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Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Cercone To Florida; Sandgren to Tennessee?; Initial Invitations to Australian Open Wild Card Event; Taylor Named USTA Coach


Signing Day is here, and today the Tennis Recruiting Network revealed two blue chips' choices. Alexandra Cercone has committed to the Florida Gators and you can find my story about her decision here, while Daniel Kosakowski will also being staying close to home, signing with UCLA. Ali Jones wrote the article about his choice, which can be found here. Most of the announcements from the schools themselves have not yet been posted, but a couple have. Kate Fuller, who committed to Georgia many months ago, is officially signed; men's head coach Matt Knoll of Baylor University has received an official commitment from Louisiana's Robert Verzaal; Brooke Bolender's signing at Michigan was announced today.

For a different perspective, four-star recruit Kelsey Lawson of Arizona, who has committed to DePaul, wrote a diary of her experience for the Arizona Republic. Her account of the USTA 18s Clay Courts in Memphis is a reminder of the tension surrounding the major summer events, which are so critical for getting noticed by college coaches.

Speculation about the intentions of top-ranked blue chip Tennys Sandgren has been rampant the past few months, but the Knoxville News Sentinel is the first source I've seen that has gotten a comment from Sandgren.

"I'm most likely going to start (UT) in January," Tennys Sandgren said Monday from Niceville, Fla., where he is playing a $10,000 Futures tournament.

"I mean, I'm playing five professional tournaments the next five weeks," he said. "If I do really well I'll reconsider it, but for now I'm leaning toward going to UT in January."
If he does, Sandgren would put an already formidable Tennessee team at the top of the list of NCAA team title contenders. The article also covers Rhyne Williams's match against Luka Gregorc in the opening round of the Knoxville Challenger.

The USTA has announced a majority of the players who have been invited to compete for the Australian Open wild card in Atlanta next month. On the men's side, invitations have been extended to Jesse Levine, Donald Young, Wayne Odesnik, Rajeev Ram and Ryan Harrison. On the women's side, Christina McHale, last year's winner, will be joined by Madison Brengle, Alison Riske, CoCo Vandeweghe, Asia Muhammad and Alexa Glatch. For the complete release, click here.

And while I was in Connecticut, the USTA announced that Sarah Taylor would be joining Player Development as a coach. For the complete release, click here.


11 comments:

Unknown said...

Well, there goes the USTA again. Why is Asia Muhammad included in this list, oh I know, her coach Tim Blankershim is good friends with the Ola Malmquist thus the reason for her getting all these opportunities. What did she do this year? Many girls did better than her, she was beaten in New Mexico by April Bisharat #900 in the world and here she is given the opportunity to compete for a wild card, all because her coach is the Director of Women's Tennis bosom buddies. Where is the fairness in the USTA?

abc said...

I think also the fact that she's pro helps. Aside from McHale, all the girls have turned pro. Brengle has not done squat for what seems an eternity, CoCo has hardly proved herself in the pros, same with Asia.

However, I wish all of them luck, and that whoever wins will represent the US well.

scott said...

Florida's loading up on talent. I just hope they keep these players around. They seem to turn pro or transfer at a rather high rate.

collegetennis said...

Florida's guys team also loaded up with a huge recruiting class. Bangoura, Van Overbeek, Butz and Alford...should be a tough group to beat for top recruiting class unless they dont count Van Overbeek as 2010 because he is going in January. Maybe only Duke's rivals it this year.

getreal said...

To college tennis...except for Chuna would not put Duke in the same league as a Tennessee or Florida. But would definatley throw USC or UCLA in the mix.

collegetennis said...

getreal-
uclas is not as good as dukes..no way. Tennessee hasnt gotten Sandgren yet and USC only got one recruit although a very good one in Sarmiento. Chuna?

getreal said...

to collegetennis

I was not talking about the current crop of 2010 recruits but the team. USC is ranked #1 for a reason, and will conntinue to be a huge force next year. UCLA's lineup is very trong (Suguso ect) as is Univ of TN. The only world class player Duke has in its line-up is Cunha and would not put the team in the same league as the above with or without the current recruits and whether or not Sandren ends up going to TN. If Sandgren goes that puts TN in even a stronger position for an NCAA championship.

collegefan said...

getreal-
That was a misunderstanding. I'm sorry my post was somewhat unclear. I was talking purely about the strength of this years recruiting classes.

getreal said...

Collette,

thanks for the clarification. But even just looking at strength of the 2010 class would not not put Duke in the same level as Sangren? (TN), bangoura, Overbeek (FL), Sarmiento (USC).

bullfrog said...

I expected Sloane Stephens to be invited to play the Australian Open WC playoff.

abc said...

i think Stephens is injured.