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It's nice to have you Carsten.

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#1 · (Edited)
Ball's in Fitzgerald's court

Leo Schlink - Herald Sun

07feb05

AUSTRALIAN Davis Cup captain John Fitzgerald's passion for the future of Australian tennis may have already paid dividends.

Fitzgerald is believed to have been urged by several administrators, players and coaches to apply for the new position of director of player development.
The role has been created in response to a dwindling talent pool, starkly evident by world No. 2 Lleyton Hewitt's lonely presence as the nation's only player inside the men's top 100.

But if TA's selection panel requires evidence of Fitzgerald's enthusiasm, it need only consider talented Carsten Ball's decision to compete as an Australian.

In what shapes as a huge windfall for Australia, left-handed Ball will contest the Uncle Tobys Challenger in Burnie from today under the Australian flag as a wildcard.

The holder of both an Australian and US passport, Ball is the son of former Australian Davis Cupper Syd Ball.

But unlike fellow Californian Taylor Dent, whose father Phil represented Australia, Ball junior has chosen to play for the green and gold instead of the US.

Ball stayed at Fitzgerald's coastal home while winning the International Tennis Federation Victorian junior championship in tough conditions over South Australian Todd Ley at Traralgon last month.

He then reached the quarter-finals of the Australian junior titles, falling in three sets to top seed and eventual finalist Sun-Yong Kim, of Korea.

Fitzgerald and Davis Cup coach Wally Masur have intensified efforts to lure top young athletes to tennis as Australia languishes in senior ranks, apart from Hewitt.

Ball, 17, could be invited to take part in Australia's first-round Davis Cup tie against Austria in Sydney next month as a hitting partner for Hewitt, Wayne Arthurs and Todd Woodbridge.

He will test his game this week against a batch of emerging local talent, including Todd Reid.
 
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#87 ·
Carsten has again teamed up with Guccione to pull off a great victory in Davis Cup. Straight sets victory over the Ratiwatana brothers is no small feat. Carsten has also kept his undefeated Davis Cup record intact. I really want him to do a lot better in singles though so he can get to the ATP level and stay there.
 
#89 ·
Well although it was strange scheduling it seemed to have worked for Carsten as he picked up his fourth future title this week in Hamilton, NZ. Heads to Wellington next and would be great if he could pick up two future tournament victories before he heads back to the US to start playing some challengers again (finally!).

None the less Carsten got 5 match victories in a row with only dropping one set, so a nice week for Carsten.
 
#92 ·
And he hasn't entered for the French Open Qualies. Someone should get him to leave America and go somewhere else besides Aus/NZ because playing US futures and challengers is wasting his talent.
 
#93 ·
Loses in the second round. Great way to waste a week.
 
#95 ·
Seems that way. He rose so quickly but now he has plateaued as he has began to start playing in the US week in week out. Then when he does go overseas he does wierd stuff like only enter in the doubles in a New Zealand futures or go to Thailand to play a Davis Cup doubles match and then leave the place for a NZ futures instead of playing in the Thailand Challengers. It is obvious he has talent but atm it looks like he is joining the long list of Australian players who are failing to realise their potential of late.
 
#98 ·
Just bad scheduling. Still has alot of potential but it will be all wasted if he keeps following his current schedule. The loss in the futures tournament was just a one off as he wouldn't have been able to beat Estrella on clay.
 
#99 ·
:) Ball beat Zabaleta in three sets on the Green Clay. Good win for Carsten. He should win his next match against Bass and reach the QF.
 
#101 ·
As expected he beat Bass to reach the QF where he has a winnable match against Prodon.
 
#102 ·
Carsten had another straight sets victory over Eric Prodon 6-4 7-6. Next up in the semifinals is Xavier Malisse, if he can beat Xavier I think he will win this tournament. If he is able to win this tournament he'll move to about 185 in the world which would be good for him but I wish he would start playing in other countries besides USA, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand. I feel he is wasting his talent but I'm hoping that hes just waiting to establish a place in the top 150 before he starts playing Grand Slam qualies at RG and Wimbledon.
 
