USTA Nationals Entry Deadline Thursday; Keys Beats Serena; Lertcheewakarn, Capra Features

Thursday, July 16th at noon EDT is the deadline for entering the USTA National Championships. Every year it seems there is a player or two who would have been selected if only he or she had entered. But because they "forgot" to enter, they must ask for a wild card, and the USTA rarely awards them for that circumstance. If you want to play the Nationals, enter, via the TennisLink site. Now.

It's hard to know what to make of Madison Keys's 5-1 women's singles win over Serena Williams last night, when the Philadelphia Freedoms lost to the Wimbledon champion's Washington Kastles 19-18 in overtime. The Philadelphia papers didn't make much of it; the stories filed were about Serena, but there was no reporting on the actual competition between Keys and Williams. Tennis Week did cover it, although there's nothing in this story to indicate the writer was at the match.

There has been nothing like the aftermath of Laura Robson's 2008 girls Wimbledon title for 2009 champion Noppawan Lertcheewakarn of Thailand, at least not in the English-speaking press, but she is getting some attention for her singles and doubles titles at the All England Lawn Tennis Club. The Bangkok Post isn't too happy with the lack of financial support for the country's biggest junior tennis star. (You can also learn her favorite fruit in this story, a question I've never thought to ask in my interviews.) Her shopping habits are also thoroughly explored in this definitely non-tennis feature from The Nation. Chuck Kriese, who retired last year after 33 years as head coach of men's tennis at Clemson, took a player development position with the Thai federation, and he accompanied Lertcheewakarn to Wimbledon. She has spoken highly of his influence on her game, and James Beck, writing for the Charleston Post-Courier, filed this story on Kriese's life in Thailand and on what it meant to him to escort a Wimbledon champion to the ball.

For some reason the girls Wimbledon final is not available on nbc.com, but Sunday's boys final between Andrey Kuznetsov and Jordan Cox was recorded, and is available to watch on the website, in the July 5 archive. Unlike the Devin Britton - Alex Domijan quarterfinal, this one has commentary.



The Baltimore Sun spoke with Beatrice Capra about her recent success in the junior Grand Slams and with her mother about the college decision in this story. The Wimbledon match referred to in the story was not her second round win over Curovic but her first round encounter with An-Sophie Mestach of Belgium.

Tags: college tennis, junior tennis, USTA National Championships, Madison Keys, Noppawan Lertcheewakarn, Chuck Kriese, Clemson, Wimbledon, Beatrice Capra, Colette Lewis

Former Collegians Shine in Pro Circuit, Davis Cup, World University Games

Marcia Frost has already posted an article on this theme over at College Tennis Examiner, and I've come across even more collegiate success stories today. I received some photos by email from Brandon L'Heureux, a Dallas-area teaching pro who attended the $50,000 Women's Pro Circuit event in Grapevine, Texas. Although there were no college players in the women's final (Canada's Valerie Tetreault fought off match points to win 2-6, 7-6(6), 7-6(1) over countrywoman Stephanie Dubois, surviving a heat index that reached 110 degrees, he reports), the doubles title was won by Riza Zalameda, the NCAA team MVP when UCLA won the title in 2008 and the NCAA doubles champion (with Tracy Lin) that year. Playing with Lindsay Lee-Waters, the No. 2 seeds defeated the unseeded pair of Kim Couts and Tetreault 7-6(5) 6-3. It is Zalameda's third $50,000 doubles title in the past two months--she previously won in Raleigh with Lilia Osterloh and in Carson with Laura Granville--and not once has her team needed a match tiebreaker to advance. In fact, the tiebreaker in the opening set yesterday was only time an opposing team has taken more than four games from Zalameda and her partner. She is now approaching the Top 100 in the WTA doubles rankings, and I imagine if she doesn't get into the US Open women's doubles draw, she'll be on the short list for a wild card.

Also of note from that tournament, Georgia Tech rising sophomore Irina Falconi reached the semifinals as an unseeded wild card before losing a close match to Dubois. The complete results can be found at usta.com.

