Wimbledon Qualifying began for the men today. Top seed American Taylor Dent, 12th seed Ryan Sweeting, 23rd seed Kevin Kim, Michael Yani, Robert Kendrick, Alex Kuznetsov, Bobby Reynold, and Jesse Witten still have to play their first rounds. American winners included unseeded Ryler DeHeart, whose opponent retired after a 6-0 first set. 9th seed Jesse Levine posted a 6-4 6-3 victory over fellow American Lester Cook. Brendan Evans made it through a tough three setter.
Unfortunately for Team USA, there were more losers than winners. Alex Bogomolov Jr. fell in three sets. Teenager Ryan Harrison lost in straight sets to 30th seed Ricardas Berankis. Tim Smyczek lost a heartbreaker to Daniel Evans, 12-10 in the third set. Former Junior prodigy and 7th seed Donald Young lost easily 6-4 6-1 to Guillermo Alcaide. This loss was the most surprising to me. Young has been slowly rebuilding his ranking this year, and Alcaide wasn't too difficult of an opponent.
The women's qualifying draw was also posted today. Lilia Osterloh, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Julie Ditty, Lauren Albanese, Madison Brengle, Julia Cohen, and Shenay Perry. Christina McHale withdrew last minute citing injury.
June 14, 2010
June 13, 2010
Beginning My Blogging Adventure
Hey everyone! My name is Alex and I'm a tennis enthusiast. I started playing tennis about four years ago, and ever since then it has become a huge part of my life. I love to play tennis, I love to watch tennis, I love to follow tennis news, I love to read books about tennis, etc. I decided I wanted to start a blog that is all about American Tennis. It's no secret that in recent years American Tennis has been on the decline. But I'm a firm believer that at the top American tennis is still going strong with Serena and Venus Williams contenders at every tournament, Andy Roddick in the top 10 and playing well, and new faces at the top like Sam Querrey, Melanie Oudin, and John Isner.
But the real concern has been about the future of American tennis. What will happen when these players retire? I've been following American juniors and fledgling pros for a couple of years now and I truly believe that the future is bright! We have TONS of promising American junior girls right now. The numbers are almost as high on men's side of things, with talented young pros coming out of college and even some teenagers working their way up the rankings.
With the Grass court season this month, and the American Hard court season soon to follow, I decided now was a perfect time to start my blog. These surfaces are typically the best for Americans, and I'm expecting some players to have some real breakthroughs on both the professional and junior levels!
Also in a week I have the opportunity to travel to the 10k Cleveland ITF tournament! They have a great lineup of American women, including recent UCLA recruit Courtney Dolehide, recent USC recruit Kaitlyn Christian, and junior standouts Madison Keys, Lauren Davis, and Kyle McPhillips. I'll be taking a lot of pictures and videos and will be posting reports when I get home!
But the real concern has been about the future of American tennis. What will happen when these players retire? I've been following American juniors and fledgling pros for a couple of years now and I truly believe that the future is bright! We have TONS of promising American junior girls right now. The numbers are almost as high on men's side of things, with talented young pros coming out of college and even some teenagers working their way up the rankings.
With the Grass court season this month, and the American Hard court season soon to follow, I decided now was a perfect time to start my blog. These surfaces are typically the best for Americans, and I'm expecting some players to have some real breakthroughs on both the professional and junior levels!
Also in a week I have the opportunity to travel to the 10k Cleveland ITF tournament! They have a great lineup of American women, including recent UCLA recruit Courtney Dolehide, recent USC recruit Kaitlyn Christian, and junior standouts Madison Keys, Lauren Davis, and Kyle McPhillips. I'll be taking a lot of pictures and videos and will be posting reports when I get home!
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