Alexander Zverev and Madison Keys 2015 Report Cards

by Savannah

Madison Keys
End of Year Rank: 18
Age: 20


Source: Mark Kolbe/Getty Images AsiaPac

Wins: 31
Losses:18

Best Tournament(s):
Australian Open: Semi Finalist
Charleston: Finalist
Strasbourg: Quarter Finalist (W/O to Kristina Mladenovic)
Wimbledon: Quarter Finalist
US Open: Round of 16

Notable Loss(es):
Eastbourne R32 To Belinda Bencic (Defending Champion)

There are huge chunks of the year missing from Madison's stats. I know that she was supposed to be out with injury and I understand that she is entitled to her off time but the images that have really stuck with me from 2015 are those of her at Coachella with Sam Querrey and other friends of hers. She has not accomplished enough to take a sabbatical like the world number one did after the US Open but it seems she, like other young US players, feel they're on the same level as the top players on their tour.

Sadly when Madison did play there was no discernible improvement in her game from 2014. At least in 2014 she won a title. This year she wasn't able to defend that title.

Madison has the potential to be a very good player but she is going to have to show more discipline when her opponent isn't cooperating with her plans and countering her every move. This year Madison seemed to get frustrated and fall apart when this happened. There was no evidence of a Plan B in her repertoire.

In other words she doesn't think well on court. No matter her potential she's got to kick her game up a notch or she is going to end up one of those mid level players with a decent following of fans who will be singing the lament "woulda coulda shoulda".

Grade for 2015: C

Alexander Zverev
End of Year Rank: 81
Age: 18


via Getty Images

Wins: 14
Losses: 17

Best Tournaments:
Rotterdam: Round of 16
Irving Tennis Classic (CH): Quarter Finalist
Open du Pays D'Aix (CH): Semi Finalist
Neckarcup (CH): Champion
Bästad: Semi Finalist
Citi Open: Quarter Finalist

Notable Achievement:
Winner ATP 2015 Star of Tomorrow Award

Alexander Zverev is right about where he should be for his age. He hasn't won any majors but that is okay. I think winning a major too young (or doing very well at a major at too young an age) makes a young person think there's not much more they have to do to improve their game. After all they beat such and such a great player so what they're doing has to be fine right? It's as if they're not paying attention to what the top players are doing. Male or female their games are constantly evolving, constantly changing. If you're playing the same game you played at eighteen when you're 24 something is wrong. If you're playing the same game you played at 18 at 30 you're playing Challenger level tennis.

I had to laugh when I saw that they gave this award to him instead of Chung Hyeon, who at 19 is ranked #51 in the world but maybe they wanted to make up for the way they treated him during the year. Many of his losses came after he had to play three rounds of Qualifying. I saw this at the US Open. He was playing Qualifying while some questionable players were direct entries into the Main Draw.

I hope that the young man is angry about 2015 regardless of the Award. It would be nice if he can win an ATP 250 during 2016 and be given wild cards into main draws at mid level events but we'll see. In order to do this he is going to have to keep his emotions in check especially during the business end of a match. This year he would start talking to himself, throwing up his hands and go into full meltdown mode. He's got about a year to stop doing that.

Grade for 2015: C

End Notes:

There were several times during the year that I wanted to drop these two as my players to watch and choose others. My choice on the men's side would've been easy: Chung Hyeon had a much better year than Zverev and is ranked 30 points higher. Right now it seems that he is being watched and praised by a small group of aficionados who see that a great tennis mind is being formed. He's not ready to win majors yet but I can see him winning a 250 or two and maybe going to the quarters in a M500. He does get frustrated on court but I haven't seen amy yelling and screaming breakdowns from him. You can almost hear him thinking "I'll do better next time" while going off to scout the top players on his own.

The women's side would've been difficult. Belinda Bencic? Elina Svitolina? Anna Karolina Schmiedlova? Daria Gavrilova? Alison van Uytvanck? I think Louisa Chirico of the US at 19 Is going to have to step up her game. There are lots of people in the States who want her to do well but does she have that steel will to get beyond being a rich girl dabbling in a rich person's sport? She's 5'9" (1.524m) tall, a decent height, and has a decent game. We'll see.

As for the other women named they have decent games but Bencic and Gavrilova can go full diva on you in the blink of an eye. Gavrilova wants her high emotion to distract her opponent and it has worked for her but once players learn to ignore your insanity on court they do and they beat you. I'm not impressed by Svitolina or Schmiedlova to be honest. I don't see great there. I see decent.

