It’s difficult to argue that SoCal juniors did not made a big impact on the national tennis scene in ‘08, especially following up Coco Vandeweghe’s US Open Juniors triumph. Yet when looking at the national picture, SoCal players definitely has room for improvement especially at the elite level. Outside of Vandeweghe, who is had joined the WTA Tour (see Pro Report), the results were scattered.
One of the biggest highlights of the past year came at the team level. The SCTA boys 18s team came through for a fifth straight title at the National Team Championships at the University of Illinois last summer. USC-bound J.T. Sundling won a thriller in a third-set tiebreaker over Luke Mojika to edge Florida in the final 4-3. That Class of ‘08 featuring Sundling, Kyle McMorrow, Ryan Thacher, Stevie Johnson, Andre Dome, Denis Lin and Oscar Fabian Matthews will be remembered for a long time, said Darren Potkey, who heads up junior tennis for the SCTA.
They should also make an impact at the collegiate level. Thacher is already at Stanford and Johnson at USC. Lin won’t graduate until next year but has made a verbal commitment to Stanford. His Thousand Oaks High teammate McMorrow is heading to Washington later in the year. Matthews is playing for Irvine.
At Kalamazoo, Thacher found out that three is not the charm as he lost in the final for the third straight year, this time in the 18s to Texas A&M’s Austin Krajicek.
Fontana’s Raymond Sarmiento did pick up a gold ball at the Zoo winning the 16s dubs with Chicago’s Evan King. He later followed up a singles title at the prestigious Eddie Herr International. Vandeweghe played a limited junior schedule but won the 18s Super Nationals doubles with Jamie Hampton in a controversial final played at the Berkeley Tennis Club. Brooklyn’s Gail Brodsky, who trains at the Weil Academy, created the controversy when she was penalized a point for racquet abuse. It just wasn’t a routine point however. It happened to be match point and just like that the national title went to Vandeweghe/Hampton 7-5, 5-7, 6-4.
Where SoCal fell short in national and international results, it excelled within the local and regional levels. SoCal once again won the Maze Cup, otherwise known as the North vs. the South. SoCal beat NorCal 11-9 in one of the tightest matches in years. SoCal’s Alison Ramos won the defining match over Zoe Debrucker.
The Sectionals, once again played at Los Caballeros in Orange County, saw an amazing entry list which nearly topped 1,800 players. Out of all those players, the ones standing tallest were Steve Johnson and Kaitlyn Christian. Johnson won the 18s singles in straight sets over Sundling, marking his fourth Sectionals title and near a clean sweep of all age divisions having won the 12s, 14s and 16s. He also has the distinction of being the only player to win the Triple Crown—singles and two doubles—twice.
Christian achieved the Triple Crown winning the 18s over Ramos and then the 18s doubles with Sabrina Santamaria as well as the 16s doubles in November.
While Johnson and Christian stood out from the crowd, so did Pam Montez of La Quinta. The top-ranked 18s player in the SCTA, Montez, signed a letter of intent to play for the Bruins at UCLA next season. The Bruins will receive a well-traveled, capable player with plenty of international experience. Montez divides her time between playing junior events and ITF events for Mexico, where she is the top ranked player. It has her shuttling between countries for much of the time but it’s also molded a better player, said her coach Andy Scorteanu.
“She has been working extremely hard and it’s paying off. She’s a crafty player. Her movement has improved a lot and she’s gotten fitter.”
Scorteanu said even in her losses, Montez can find solace and a way to learn from them, talking about a recent ITF final. Among her many highlights were the CIF singles title. Montez returned to high school play this year after a couple of years of home schooling and became the pride of La Quinta High, by achieving her goals of helping the team as well as winning the CIF tournament and did so without dropping a set. Her win over Christian in the title match was one of several in finals over her former doubles partner.
Another standout was Alexios Halebian casino pa natet of Glendale. The 14s player has been making noise at big events, most recently capturing the 14s at the Eddie Herr. Sarmiento scored a SoCal double by winning the 16s title. The unseeded Halebian came out of nowhere dropping only one set en route to the final where he took care of Pedro Guimaraes of Brazil 6-1, 6-1. It wasn’t the first time Halebian pulled off a surprise. He also captured the National Clay Courts last summer playing as the 24th seed.
