FRENCH OPEN IN PARIS BY CHERYL JONES “TENNIS IS A GAME OF ANGLES AND INCHES”

Written by: Staff on 5th June 2015

French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros

FRENCH OPEN IN PARIS BY CHERYL JONES "TENNIS IS A GAME OF ANGLES AND INCHES"

epa04784677 in action during the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, XXXX 2015. EPA/ROBERT GHEMENT |

Scouting The Talent

By Cheryl Jones

Each of the Slams hosts a tournament within the major tournament that showcases junior talent from all over the world. Beginning on the first day of the final week, the youngsters get a taste of playing in the same venue as the pros and with that a feel for some of the pressures that accompany competition at the highest level of the sport. Merely contesting a match – any match – even a friendly Saturday afternoon in the park hit can be competitively contentious. The level of play for juniors in the final days of competition at a major is often beyond anyone’s expectation – even their own.

An American girl hasn’t won the Junior Competition at Roland Garros since Jennifer Capriati took away the title in 1989 when she was merely 13 years and 3 months old. This year, Catherine (CiCi) Bellis, the most highly ranked American Junior girl won’t be able to step up and collect a title here. She fell to a Russian youngster, 6-2, 6-2 in a semifinal match that surprised everyone – most of all Bellis. Both young women are wraithlike in stature, with Bellis measuring 5’6” and Kalinskaya a bit taller at 5’9”. Both of them have mighty strokes that must come from years of practice. (Producing that kind of power for a mighty-mite isn’t what I expected to see.) Problem is, pounding from the baseline can be a one-dimensional predicament. Each time either one of them tried to remember to come to the net, a ball either bounded wildly out of play or smashed into the net. Unless you’re Rafael Nadal, that teeing off on the ball from the baseline is usually not going to work very well.

Bellis spoke after the match and said simply that she had not played well and Kalinskaya had just played better. The score backed up her assessment. Both girls are sixteen and Bellis will begin her junior year in high school in the fall; with an eye on attending college where she can spend some time making her game more complete and hoping that she grows a couple of inches taller. It is hard to compete on the tour without the handicap of being three, four, five or six inches shorter than your opponent each time you take to the court. Justine Henin was a tiny competitor, nearly always in the arena with what may have seemed like modern day giants. (Maria Sharapova is 6”2” and so is Venus Williams, to name just a few of the very tall women competitors.) Henin has a feisty nature that overrode what to most would have been a handicap. She won Junior Roland Garros in 1997 at the age of 15. In 2003, she stood in the winner’s circle after the final ball was struck in the women’s main draw and claimed the Women’s Title; and then again in 2005, 2006, and 2007. Bellis may have another chance to compete in the Junior Girls’ bracket next year. She is a player worth watching.

Eight girls and eight boys from the US made the journey to Paris. When the red dust had cleared before the quarterfinal matches, there were still two American girls remaining in the draw that had begun with 64 young women in contention. They were Bellis and Katerina Stewart. Stewart lost yesterday to Paula Badosa Gilbert, from Spain, 6-2, 6-2. Now, there are no more US girls in the singles draw. The boys however, have done quite well and it is a sure thing that an American boy will be the champ at Roland Garros.

In 2011, Bjorn Fratangelo, a Floridian won the Boy’s prize. Before that, it was 1977 when the last American boy won in Paris. Unlike Fratangelo who has been relegated to playing Futures and Challenger events, the other winner made it to the major leagues. It was John McEnroe. He won 77 career titles on the tour, including 7 major titles that included Wimbledon (3) and the US Open (4).

Tomorrow, both the Boys and Girls final will declare a winner. Southern California’s rising young star, Taylor Harry Fritz will face Tommy Paul of Lumberton, New Jersey on the terre battue in Paris. (Michael Mmoh who calls Bradenton, Florida home lost to Paul today, 6-4, 6-3, so it was a sure thing that one boy from the US would be in the final.) Two is a bonus. Fritz triumphed over Corentin Denolly of Jardin, France. It was like a surprise walk in the park for Fritz, when it took only 46 minutes to move on to the next round, 6-1, 6-2. (Fritz, Paul and Mmoh are definitely worth keeping a watch for. It’s been a while since American players have had the genuine goods to perform well on a world level, but these three seem to have a lock on their future on the professional tour. Let’s hope they take their time and mature enough to withstand all the pressures, on and off the court.)

Watching these youngsters play their heart out is a bonus. First there are the pros whose games are polished and slick; then watching the Juniors do their best and actually performing better than anyone thought they would, often times making shots that they haven’t had the experience to avoid is a treat in and of itself.

Tennis is a game of angles and inches. The best part is watching trigonometry in action. Many have claimed that math is a bore and it’s never used outside of class. Everyone who plays tennis uses it every time they are on the court. Tennis is just a lot more fun.

Tomorrow it’s going to be Serena Williams and Lucie Safarova providing the angles – all of them. Safarova joined the tour 12 years ago and Williams will be celebrating 20 years of competition when September rolls around. It should be quite a meeting. Safarova has never competed in a Final in a major. Williams will be playing in her twenty-fourth final. Experience will likely win out, but no one knows the end to that story until the final ball is struck. It makes the entire match worth watching. Nothing is a done deal in competitive sports. The answer will be not in a fortune cookie, but in a match that’s worth a fortune to the winner.

Lucie Safarova of Czech Republic in action against Ana Ivanovic of Serbia during their semifinal match for the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, 04 June 2015. EPA/CAROLINE BLUMBERG

Serena Williams of the USA in action against Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland during their semifinal match for the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, 04 June 2015. EPA/ROBERT GHEMENT

Topics: Anna Kalinskaya, Cheryl Jones, CiCi Bellis, French Open Tennis, Junior Tennis, Lucie Safarova, Paris, Roland Garros 2015, Serena Williams, Sports, Taylor Harry Fritz, Tommy Paul

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10sBalls_com says:

June 5, 2015 at 12:28 pm

#FrenchOpen IN PARIS BY CHERYL JONES “TENNIS IS A GAME OF ANGLES AND INCHES”- http://t.co/0spfF0tsMN @rolandgarros #tennis #RG15 #paris