#104 ·
Well I'm not sure how it happened but Carsten smacked Malisse 6-2 6-3. Faces a british wildcard Ward in the final. I really hope he can take out his first challenger victory here and gain some confidence for the coming weeks and maybe even pick up a few more challenger victories in the US. By the way this tournament is being played on Clay which must make Tennis Australia happy.
 
#105 · (Edited)
Great win for Carsten. He should beat Ward in the final as well which would be great. Unfortunately it is on green clay and not the red clay although they are still similar. In this form he has a great chance to do well next week based on the entry list. Of those above him on the entry list,

Kim - in FO maindraw so I don't know if he will all that keen to go deep in an American challenger which would only give him a few days at most to prepare for the FO
Spadea and Soeda - In mug form
Udomchoke - Currently playing on Korean Hardcourts
Bogomolov and Warburg - Returning after a long break

And as for the guys below him I don't think many would pose a major threat with the exception of Russell.
 
#106 ·
My mistake. That challenger is on during the first week of the FO which means Kim won't play. The most disappointing thing is that Carsten could have entered FO Qualies and in his current form he would have had a good hope of qualifying but instead he didn't enter.
 
#108 · (Edited)
After a shock first round loss last wek Carsten has defeated Pavlovs in the first round at Yuba City. If he plays well at this tournament he could go very far. Plays the South African qualifier Wolmarans next and then is drawn to meet Young who was trounced by Lindahl recently or Cook. If as expected he gets through there in the semis he will have a winnable match as the two seeds are gone from the other quarter. The only threats would be Felder who beat him last week and Yani who has been in alright form and I think is defending champion.
 
#109 ·
Carsten is into the semis after he defeated Wolmarans in the second round and the his QF opponent withdrew. Now he will probably face Yani who should beat Nunez. Yani looks to be in ominous form and it wont be easy for Carsten if he has to face him.
 
#111 · (Edited)
Carsten better hope he beats who ever it is he faces in the semis because he has to make the final here to gain 45 points so he can defend the 48 points he gained in this tournament last year otherwise he risks falling out of the top 200 again. If Carsten continues to match his peroformances each week this year that he did last year (points wise) then he will easily make the top 150 by the end of the year as most other players in that region wont be able to defend all the points they gained from 2008.

I'm just hoping Carsten breaks his drought here and finally wins a challenger event, must be killing him now.

oh and by the way Cartsen is not playing Wimbledon qualifying instead opting to play American future events for the next couple of weeks. Unless he wins these future tournaments in American its really disappointing that he is not in Europe playing an ATP qualifying event or even a European challenger, I hope Carsten grows a sack next year and plays the full tour instead of just the American challengers/futures.
 
#113 ·
I honestly cannot understand what is so attractive about staying in America. If he went overseas he could play at some of the greatest tennis venues such as Roland Garros and Wimbledon and have half a chance of making it into the main draw whilst also getting to see some famous places. Would be much better than constantly travelling around America. I think Fitzy should tell him his DC spot will be jeopardized unless he starts going to these qualies. May be tough but something or someone needs to do something to make him start playing elsewhere because of he keeps this up it will prove detrimental to his career.
 
#114 ·
The issue of playing in the greatest tennis venues and seeing countries would not appeal to Carsten very much I would because as a successful junior player (top 10) he played all the Grand Slams and has probably already done the tours of the countries so thats not an issue. He actually travels everywhere with his dad (Syd, former pro) and I would say his dad is telling him to stay in the US and the fact that he has lived in America his whole life would have something to do with it (he is an American citizen after all).

Tennis Australia would definetly be telling him that he should try to qualify for the Grand Slams but I think anyone would listen to their parents over an oganisation espically when your father has done it himself. If you look at Carstens results in the US so far they have been encouraging and I think he really wants to be in the top 120 before he commits to playing in Europe.

Just as an off subject does anyone know anything about Carstens mum or mom? is she Australian or American? I'm going to guess American but I haven't heard anything what so ever about her.
 
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