The one young woman I'm going to be looking at next year will be Osaka Naomi. Due to her mixed race heritage (her father is Haitian) she does not have the thin body of Asian women. She also has the ability to stay focused and win matches she shouldn't. Yes I'm talking about her match vs Caroline Garcia in Singapore. No one, not even me, saw her having a chance in that match but she won it.

By the time play starts again at the end of December I'll have made up my mind who I will follow in 2016.

My write up on the ATP will come a week or so after Davis Cup.

© SavannahsWorld All Rights Reserved except where indicated

Time To Be Seen and Not Heard for Juniors?

by Savannah

Remember back in the day when no one talked about Junior Tennis? Yeah there were kids out there playing their hearts out but many of them ended up going to college on scholarships and played tennis on weekends in parks or country clubs.

All of that changed a few years ago though and I'm wondering if it might not be time to go back to the days when kids weren't tagged #1 with a bullet like the old Billboard record charts and they were relatively free to pursue or not pursue a pro career. What changed? Richard Williams and Oracene Price's daughters changed the way the world at large viewed tennis. All of a sudden every parent with a dollar and a dream to borrow a phrase felt their child had the goods to become the next Williams sister and the race was on. If your child could hit a tennis ball over the net he or she was dragooned into playing tennis because Venus and Serena. The siren song reached as far as Eastern Europe and as near as the lower 48 states in North America.

An important article was posted this week by Steve Tignor on the current wild card system employed by the Grand Slams where their up and coming players are given the chance to play on the big stage of a Slam and see how they do against the best in the business. Most of these players end up as cannon fodder, hitting or practice partners for the top players rarely making it past the first or second round of play. Here is Tignor's opening salvo:

The way it's done now, each major gives most of its wild cards to its home players. The few that don't go to the other Slam countries, in a reciprocal arrangement. For example, six of this year’s men’s main-draw wild cards went to Americans, one went to Pierre-Hughes Herbert of France, and another to Lleyton Hewitt of Australia. It’s understandable, on one level: The national federations run these tournaments, and their first mission is to promote tennis in their home countries. But there are only four countries that host Grand Slams: Australia, France, Great Britain, and the United States.

Should players from these countries have a leg up forever?What about all of the worthy—and often worthier—hopefuls from other nations? The umbrella organization for the federations, the ITF, is in the business of promoting the game not just in four places, but around the world. And with the recent prize-money increases at the majors, a free ride into the first round is more valuable to a young or struggling player than ever. It can also be valuable, as Hewitt’s long, multi-year good-bye has shown, to an aging legend, too.

But are all of these wild cards to "rising stars" a help or a hindrance? As is pointed out in the article Donald Young was picked to be the next big US player. Now, at age 26, he is doing what he could have done at age 19 and playing Challengers not only in the States but overseas as well. He's not storming the top ten but he's playing well enough to beat the likes of Gilles Simon who is not an easy out. With tennis careers lasting longer Young has a chance of getting and maintaining a career in the top 20, something that would've been laughable five years ago.

What does this have to do with junior tennis? There is a lot of hoopla and promotion around Juniors now. There are racquet and clothing contracts available. Some majors go out of their way to put top juniors on televised courts not only for junior matches but when they play main tour players. Tennis is all about the pleasure of pressure but is the focus on juniors causing some players to stay stuck at that level of play? How often have we seen promising juniors getting Wild Card after wild card and instead of rising in the rankings sinking, no plummeting in the opposite direction because their games, mentally and physically, aren't able to cope with those of the top pros.

I watched the match between Danka Kovinic and Anna Karolína Schmiedlová last evening and feel it was a prime example of the lowering of tennis IQ in players labeled "promising" or "rising stars". Kovinic can hit the snot out of the ball but can't control her power. AKS has been playing a lot of main tour matches this year and while her skills are developing you'd think she would've won the match easily based on where she played and how she's done for a player her age. Instead we got a marathon of junior level tennis where AKS won because Kovinic thinks there's only one way to hit a ball. AKS was barely standing but she has a bit of subtlety in her game and won. Was it exciting? Yes, in the sense that someone was going to have to win and maybe someone will faint kind of way. Was it great tennis? No.

I also got to watch one of my "ones to watch" this season, Alexander Zverev, 18 play both qualies and a main draw match live. Zverev's got a pretty decent game. Of course it still needs work, but he plays his age. Shot selection can be improved on as well as paying closer attention to what his opponent is doing.

I also watched Chung Hyeon age 19 on an outer court, and Frances Tiafoe age 17. Both were in the Main Draw, Chung based on his ranking, Tiafoe via a Wild Card. Tiafoe has all the shots. He moves well. He's got a big personality. But on court he's 17. Chung, who forced Stan Wawrinka to three tiebreak sets, has been playing a mix of Challengers, ATP 250 events and Slams. It shows. His game is much more mature than Tiafoe's, and right now I don't see Tiafoe being able to duplicate what Chung did even in defeat. Tiafoe's game is not maturing. I think it would've been better to hold a Slam WC for Tiafoe until he is 19 and has hopefully gained a measure of tennis maturity by playing Challengers and ATP 250's not only in the States but overseas.