The High Performance centers in Florida and Carson play an important part Compatibility horoscopes Sagittarius points out that the relationship is almost hopeless, but may be pleasant in some rear online casino cases. of develping the next wave of top juniors. The SCTA also has eight Competition Training Centers. Hank Lloyd’s Costa Mesa Tennis Center was named as the facility of the year by the SCTA. It’s no wonder, there’s always top talent to learn from at the center, located next to the Orange County Fairgrounds. Eliot Teltscher, Syd Ball and Brett Hansen Dent help Lloyd with instruction and running the CTC. Participants have included Reo Asami, Joseph Di Giulio, Christian and others. Pros like Taylor Dent and the doubles duo of Scott Lipsky/David Martin regularly practice there.
The CMTC’s CTC team won the CTC tournament for the fourth time in five years. The tournament features all eight of the CTCs in the section.
“We work on drills. It gives the players a chance to play and work with each other as well as others. We’re fortunate to be in a thoroughfare where there’s lots of top talent around,” said Lloyd.
Another outlet for juniors are the network of academies available at public facilities. Mike Nelson’s Orange County Tennis Academy, now at the Anaheim Tennis Center, has been churning out top players for more than 20 years. Nelson’s daughter Lindsey, now in her fifth year at USC, along with players like Faye de Vera, Christian, Will Walker, Jennifer Corneau and others have trained there. Nelson has some talented help with pros Adam Peterson, Jason de Vera and Dax Peterson.
“We first teach strong fundamentals. Once they get those, the sky’s the limit,” said Nelson. “The kids in our program strike Betfred has offered the Virtual Sports Betting option on its website since 2001, but Betfred mind of mobile.the-best-casinos-online.info Stuart Magowan states the organization is “committed to supplying our clients with increased choice and entertainment wherever they're. the ball solid.”
As one class of top juniors heads to college and the pros, the next generation is making inroads. SoCal has strong depth for the younger age brackets as evidenced by Halebian’s play. The girls’ 12s has a swarm of nationally ranked players in Pomona’s Gabrielle Andrews, Jwany Sherif of El Cajon, Christina Makarova and Mayo Hibi of Irvine. Other players to watch include Deighton Baughman, who won the Fullerton Junior, the Muterspaw and the Eddie Herr (doubles) in the 12s; Alex Scheinman, who took two national Open titles in the 14s last summer and Clay Thompson of Venice who won the Easter Bowl 16s doubles with Nelson Vick and narrowly lost the final to Jack Sock of Lincoln, Neb. in a third-set tiebreak.
JUNIOR PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Christian – Sees the Ball on Her Racket
Orange County’s Kaitlyn Christian could be an MVP on anyone’s team. She’s lethal in both singles and doubles. She is strong in the back court as well as the net and is a team player all the way. She also shows her depth on paper being successful at the prep, junior and national levels in two age divisions nonetheless. One more kudo: she is IT’s Junior Player of the Year.
At the local level, Christian accomplished a rare feat by winning the triple crown, that is the singles, doubles and mixed during this year’s SCTA Junior Sectionals. In the 18s final, she upset Alison Ramos (now at USC) 7-5, 6-0. It was her first victory over Ramos. She doubled up by beating Ramos and Alexandria Walters 4 and 4 in the 18s doubles final teaming with Sabrina Santamaria. The pair also won the 16s Doubles Sectionals in November beating Lorraine Guillermo/Desirae Krawcayk.
Christian concentrated mostly on the 18s. In December, she was nationally ranked 12th in the 18s and 11th in the 16s and second in the SCTA 18s and third in the 16s.
Christian won a host of local tournament including the OC Junior Open and the Long Beach Open. She helped the SoCal beat NorCal at the annual Maze Cup. She also went undefeated playing for her high school Orange Lutheran. What’s more is she played every match for the Lancers. At the CIF-SS Individuals, she lost to her nemesis Pam Montez in the final, but it was her comeback semifinal win over Stacey Tan that had people talking. Christian lost the first set 7-5, then scrapped out the next two sets 3 and 3.
“I never give up,” she would later say.
Coach Mike Nelson of the Orange County Tennis Academy said that’s normal of Christian.
“She a tremendous athlete, probably the most athletic player in her age group. She has the ability to see the ball on her rackuet. She has a great placement of service,” he said.
Added Hank Lloyd who works with Christian at the Costa Mesa Tennis Center as part of the SCTA’s Competition Training Center program: “She’s very strong at the net and talented in both singles and doubles, which is what you want from a player these days. Her strong doubles game complements her singles game.”
Finally, Christian performed strongly on the national front winning the national hardcourt doubles in the 16s playing with Whitney Kay. she also was a doubles finalist of a winter national open and played her way into the quarters of the national clay courts in singles.
