles player do not automatically make a good doubles team.

Here are five suggestions for better doubles play:

Chemistry
Team chemistry might be the most important factor in a good doubles team. If two players get along really well, they have a good chance of being successful. They will be able to communicate better, keep each other relaxed, and trust each other more. Complementing styles are essential. For example, a good aggressive baseliner will do great with a good all-court player. The all-court player can take advantage of the aggressive baseliner’s groundstrokes and returns while he is at net.

Communication
Communication needs to happen before, after and during the points. Most successful pro doubles teams communicate religiously. They talk before the point and discuss strategy after the point to encourage each other and make plans for the next point. During the point they help each other by calling for balls, or switching sides to effectively cover the court.

Two Important Firsts
Get first serves in play! Be most effective by serving a high percentage of first serves. Make it easy for the net person to poach and put more pressure on the returner. Good serves take all the pressure off your team. Be sure to mix placement.

Make first volleys; if you are coming in, you need to be smart on how to play your first volleys. Do you hit it deep? Do you go with a short x-ct angle or do you hit it down the line?

Returns
Get returns in play; make the other team play. At the same time, look at returns as a means to create some offensive opportunities. Mix up the returns by hitting some down the line or by lobbing.

Be Willing to Poach
Poaching is one of the most difficult things to get players to do, but it makes your team more effective. By poaching, the server will be able to hold more easily because of the distractions the partner is creating at the net. Do not forget you can poach off returns as well. When at net, do not be a statue or a good spectator; get involved in the points! Guard the middle and not the alley.

Although very basic, we hope that these tips help you become a better doubles player. Good luck!

Do you have a question for Andy or Harold? If so, please send it to clewis[at]zootennis[dot]com with the phrase Coaches Q and A in the subject line.

Rachael White Profile; Querrey Downs Gasquet to Reach Monte Carlo Quarterfinals

2008-04-24T17:39:00.006-04:00

My weekly article for The Tennis Recruiting Network is this recruiting profile of Midwest section junior Rachael White. Until Mobile, I had not seen her play, but after she won the K-Swiss and a National Open back-to-back I made a point to watch her there, and was impressed with her ball-striking. I imagine come July 1, she'll be getting lots of phone calls from college coaches.

The big news in tennis today, in the U.S. anyway, was Sam Querrey's win over No. 7 seed Richard Gasquet on the red clay in Monte Carlo. For the first time since last year's U.S. Open, I had a chance to chat with Sam while I was in Carson, where he was training on the clay courts there with his coach Grant Doyle and Michael McClune. During a lunch break, he came down to watch fellow Thousand Oaks resident and sometimes hitting partner Denis Lin in his third round match against ISC top seed Alexei Grigorov. He was excited about going to Europe again this year to play on clay, and with wins over Moya and Gasquet this week, he's certainly gaining confidence every day. Bonnie Ford spoke with both Querrey and Doyle about his recent unexpected success and filed this story today at espn.com.

One tournament that Querrey surprisingly didn't win was the Men's Open at Ojai; this year's tournament began today. Visiting that tournament, now in its 108th(!) year, is high on my personal "bucket list"; everyone in Southern California tennis speaks glowingly of it. Querrey competed in the Men's Open division in both 2005 and 2006, losing to Cecil Mamiit in the quarters when Mamiit was the top seed, and to Zbynek Mlynarik in the finals, when Querrey was the top seed.

Ryan Thacher, who has been playing high school tennis, but few junior events this year, is in the Men's Open draw, which can be found here. Ojai also serves as the Pac-10 singles and doubles championships, and has a small college and a high school component as well. For the tournament's website, go to ojaitourney.org.

Bolliettieri to Assist USTA

2008-04-23T18:15:00.004-04:00

When Patrick McEnroe was revealed as the USTA's choice for GM of Elite Development, one of the initiatives mentioned was working more closely with academies. Only a few weeks later comes this announcement that Nick Bollettieri will assist in the training of several of the USTA's prime prospects, including Donald Young.

Two of those prospects, Sachia Vickery, the 14s Easter Bowl champion and Vicky Duval, are now residents at the NBTA, and on Sunday, the Miami Herald's Michelle Kaufman spoke with Bollettieri about his new charges. You can't help but get excited about their futures when he says:

"I want to help the future of American tennis, and it's important to find youngsters like Vicki and Sachia, girls who have so many fantastic qualities, such talent, and really, really love the sport," Bollettieri said.

"Would you believe when they got off the plane from California, the first thing they did was come to the court and ask if they could practice? They have passion. They say, 'Thank you.' They give hugs when they leave the court. And they are A students. This is what our country needs. They have the potential to be darn good."

Another story, this one from the Boca Raton News profiles Julia O'Loughlin, one of the USTA's players training at Boca Raton, and her family's journey around the country to find suitable competition.

And because I was in California, I didn't give much attention to the 12s Spring Nationals in Delray Beach, but Marcia Frost of collegeandjuniortennis.com was there, and filed daily reports. Marcia's been plenty busy with her new book American Doubles, and she now has a myspace page where you can learn more about its imminent publication.

