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Monday, October 9, 2006

Return Trip: A Big Improvement


My return home from Tulsa went much more smoothly than my trip out, and I had the pleasure of sitting next to the new University of Michigan assistant coach Sean Maymi. We touched on all the pressing college tennis issues on the flight from Tulsa to Minneapolis, discussed recruiting, his previous coaching positions and the advantages of being part of Bruce Berque's program at the University of Michigan.

With all the pressures of recruiting and coaching (not to mention travel planning), it's rare that I have an opportunity to have a hour-long conversation with any college coach, so I hope I didn't abuse the privilege. But it was enlightening to hear some of the details of the daily life of an assistant coach. Suffice it to say, I'm a homebody compared to the traveling that's required of them.

One of the best (luckiest) photos I took the whole tournament can be seen on Michigan's website.

I did see a few juniors around Tulsa's tennis center, but the ITF B1 qualifying was not held on campus, so I didn't have an opportunity to see any of them play. The boys' field isn't nearly as strong as it was last year, when two junior grand slam winners competed in the final (Young and Sweeting), but the girls side is full of top contenders this year.

One of them, Reka Zsilinszka, who was a finalist in the Grade 1 in Lexington last month, was featured today in her hometown newspaper, The Fayetteville Observer.


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