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Thursday, August 14, 2014

My Recap, Slideshow and Videos of Kalamazoo 16s; Fields Announced for American Collegiate Invitational at US Open

My recap of the 16s National Championships in Kalamazoo is available now at the Tennis Recruiting Network. I'm trying something new this year, doing separate slideshows for each age division, with the 18s coming on Friday, when my 18s recap is published at Tennis Recruiting Network. Make sure you check out all the coverage from the other age divisions, with links available here.



The USTA today released the names of the 16 participants--eight men and eight women--who will play in the inaugural American Collegiate Invitational September 4-6 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

On Monday, the USTA released the names of those on the 2014 USTA Collegiate Team, who are automatically included in the ACI field. The women are: Jamie Loeb(North Carolina), Jennifer Brady(UCLA), Robin Anderson(UCLA), Kristie Ahn(Stanford), Danielle Collins(Virginia) and Julia Elbaba(Virginia).  The men's team consists of UCLA's Clay Thompson, Marcos Giron and Mackenzie McDonald, Ohio State's Peter Kobelt, Virginia's Mitchell Frank and Pepperdine's Alex Sarkissian.  All six of the men's team members are in the ACI field, but Anderson is not in the women's field, replaced by Hayley Carter of North Carolina.

The additional two participants for each competition must have completed their collegiate eligibility, although I've been told that might change next year. NCAA regulations require that some of the competitors no longer be eligible for college competition. This year, only one woman on the USTA National Collegiate Team--Kristie Ahn--has exhausted her eligibility, but four of the men had, with Thompson, Kobelt and Sarkissian all graduating and Giron deciding to turn pro.

In any case, the criteria for this year's event states the additional two participants, taken from the ITA final rankings, must have completed their eligibility, with Raymond Sarmiento of Southern Cal, Greg Andrews of Notre Dame, Olivia Janowicz and Alex Cercone of Florida receiving entry via that method. 

The 12 participants will receive the same player credentials as participants in the men's and women's tournaments and the USTA is paying for their transportation, meals and accommodations. The winners have an opportunity to get US Open wild cards based on their WTA/ATP rankings at the 2015 cutoff for entry. From the release:

The winners of the American Collegiate Invitational will receive main draw wild card entries into 2015 US Open, if the men’s champion is ranked No. 250 or better and the women’s champion No. 150 or better. Otherwise, the winners will receive 2015 US Open qualifying wild cards. The champions will also get wild cards into two USTA Pro Circuit events, while each runner-up will get one.

4 comments:

Observer said...

That Rubin kid looks goofy hitting the ball. Where did he learn that? Altamarino's attitude looks like he's still in 12's. What's up with that?

get real said...

To Observer--- Goofy, 12s attitude. Right. Never seen either junior play but results speak volumes so your point is pointless.

Dave said...

Observer, maybe you should challenge Rubin to play 2 out of 3 sets. I'm sure since his strokes are so "goofy" you could probably take him down.

As far as Altamirano, I agree his attitude on court isn't always the best, but he is 18 years old, what do you expect? Any competitive kid at that age is not always going to handle himself on the court as well as a 25-30 year old who is more mature emotionally.

Shawn - TN said...

One of Rubins' strokes looks a little unconventional, but so what, he's still winning. He's a NYer, I guess he has a lot of fight in him.