Talbert Sportsmanship Award Winners Announced

2008-04-22T17:30:00.010-04:00

I'm a little late on this, as the announcement of the 2007 Bill Talbert Junior Sportsmanship Award recipients was made earlier this month at the USTA meeting in Naples, Florida. Pictured below are the four winners, Alexa Glatch, Michael Sicora, Alison Riske and Evan King. To my knowledge, the USTA did not send out a press release, but this is a much sought-after honor, as it includes an invitation to Newport, Rhode Island for the Hall of Fame induction ceremony and tournament. Families who have gone tell me they are treated like royalty, and that for their son or daughter, it is one of the highlights of their junior tennis careers. As with Sam Querrey receiving the honor last year, Alexa Glatch's selection is more a junior lifetime achievement award than for the particular year; Glatch played only one junior tournament in 2007, at Roland Garros.

Next to each photo I've put the player's name, with a link to their section's write up about their award (except for Alison Riske, who isn't featured by Middle States. She is on her way to Moscow, however, as a Fed Cup hitting partner for this weekend's tie).
Alexa Glatch
Evan King

Michael Sicora

Inside Junior Tennis Podcast; Conference Championships

2008-04-21T16:32:00.003-04:00

Kevin McClure and I had a lot to talk about in this Inside Junior Tennis podcast. In addition to the ISC and Easter Bowl, we discussed Patrick McEnroe's recent appointment as GM of Elite Player Development, Ryan Harrison, the Tennis Recruiting Network's Top Ten seniors and more. I've appreciated hearing comments from those of you who listen to the podcast, and I know Kevin does too. If you have a moment to write a brief review, on iTunes, we'd welcome it.

It was a busy and dramatic weekend of college tennis. John supplies his account of the Stanford women's victory over Cal, which gave the Cardinal a share of the Pac-10 crown with UCLA.

The real drama came in the SEC and ACC women's conference championships, however, which both came down to the third set in the final match with the score tied at 3-3. Georgia won its second straight SEC conference tournament when sophomore Naoko Ueshima outlasted Florida freshman Marrit Boonstra 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-4 at No. 4 singles, avenging the Bulldogs' 5-2 loss to the Gators last month. Georgiadogs.com has the complete story here.

Ole Miss won the men's SEC title, downing Florida 4-1. The details are here.

The Virginia men took all the suspense out of their ACC tournament title, taking down surprise finalist Miami 4-0.

But the women's final more than made up for that, when it was decided in a third set tiebreaker at No. 3 singles between Duke freshman Reka Zsilinszka and Clemson senior Carol Salge. Salge prevailed 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(6) to give the No. 4 seeded Tigers, who had upset No. 1 seed Georgia Tech in the semifinals Saturday, their tenth straight win heading into the NCAAs. For more, click here.

The Big Ten and Big-12 will conduct their conference tournaments this coming weekend. The Conference USA men's and women's titles both went to Tulsa, who is hosting the NCAAs next month.

Easter Bowl Slideshow

2008-04-20T16:09:00.004-04:00

These slide shows have become one of my favorite post-tournament tasks. It takes time, but I enjoy selecting and tweaking the photos for inclusion. In order to get them on YouTube, I've started using animoto, a free program (for 30-second videos only), which doesn't allow me to control the process like Slideroll does. But it also is a chance to reach a wider audience, and it's not difficult, so why not? The Animoto/YouTube version is here.

Create a Free Slideshow

UCLA Earns Two PAC-10 Titles Friday; Kriese Says Goodbye to Clemson, but Not Tennis

2008-04-19T16:03:00.007-04:00

The UCLA vs. USC men's dual match is always huge, even when one team or the other is rebuilding. This year, it pitted the country's No. 4 (USC) against No. 5 (UCLA) and the excitement was building even two weeks ago, when I was in Carson. It decided the Pac-10 title, as it did last year, and again it was UCLA that finished on top, with a 4-3 victory at USC. Details of the match are here at uclabruins.cstv.com.

Key quote from UCLA head coach Billy Martin:
"They threw everything they could at us but we stayed focused. Everyone from the football team to the song girls to the band was there. It was a vocal crowd and I've seen some really good players buckle in those types of situations. But everyone did a great job at handling the pressure. I couldn't be more proud of this team than I am today."

This was expected to be a rebuilding year, with the loss of Kohlloeffel to graduation and Haythem Abid to wrist surgery this past fall. (He's unlikely to return for the NCAAs). But the contributions of freshmen Holden Seguso and Nick Meister have made a big difference as has the transfer in of No. 1 Harel Srugo from Old Dominion.

The UCLA women may have a long and storied history, and in reaching the NCAA team finals last year, outperformed the men's team. But with Stanford in the Pac-10, conference titles have been hard to come by; with their 5-2 win over USC at home yesterday, they earned a share of the conference title with the winner of this afternoon's Cal-Stanford showdown. It is their first Pac-10 title ever. The match account is here.

