JTCC News
–Mitchell Frank and his University of Virginia men’s tennis team teammates defeated USC in the ITA Indoor Championships held in Seattle.
-Former world No. 2 and 2008 bronze medalist Vera Zvonareva underwent shoulder surgery. She is expected to miss the next four months.
-Current JTCC players are prepping for the annual Easter Bowl in Southern California. The Easter Bowl tournaments will run from Sunday, April 7 to Sunday, April 14. A plethora of American tennis stars including Sampras, Agassi, McEnroe, Connors, Davenport, Capriati and Roddick have competed in this prestigious event. The Easter Bowl is known as “The Super Bowl of junior tennis”.
-The annual JTCC Talent Festival, a free event open to the public, will be held on Sunday, May 5 at the Tennis Center in College Park, MD. Stay tuned for more details in the upcoming weeks.
Tennis News
-The inaugural LA Tennis Challenge (hosted by Justin Gimelstob) will take place on Monday, March 4 at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion. There will be three exhibition matches (Tommy Haas v. James Blake, Djokovic v. Mardy Fish, Djokovic and Pete Sampras v. Bob and Mike Bryan) in a pro-set format starting at 7 PM.
-Milos Raonic defeated Tommy Haas (6-4, 6-3) last Sunday to win the final match of the SAP Open in San Jose. The SAP Open will move to Memphis after 125 years in the Bay Area.
-Should hard-court events be banned on the ATP Tour? Rafael Nadal thinks so. Nadal tackled the dicey question after one of his matches in Sao Paulo this week (quote courtesy of ESPN.com):
“This is not a subject for the players, it’s a matter for doctors,” Nadal said. “The ATP has to start thinking about ways to lengthen the players’ careers. I can’t imagine football players playing on cement, I can’t imagine any other sport involving aggressive movements such as tennis being played on such aggressive surfaces such as ours. We are the only sport in the world making this mistake, and it won’t change.”
To read the rest of Nadal’s comments, click here. On the court, Nadal was equally as decisive as he routed David Nalbandian (6-2, 6-3) in the Sao Paulo final.
-American Jack Sock is socking the competition so far in U.S. National Indoor Championships. Sock upset Milos Raonic (6-3, 5-7, 7-5) in the first round then defeated James Blake (7-5, 6-4). He will play Feliciano Lopez tonight.
Tennis Links
–Winning the Mental Match by Dr. Allen Fox of USTA Southern California discusses the psychology and mental aspects of tennis
-Jon Wertheim of SI.com posted a mailbag focusing on the budding rivalry between Serena and Azarenka, Nadal’s murky future and the need to address loopholes with PED testing administered by the ITF
–In an interview with CNN, John McEnroe bemoans about the state of US tennis, opines on the stellar career of Serena and shares his enjoyment of playing with tennis legends on the Power Shares circuit
-Notre Dame Men’s Tennis Head Coach Bobby Bayliss recollects on his 44 year career, dispenses advice for aspiring coaches and provides insight into the college recruitment process in an interview with WNBC New York City Sports
–Tennis.com revisits the Esther Vergeer retirement announcement. In her illustrious career, Vergeer dominated wheelchair tennis by winning a breathtaking 470 CONSECUTIVE matches. The streak started on January, 2003 and ended September, 2012. In her last 560 matches, she was 559 – 1. Unbelievable. Check out the article for even more shocking stats.
