Juniors Arrive at Roland Garros – By: Cheryl Jones

Written by: Staff on 2nd June 2013

Juniors Arrive at Roland Garros - By: Cheryl Jones

epa03617242 Taylor Townsend of USA returns a shot to Ana Ivanovic of Serbia during their match at the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament in Indian Wells, California, USA, 09 March 2013. Ivanovic won the match. EPA/PAUL BUCK |

Bud Collins, the esteemed American tennis journalist and commentator, maintains that “Grand Slams” should not be used to refer to major tennis competitions. He is adamant that “Majors” should be the term used to refer to the Big Four – Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon, and the US Open. No matter the choice of descriptive expressions, each tournament showcases the very best in tennis. I will acquiesce to Collins and use Major today as I refer to Roland Garros. Journalists from all over the globe miss his sweet smile, the sparkle in his eyes, his outrageously patterned trousers and his encyclopedic knowledge of tennis, both past and present. He’s watching from home this time and I know we all wish him well.

The second week of any Major is a smorgasbord of choices for viewing great performances. The professionals have usually moved on to the Round of 16 that has been winnowed from the original 128. Sunday, the juniors arrive on the scene. (Juniors are 18 or under in most cases.)

Players from various corners of the globe come to the Majors to show their stuff and if you’re an elite junior, Roland Garros is the place to be in early June. It’s like a petite-Major (oxymoron-ish though it sounds). Play begins with a draw of sixty-four and on the final Sunday of the tournament champions will be known. Young winners in Paris have gone on to perform exceptionally well on the professional circuit.

Of late, space between winning the Roland Garros boy’s division and becoming a success on the professional tour has become an abyss. The last six boys’ winners have either faded from the sport’s news entirely, or they languish in the doldrums of Futures and/or Challenger events. Historically, John Newcombe (1961-62); John McEnroe (1977); Ivan Lendl (1978); Henri Leconte (1980); Mats Wilander (1981); Fabrice Santoro (1989); Stanislas Wawrinka (2003) and Gael Monfils (2004) have been successful in their moves. Tsung-Hua Yang, Daniel Berta, Agustin Velotti, Bjorn Fratangelo (an American out of Florida), along with last year’s winner Kimmer Coppejans are not familiar names to tennis aficionados most anywhere. Today, the boys’ (known as garçons here) roster is filled with promising lads.

The number one seed is Australian, Nick Kyrgios, who was given a wildcard into the main draw, where he had a first round win over Radek Stepanek of Czech Republic, ranked 48^th in the world. Next round though, Marin Cilic dashed his hopes of moving further into the draw. As a junior, he is afforded an opportunity to take home a title and establish a new pathway to break into the professional ranks. Kyrgios has the potential to move up in big time tennis. He is a strapping young man, who at 6’3” is still growing. He may be the first boy in quite a while to do well in the Simple Juniors Garçons and carry it forward to his professional career.

Young women winners have had more luck moving seamlessly into the pro ranks. American wunderkind, who is now 36-years-old, Jennifer Capriati was the last American girl to have won the Paris junior tournament in 1989 when she was barely 13. Anna Smashnova (who in my opinion has the absolute the best name of any one who ever played tennis) won here in 1991. She was followed by a hall of fame group of young winners including Martina Hingis, Amelie Mauresmo, Justine Henin, Nadeja Petrova, Virginie Rassano, Kaia Kanepi, and Agnieszka Radwanska who moved on to be high achievers on the big stage.

Fifteen-year-old Ana Konjuh of Croatia is the top seed on the girls’ side. She has proven to be an up-and-comer by sailing away with titles from far and wide. Her Win-Loss totals are amazing. She has won 59 out of 68 tournaments as a singles player. (That’s a whopping 86%, an enviable statistic in anyone’s book.) The teenager took the girl’s junior trophy home from the Australian Open in January and that was soon after she won the Orange Bowl in early December in Plantation, Florida.

American youngsters of both genders who have traveled to Paris can be counted easily. There are four boys and four girls. Likely the best known and the second highest American seed (12) is Taylor Townsend. She is being mentored by the USTA. The powers that be have high hopes for the 17-year-old who has had fitness issues that have impacted her successes. Her move to Boca Raton may have upped her chances to transition her game for the tour. Today she triumphed over a qualifier, Ukrainian, Viktoriya Lushkova, 6-4, 6-4.

Southern California is home to the highest seeded American (11), though. Christina Makarova of San Diego is here along with her mother, who is also her coach. (As an aside, the Media Guide listed Makarova’s height as 6 meters. I would assume that if that were the case, we would have heard about her in the Guinness Book of World Records. The conversion shows that as being over 19 feet 8 inches.) The teen is probably 5’ 5” tall if she stands very straight, first thing in the morning. She’s a persistent ground-stroker and her coach requires discipline as the central focal point of her preparation. Her first match in Paris will be scheduled for Monday.

As always, there are more than just familiar names being bantered about at Roland Garros. Some of the unknowns of today will be the echo of the future of tennis.

Topics: Ana Konjuh, Cheryl Jones, Christina Makarova, garçons roster, Junior Tennis, Nick Kyrgios, Paris tennis news, Roland Garros, Sports, Taylor Townsend, Tennis News