The pro season may be over, but this past month was one of the biggest for the teenaged set. Three weeks of major junior tournaments in Florida were capped off with the unofficial junior world championship, the Orange Bowl, on Key Biscayne in Miami.
These events, despite taking place away from the glare of publicity, are as intensely disputed as the big-time pro events. In some cases, more intensely. According to one Florida newspaper, at the Eddie Herr tournament in Bradenton, Florida, two weeks ago, German junior Rick Schmidt lost to a lad named Nikita Kryvonos in a bitterly-fought three set struggle. After the match, Schmidt began raining punches on the surprised Kryvonos, who ran to escape the barrage,
disrupting matches on adjoining courts. So this junior tennis is serious business!
A Krajicek falls short and Vaidisova stands tall
The major interest on the girls? side was the attempt of 14-year-old Dutchgirl Michaela Krajicek -- Richard Krajicek?s half-sister -- to finish the year at number one. She needed to win the Orange Bowl in order to pass Belgium?s Kirsten Flipkens, the 17-year-old Wimbledon and U.S. Open junior champion.
Recall that Flipkens had shown her potential during last month?s Fed Cup semifinals when she came within one point of a shocking upset of veteran Meghann Shaughnessy before narrowly losing, 6-7(4) 7-6(8) 9-7.
It seems the young Belgian has decided to say goodbye to junior competition, leaving the door wide open for the even younger Krajicek to take the honours for the year.
However, Michaela fell at the second round hurdle in Miami, dropping a contentious 6-2; 4-6; 6-2 decision to American wild card entry Neha Uberoi. At one point, according to Tennis Week, young Krajicek, frustrated by her lack of success and the cool, windy conditions, was given a warning by the referee for swearing at her opponent.
Krajicek?s difficulties point up the dangers that can await junior ?phenoms? at the Orange Bowl. The Miami classic brings together not only the top players from the junior circuit, but also many excellent players who have eschewed the ITF?s junior circuit, electing to play low level pro events or university tennis. Michaela?s executioner Neha Uberoi, in fact, has done a bit of both of these alternatives. After playing for Princeton University for a year, Neha is currently on a leave of absence from the un
iversity to play professional tennis. Having played a full slate of pro events this year and defeated the likes of WTA regular Maureen Drake, Uberoi, whose older sister Shikha also plays the minor league pro circuit, was not about to be intimidated by the talented but green 14-year-old.
To show that her upset of the top seed was no fluke, Uberoi went on to reach the final.
Here, Neha was unable to repeat her heroics against yet another 14-year-old prodigy, Nicole Vaidisova.
Vaidisova, a native of
Prague who now trains in Florida at the Bollettieri Academy and is coached by her father, is a tall 6? 0? and is a natural athlete who also excels at basketball. The Orange Bowl was Nicole?s first important junior title, and she appears to be a good prospect to move on to professional success in a few years.
Baghdatis holds off Tsonga for top honours
He?s already the greatest player in the history of Cyprus, but is obviously not content with that honour! Marcos Baghdatis, an 18-year-old based in France, clinched the year-end boys? number one ranking at the Orange Bowl, a tournament he went on to win.
Baghdatis, the Australian Open junior champion this year, had for much of the year been waging a battle for top spot with the big-serving French player Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
The French lad had taken the lead after winning the U.S. Open boys? title, only to see
the Cypriot regain command shortly thereafter by defeating Tsonga in the Osaka final.
Going into the Florida finales, Baghdatis carried a narrow 100 point lead over his friend and rival.
Sadly for Tsonga, the French prospect performed poorly in Florida. Last week Jo-Wilfried was eliminated in the Winter International round of sixteen by his talented countryman Gael Monfils (who incidentally was runner-up in both that event and the Orange Bowl this week.). The Orange Bowl went even worse for Tsonga -- he was ousted in the first round by unseeded American Ryan Rowe.
Tsonga?s early Orange Bowl loss clinched the number one spot for Baghdatis, but he soldiered on in fine style, ultimately overcoming the talented Monfils in the final, 4-6; 7-5; 6-2. ?It's nice to have a Cypriot being number one in the world,? the proud but modest lad told Juniortennis.com. ?For the Cyprians, it's time for them to maybe look at tennis and help tennis in Cyprus and maybe we can bring some more players up.?
Baghdatis will devote next year to establishing himself on the pro tour. Marcos has already had some success in minor pro events, winning four Futures tourneys, and already boasts an ATP ranking of 197.
And they keep getting younger?
In the younger age groups, we note the 16-and-under Orange Bowl title of Donald Young. The 14-year-old native of Chicago is already being hailed as a future star of American tennis. He has already won two 18-and-under tourneys, as well as Les Petits As, the prestigious 14-and-under tournament in Tarbes, France.
An even younger phenom, Canadian Sharon Fichman, was only 11 years old when she began qualifying rounds for the 18-and-under division of the Eddie Herr. Her presence in the much older division raised some eyebrows. But the Toronto native not only qualified, she knocked out the 9th seed, Russian Alla Kudryavtseva, in the opening round of the main draw!
Sharon, who turned 12 during that week, went on to reach the quarterfinals where she lost to future Orange Bowl champion Nicole Vaidisova.
At the Orange Bowl young Fichman decided to pick on players closer to her own age, and entered the 14s, where at this writing she has reached the semifinals,
easily winning her matches so far.
?Aren?t we discussing astonishingly young players??, I hear you cry. You ain?t seen nothing yet? we are about to take our junior discussion to the level of the ridiculous.
We were alerted this week to the existence of a 6-year-old girl from the USA, Alexus ?Ace" Jones. The girl?s father is furiously promoting this kid as ?the future of tennis?. The girl has already made stops at three prominent tennis academies, and is allegedly having a documentary made about her. The film, ?The Making of a Champion?, will follow Alexus for the next six years as she attempts to build a professional career.
The curious can read all about Alexus ?Ace? Jones at -- of course -- her official website!