[SapELee]

Originally Posted by Smoke944

hardcourt

Okay, maybe that is dangerous.

[SapELee]

I don't mind them going to college, but not for 4 years.

[SapELee]

I can't believe the Pan American Championships is coming up already (next week). Krueger will drop out of the top 10 since he won't be defending his title and Noah has finalist points to defend. Let's hope he and Stefan can make a quick turnaround from clay. Great opportunities for the younger juniors since many 94s won't be competing.

[zumbazumba]

Rubin, papa, Kozlov and Thai top four seeds. Is there a winner amongst those four or will it be someone outside the top four seeds

[SapELee]

It is hard to see anyone outside those four win. Maybe some of the younger juniors who are new to the itf could surprise.

[zumbazumba]

Maybe Redlicki ? He has the firepower. Or Corinteli? Or even one of the Canadians. I get the feeling that there will be a surprise winner.

[SapELee]

Maybe Redlicki or one of the Canadians, but I have a hard time seeing Corinteli winning this tbh.

[SapELee]

I didn't know that there are so many British players playing college tennis over here.

There was a time when teenage stars were ten-a-penny. Not everyone was a Martina Hingis and a Wimbledon (singles) champion at 16 but there were plenty of starlets in both the men’s and women’s game. They, we were told, were the future.

Well, in the past few years, the average age for breaking through on the Tours has risen steadily to the point where in the men’s game, the average age of the top 100 at the end of August was 27 (up from 24.6 in 2002). On the women’s Tour, it was 25.1, up from 22.0 in 2002.

The increasingly physical nature of the game is almost certainly the reason, as well as the fact that the good players hang around at the top for longer because they take better care of themselves. But there is also another way of looking it; because breaking through to the top takes longer, players outside the top 100 (who struggle to make a living) are spending a lot of money, time and effort for little reward, until they finally make it, if they do.

For every Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams, there are hundreds of young players who try to make it as a professional and fail. Some do well for themselves but many fall by the wayside and with little or no education, find themselves in dead-end jobs that they hate.

But things are changing. At the US Open this year there were 17 players in the singles draws (13 men and four women) who had been to college in the United States. Add in doubles and mixed doubles and you have 30 ex-college players plying their trade at a grand slam event, including the men’s doubles champions Bob and Mike Bryan.....read more

[zumbazumba]

Do you think Wiersholm, Kerznerman or mmoh have an outside chance? I have not seen Corinteli play since k zoo , so can t comment

[SapELee]

Originally Posted by zumbazumba

Do you think Wiersholm, Kerznerman or mmoh have an outside chance? I have not seen Corinteli play since k zoo , so can t comment

I think everybody has an outside chance , but generally the event is won by older players. If Wiersholm meets Kozlov, I think we all know what the outcome will be. Kerznerman has not played well as of late; his chance doesn't look too good. Mmoh can go deep as long as he doesn't meet crafty players. As for Corinteli, he didn't really play much since spring and his results are kinda lacking. I feel that he doesn't match up well against players with variety (judging by his results). Anyway, can't wait for the tournament!

[zumbazumba]

Originally Posted by SapELee

I think everybody has an outside chance , but generally the event is won by older players. If Wiersholm meets Kozlov, I think we all know what the outcome will be. Kerznerman has not played well as of late; his chance doesn't look too good. Mmoh can go deep as long as he doesn't meet crafty players. As for Corinteli, he didn't really play much since spring and his results are kinda lacking. I feel that he doesn't match up well against players with variety (judging by his results). Anyway, can't wait for the tournament!

i m picking Papa to win this tournament. There are also Henry Craig. JC Aragone who are playing. Also Baughman was on he original acceptance list and is no longer there. Like you said. It should be interesting

[SapELee]

Of our juniors, I probably like Papa's game the most. He has the game to win the whole thing, but don't know if he has the confidence. Since the shoulder injury sustained at the International Spring Championships, he has been struggling to get wins. His best chance of grabbing the title is to avoid 3-setters. I don't know what his 3-set record is, but it is probably not good. All in all, Spencer is still my favorite junior even if he is useless these days .

[zumbazumba]

Confidence is big with these juniors. What shoulder injury did Papa sustain and when? Is it something serious? Papa played a full summer schedule so the injury is probably gone by now.

[SapELee]

Originally Posted by zumbazumba

Confidence is big with these juniors. What shoulder injury did Papa sustain and when? Is it something serious? Papa played a full summer schedule so the injury is probably gone by now.

I don't know the full detail, but he withdrew from his 2nd round match at International Spring Championships ITF and later pulled out of the Easter Bowl citing shoulder injury. It is probably not serious since he played the full summer schedule like you said, but it may have affected his serve. Hopefully, he can defend his points here and get some confidence going.

[SapELee]

Oh yeah, I almost forgot that Papa also retired up a set and a break against Martin Redlicki @ K-Zoo's backdraw. Not sure of the reason; he seems injury-prone.