Are Wild Cards overused for young players from countries with long tennis histories? Yes. Is too much emphasis being put on doing well at a Slam instead of doing well at tennis, especially in the US? Yes. Should the emphasis on "the next great one" be downplayed? Yes. Labeling a youngster a success when he/she has yet to prove that they can do more than hit the cover off the ball or has connections in a particular Federation is wrong.

I've been a critic of Patrick McEnroe and his stewardship of the USTA Player Development program but one thing he was right about was teaching young prospects to play on clay. Here's a quote from Andre Agassi who, along with Pete Sampras and Jim Courier, are being recruited by PMac's successor Martin Black to help mentor young American men. Keep in mind they're talking about young men by the way.

Agassi thinks the drought can be explained through domination and change in the game.

"I think the biggest problem over the last decade has been Federer, [Rafael] Nadal and [Novak] Djokovic," Agassi said. "You throw in Murray and you have one hell of a generation who have clearly raised the standard."

He said that the new game doesn't naturally suit itself to the American game as it once did.

"Back in the day, me, Pete, [John] McEnroe and [Jimmy] Connors, we hit the ball through the court," Agassi said. "We struggled a bit on clay, but our game still translated throughout the year for the most part. Now with the spin and the athleticism, you need that clay mentality in every part of the game."

I've been saying this for years but now that Agassi has said it maybe some of the éminence grise of tennis will pay more attention to what has to happen if the US is going to be competitive in tennis again. We don't need any more players with all the shots and no game. The Zverev's, Chungs, Schmiedlova's and Bencic's of the world are "hungry to win" and are working on improving their games not their celebrity profiles. So yes, it's time for everyone involved with Junior tennis especially in the US to take a step back, let the kids develop their games on their own at their own pace. If your game is set at 18 there is no where for you to go. It's definitely time to let the kids be seen and not heard.

The Weight of Expectations: The Kids Part 2

by Savannah

"Who the hell is this CiCi Bellis?" I kept asking myself. Everywhere I looked I saw her name and age, 15, and the words prodigy and future star somewhere in the next sentence or two. So this morning I decided to look her up and see just what recommends her to tennis stardom in the near future.

The closest I found was this glowing article by someone named Ashlee Vance from August of last year for Bloomberg Business.

Silicon Valley is hardly wanting for prodigies, but until Tuesday it hadn’t produced one on the tennis court. Enter Catherine “CiCi” Bellis, who beat 12-seeded Dominika Cibulkova at the U.S. Open. The win was remarkable because Bellis is only 15 years old and was playing in her first Grand Slam match. The most recent 15-year-old to pull off such a feat was Anna Kournikova—back in 1996, three years before Bellis was born.

In some respects, Bellis’s success shouldn’t be all that surprising. Where the Williams sisters defied the odds by rising up from the mean streets of Compton, Calif., to become superstars, Bellis comes from a privileged background far more conducive to tennis development. She grew up in Atherton, Calif.— the elite among elite suburbs in Silicon Valley. Gordon Bellis, the youngster’s dad, made enough as an investment manager to supply his daughter with a backyard tennis court while wife Lori home-schooled CiCi.

Even by tennis’s hoity-toity standards, these were luxe surroundings. The only comparable situation would be the case of Ernests Gulbis, the mercurial Latvian player on the men’s tour and son of Ainārs Gulbis, a super-rich investment banker.

(...)

Given the track record of other out-of-nowhere Valley startups, it would be unwise to bet against her.

Notice the tennis names Mr Vance mentions. If those don't set off warning bells for Vance they do for hard core tennis fans. Neither Kournikova or Gulbis lived up to their potentials. But of course this girl - she is a girl - is going to be a success because SILICON VALLEY!!!

Yeah.


via USATIS

Well young Ms Bellis got her ass handed to her yesterday by the world #1 Serena Williams. Can I say that Serena let the girl win two games? The 6-1, 6-1 score is deceiving. It really wasn't that close.