Zalameda wasn't the only former Bruin to capture a tournament title last week. Haythem Abid of Tunisia won a $15,000 ITF Men's Circuit event in Syria as a qualifier. The left-hander had reached the final of a $10,000 tournament in his home country last month.



University of Kentucky All-American Bruno Agostinelli of Canada was the hero of his country's bid to stay in the America Zone Group 1, after they had lost 3-2 to Ecuador in March, a tie that Agostinelli, a senior at Kentucky, did not participate in. Yesterday, Agostinelli was not only playing in the deciding match against Peru, on clay, but was forced to sleep on a two sets to one lead when darkness led to suspension of the match. The National Post had this story on the completion of today's match.

Alex Slovic, an All-American at the University of Washington, won the men's tennis gold medal at the World University Games in Serbia, his home country last weekend. Slovic, who was unseeded, beat Tennessee junior JP Smith of Australia in the fourth round and top seed Ivan Sergeyev of Ukraine in the final. See the gohuskies.com for the complete story. I believe that Virginis'a Dom Inglot and his partner won the silver in men's doubles, and that Russia's Ksenia Lykina took the women's gold, but I can't find complete results anywhere online.

And finally, Vanderbilt University's athletic website compiled a list of the highlights of incoming freshman Alison Riske's summer action in this article.

Tags: college tennis, Riza Zalameda, Haythem Abid, UCLA, Bruno Agostinelli, University of Kentucky, Alex Slovic, University of Washington, Alison Riske, Vanderbilt University, Colette Lewis

Ram Wins Newport Title; Isner Beats Devvarman at Kennedy Funding; Strode Falls in Pittsburgh Final; Mamalat Takes ITA Summer Circuit Event

Although the U.S. Davis Cup team took a disappointing loss to Croatia this weekend, there was one big American winner from it. Former Illinois player Rajeev Ram, a lucky loser who got into the Campbell's Hall of Fame Championships in Newport, Rhode Island when Mardy Fish withdrew to fill in for Andy Roddick in Croatia, won his first ATP singles title with a 6-7(3), 7-5, 6-3 victory over No. 3 seed Sam Querrey. Ram, who won the Kalamazoo 16s singles and doubles titles in 2000 and Kalamazoo 18s doubles titles the next two years (all with Jonathan Stokke), has been posting excellent doubles results in the past couple of years, but few expected a ATP Tour title from him, given his singles ranking of 181.

Both Querrey and Ram were Bill Talbert Junior Sportsmanship winners, and yesterday Jeremy Efferding, Ryan Lipman, Ryan Thacher and Gary Wang were honored as the 2008 recipients. The USTA Florida section had this story about Efferding on their website.

At the Kennedy Funding Invitational, a non-ATP fund-raising event that has become popular with many former collegiate players, John Isner avenged his 2007 NCAA finals loss to Somdev Devvarman, defeating the defending champion 3-6, 6-4, 6-2. The Lower Hudson Journal News had this story on the men's final, and on the women's semifinals. Melanie Oudin won the women's event easily today, losing only one game in her match with Lauren Cash.

Devvarman, who is only 2-8 on the challenger circuit this year and hasn't posted any notable results outside of Davis Cup since reaching the final of the Chennai Open in January, was interviewed recently about his slump. Click here for the story from the Hindu. Devvarman is scheduled to compete in the Aptos challenger next week.

In the Pittsburgh Futures final today, Dennis Zivkovic won both the singles and doubles titles, beating lucky loser Blake Strode in two tiebreaks, then teaming with Haydn Lewis to defeat Austin Krajicek and Rhyne Williams 6-3, 3-6, 10-3. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reveals Zivkovic's local ties in this story, and speaks with Anna Mamalat, the 15-year-old who won the ITA Summer Circuit Women's event at the same venue. For complete draws, see the TennisLink site.

For complete Pro Circuit results, see usta.com.

Tags: college tennis, junior tennis, Rajeev Ram, John Isner, Somdev Devvarman, Melanie Oudin, Kennedy Funding Invitational, Jeremy Efferding, Bill Talbert Sportsmanship, Anna Mamalat, Colette Lewis

Coaches Q and A: Is Grunting/Screaming Really Necessary?