When I read some months ago that Chuck Kriese was retiring as coach of the Clemson men, I had wanted to note it, but let it slide, hoping that his final year with the team would not come to an end until the NCAA round of 16 in Tulsa. After a 4-3 loss to Virginia Tech yesterday at the ACC conference tournament, it looks very unlikely that will happen, so here is the Clemson Tigers site on that match and on the Kriese legacy. But although Kriese and his outside-the-box thinking will be missed on the U.S. college scene, he won't be leaving tennis. This USA Today story sketches out his plans for helping the Thai tennis federation and what he has meant to some of his past players.

And speaking of Clemson, the women's team came up with a big win in today's ACC tournament, taking down the nation's No. 2 team and ACC top seed Georgia Tech, 4-1. They will face Duke in tomorrow's final. For the ACC tournament page, click here.

USTA Announces Teams for ITF Junior Team Qualifying

2008-04-18T14:32:00.003-04:00

The USTA has released the names of the players representing the U.S. in next month's regional qualifying taking place in Montreal.

The teams for the 14s World Junior Tennis competition are:
BOYS:
Alexios Halebian, Glendale, CA
Christian Harrison, New Braunfels, TX
Tyler Gardiner, Novi, MI
Coach: Kent Kinnear
GIRLS:
Madison Keys, Boca Raton, FL
Kyle McPhillips, Willoughby, OH
Grace Min, Lawrenceville, GA
Coach: Jai Dilouie

The 16-and-under teams for Junior Davis Cup and Junior Fed Cup qualifying are:
BOYS:
Jordan Cox, Duluth, GA
Evan King, Chicago, IL
Raymond Sarmiento, Fontana, CA
Coach: David Roditi
GIRLS:
Kristie Ahn, Upper Saddle River, NJ
Brooke Bolender, Delray Beach, FL
Beatrice Capra, Ellicott City, MD
Coach: Robin White

The format for both events is a four-team round robin, with the top two teams advancing to the 16-team international finals in August and September.

Easter Bowl Wrap; Brengle Named to Fed Cup Team; Cohen and Keys Profiles

2008-04-17T19:57:00.005-04:00

My Easter Bowl wrap-up is this week's post for The Tennis Recruiting Network. I know it isn't always possible to read my daily updates from tournaments, so these look-backs help to sum up the tournament in one place at one time.

It was announced yesterday that Madison Brengle will be a part of the U.S. Fed Cup team facing Russia later this month in Moscow. Unfortunately, she isn't joined by Davenport, Harkelroad or either of the Williams sisters, so it will be tough going for the U.S. The News Journal has Brengle's thoughts on representing the U.S. here.
(A widely circulated AP story had Brengle as an amateur, but that was wrong, and I believe has been corrected now.)

Frequent commenter Scott sent me a link to this story from the Florida Alligator that profiles Julia Cohen, and delves into her plans for the future.

And Play Tennis Florida, a new magazine serving the members of the USTA Florida section, features this story on Eddie Herr and Orange Bowl 12s champion Madison Keys, who is on their April cover.

International Spring Championship Slideshow

2008-04-16T19:36:00.003-04:00

The Home Depot Center is an excellent site for shooting tennis, and I look forward to filling my photo library there every year. An Easter Bowl slideshow will follow in a few days. For the shorter Animoto/YouTube version with music, click here.

Create a Free Slideshow

Ryan Harrison to Appear on ESPN.COM chat Wednesday at 2:30 pm Eastern

2008-04-16T12:31:00.004-04:00

The link to submit a question in advance is here.

UPDATE: Ryan chatted for 20 minutes, but the complete transcript is available only to ESPN insider subscribers. Some of the quotes are in this Reuters story, but it rather embarassingly insists Harrison's next opponent is James Blake, when Blake has yet to win his first round match against Kei Nishikori tonight. The caption in the photo on espn.com has incorrect information about his age. He will be 16 in less than a month.

College Tennis Surprises

2008-04-15T20:14:00.003-04:00

I've been out of touch with college tennis the past two weeks, except for the tidbits picked up here and there from a few of the college coaches recruiting at Carson, before the signing week dead period began. The ITA released the latest rankings today, and they aren't showing many significant changes, with Northwestern leading the women's rankings and Virginia the men's. Virginia completed its regular season undefeated, and won its fifth straight ACC title. The Cavaliers will open ACC tournament play this weekend in Florida. The Daily Progress filed this story.

Another impressive winning streak came to an end when Tennessee dealt Georgia a 4-3 loss in Knoxville on Saturday. Georgia had won 40 straight SEC matches before the Volunteers took wins at the No. 2 and No. 1 positions to clinch the upset. Utsports.com has the details here.

The University of Texas-Austin men's team was upset by Texas Tech over the weekend, and again it was on the road and by a 4-3 score. The Texas Tech website provides the specifics here.

Yet another 4-3 win, this one by the Cal men over Washington, is the subject of this eyewitness report by Bear fan John Tsutsui.

And finally, Ohio State continued its domination of the Big Ten with a close 5-2 win over Illinois. Four of the singles matches went three sets, two ended in tiebreakers, and the Buckeyes prevailed in both. For more on the match, see fightingillini.com.