I wonder though what sport other than tennis would allow a fifteen year old girl face the best player of this generation? In what sport would the hype machine try to spin it that the kid had a chance. I mean would it have been fair to let a college freshman go one on one with Michael Jordan back in the day? No you say? Then why build this girl up as the second coming because she beat Dominika Cibulkova and has had a decent ITF career so far. No offense meant to Dominika but Serena is several levels above Cibulkova and in my opinion it does more harm than good to expose someone this young to the juggernaut that is Serena Williams. As I said earlier this year exposing young players, male or female, to the rigors of the main tour before they're physically and mentally ready is not a good thing. It can lead to regression and self doubt. Tell me how many players have made the successful jump from the Juniors to the main tour? Look at the kid I'm following this year, Alexander Zverev. Poor guy is not doing well at all at the moment although he is playing Qualies something I think is a good thing.


via ITFtennis.com

Why isn't the hype machine talking about Chung Hyeon from South Korea? At 6' tall he doesn't have to worry about a height disadvantage. He's very mobile and very fast and can make shots from anywhere on the court. The hype machine may not be on his case but the tennis cognoscenti are. I mean when you hear the likes of Robbie Koenig and Jason Goodall falling over themselves to describe the potential of this young man you know that away from the ever vigilant (sarcasm alert) tennis "press" the people who matter are already paying attention to him. Oh but wait. He's from South Korea. His team is composed of Koreans. His English is very limited something we know drives the US tennis establishment up the wall. So he can't be publicized because he's too foreign. Better young Bellis who comes from a background the US tennis establishment understands and who can communicate with them without an interpreter.
I've been told by @Tonicate that the correct Romanization of the young Korean's name is "Jeong" but that the pronunciation sounds more like "Chung". Since he's using "Chung" I'll use it too. However it's spelled keep your eyes on him. I think he's going to be a good one.


via his Twitter profile

Borna Ćorić is another youngster with an outsize personality, a cockiness if you will, that Australian, British and US tennis people like. He's had to dial back his "best of his generation" quote and seems to be progressing, building a career. To my knowledge his English is limited too but with his buzz cut and personal charm I guess he's more approachable for the Westerners who have just stopped their pronouncements about Eastern Europeans dragging themselves out of their hovels to play tennis. Just stopped.

So Madison Keys. If you saw her complete breakdown towards the end of her match against Sloane Stephens you saw a player unable to handle the pressures she's under. After her run in Australia everyone was saying she was the next big thing, the American poised to succeed Serena, the one who should obliterate anyone across the net from her when she played. I think it was a mistake for her not to play anywhere until the IW/Miami swing. You have to learn to win and lose before you step on the big stages of tennis. Yes they said she was injured but did she play either of the warm up tournaments in Mexico at least? No.

This focus on the Slams and since we're talking WTA Premier Mandatory events is wrong and puts more pressure on young players no matter where they come from. You build a tennis career just like you construct a point. Everything can't be an "ace". You can't "servebot" your way through life and you can't do it with a tennis career. Make these young people play. Let them learn that taking the court, win or lose, is how you deal with life.

I have to mention that for many African American tennis fans Keys unfortunate comments about not identifying as African American have made her someone to root against. Keys is what 19? She's from a wealthy background and as many mixed race people do she's struggling with her identity. Should her parents have done more to tell how how the world sees her? It's easy for people hiding behind computers to say "yes they should have" but not being part of that family and it's dynamic the only thing outsiders can do is "don't judge". She may always struggle with her identity. We're all on this plane to learn so I say leave her alone about that for now. It was a mistake by her handlers to let that statement go in that interview but I'm betting they're unaware, and to be honest really don't care what people of color think or feel when they hear statements like that.

The way Keys was sobbing, bawling if you will, on the sidelines in the second set all of these issues are getting to her. I like the way Jonathan Leach handled the awkward situation. Men confronted with crying women usually lose it. He whispered directly into her ear so that the mic wouldn't pick up what he was saying. That was a good move on his part and Madison did settle down after that and win a couple of games to avoid being fed a bakery product. I still think she should play some International level events. Let her construct her career. With tennis careers extending into what used to be considered the golden years of tennis she's got enough time to get it together.

As for the woman who defeated Madison Keys, Sloane Stephens, I think she realizes that Nick Saviano is her last chance to be relevant in tennis. At least I hope she does. I think she's afraid of him, and that's a good thing for someone with her personality. She had more to prove versus Madison and she played like it. She's still playing. Unseeded. Let's see how she handles herself.

I haven't mentioned much about US young men. There's not much to say. Too short. Lousy games. Unable to think their way through a point let alone a match. Yes Donald Young is playing better tennis but he's hardly a newbie. Ryan Harrison is also trying now. No temper tantrums so far. But neither of them are new jacks. The true new jacks like Francis Tiafoe are doing the right thing and playing Challengers. Some folks out there get it.


© Notice of Copyright: Unless otherwise stated, all material on this site is the copyright of the author. Text may not be used unless express permission is granted by the author. Feel free to link to or quote this site and include the proper credit.