In this month's Coaches Q & A, we tap the expertise of Andy Brandi and Harold Solomon of the Harold Solomon Tennis Institute in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on a very controversial topic in professional tennis today.

The recent focus on the noise made by Michelle Larcher de Brito, Victoria Azarenka, Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams during competiton came to dominate much of the conversation about women's tennis at Wimbledon. What causes players to adopt this practice, and is there a need for regulation of the volume?

Harold Solomon responds:

For players to hit the ball effectively, they need to let the air out of their bodies during each shot. We teach our players to breathe out when the ball hits the racket. Breathing allows the body to stay loose and flowing during the hitting process, while holding your breath will tend to shorten the swing and produces a much stiffer and mechanical shot.

Many players emit some sort of sound or grunt upon striking the ball, and this is an effective way of assuring that you are breathing correctly on the court. There is no therapeutic reason however for the excessive sounds that some players make, especially on the women’s tour. Rather, the loud grunting has simply become one of the players’ normal routines or habits.

Loud grunting is a major distraction to fans attending the matches and watching on television. It may seem cute to players, parents or coaches when the player is young, but it is definitely not something that is attractive to fans or sponsors. Players need to learn to breathe effectively, but keep from becoming a distraction on the court.

And with the National Clay Courts and Hard Courts coming up, please see Harold and Andy's suggestions from a previous installment on playing in extreme heat.

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. Next month they will answer a question on the benefits of boys and girls playing and training together.

Tags: junior tennis, Coaches Q & A, Harold Solomon Tennis Institute, Colette Lewis

Stephens Beats Venus in WTT; More NY Buzz Personnel Changes; Rhyne Williams, Jordan Cox and Melanie Oudin Features; Texas Recruiting Classes

As I tweeted earlier today, Sloane Stephens, one of the amateur juniors comprising the World Team Tennis New York Buzz, had a very special moment last night when she defeated Venus Williams of the Philadelphia Freedoms 5-3. The Schenectady Daily Gazette, which has done a great job covering the team, calls it a "pinch-me" win for Stephens, in this article. Madison Keys did not play for the Freedoms, and Christina McHale has still not played for the Buzz, with Mallory Burdette helping out with doubles last night against the formidable pairing of Williams and Lisa Raymond. Alex Domijan also won his singles match, beating Australian Nathan Healey 5-3.

The Buzz play the Kansas City Explorers tonight, with Jack Sock joining the team as a substitute for the injured Evan King. Ryan Lipman will then take King's place on the roster for the remainder of the season.

At the Pittsburgh Futures, lucky loser Blake Strode and wild card Steve Johnson have advanced to the semifinals. Strode defeated Matt Kandath in today's quarterfinals and Johnson took out Austin Krajicek. Krajicek has reached the doubles final however, with 2007 singles champion Rhyne Williams. Williams is the subject of this story in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. According to the reporter, Karen Price, Williams is now being coached by former USTA national coach Martin Van Daalen. Williams lost to Matej Bocko of Slovakia in today's quarterfinals.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution had two tennis stories today: one about Melanie Oudin, which mistakenly says that she is the youngest player in the WTA Top 100 (she is second, behind Michelle Larcher de Brito). The reporter has acknowledged the error, and I assume a correction will follow. The other is a short feature on Wimbledon junior finalist Jordan Cox.

The Texas College Tennis blogger, who will be revealing his identity in a few weeks in an interview I'm doing for the Tennis Recruiting Network, reviews the 2009 men's recruiting classes of Texas A & M and Texas in this post today.

Finally, I get a lot of questions on where I'll be in upcoming weeks and months, so I've installed a calendar in the sidebar that provides that information. As soon as I have firm dates I will update the calendar, but I can't guarantee that it will be 100% accurate at all times.

Tags: college tennis, junior tennis, Sloane Stephens, World Team Tennis, New York Buzz, Rhyne Williams, Melanie Oudin, Jordan Cox, Texas College Tennis, Tennis Recruiting Network, Colette Lewis