Great Line-up Of Young Tennis Stars Coming to SAP12

Next Month's SAP Open tennis tournament in San Jose, CA will have the best line-up of up-and-coming tennis players I've seen in one place in some time. Worth checking out. I'll be in the front row. Among them (cont. below photo):

Update: Bernard Tomic withdraws. SAP says because of leg injury, ATP says Tomic used his one "personal exemption", rumored because of speeding tickets. Seems the 19-year-old was driving a high-performance car through an exemption to Australian laws, but picked up a bunch of tickets. Court is not amused. 

1) Milos Raonic, the Canadian via Montenegro, who turned 21 last week is defending his title. Raonic was the youngest player to win a tournament on the ATP Tour last year, and may repeat that feat since he won the Chennai Open in India today. Raonic beat the number 9 and 10-ranked players back-to-back in Chennai. One of the best twist serves in tennis history (Click photo from last year's title match to enlarge).

2) Bernard Tomic , the 19-year-old Australian has the second-funkiest game on the ATP (Alexandr Dolgopolov earns that honor) with tremendous touch, and movement he's ranked 42 now. If Tomic's serve grows into his newly-6 ft 5 in frame, he could make waves. 

3) Grigor Dimitrov at 20, the Bulgarian is called "the junior Federer" because he modeled his game after his idol, including the one-handed backhand. Beat eighth-ranked Mardy Fish 2 and 1 last week, eliciting an obscene display from the American. Looked great in a stylish loss to Jo-WIlfried Tsonga at the USO11.

4) Ryan Harrison, the 19-year from Louisiana has a victory over Raonic and decent showings at the US Open. Big kick serve, aggressive service return, and full court game. Has more broken rackets than wins to date, though <g>. 

5) Jack Sock, another 19-year-old American, from Nebraska, also made a good showing at the US Open. Big, physical style. 

6) Donald Young has been on the tour and featured on TV for so long I hesitated to include him as young gun, but he's still only 22 and is making a move, now up to 39 in the world. John McEnroe said, "He has the best hands I've seen since my own," a complement in Mac's inimitable style. 

SAP:
http://www.sapopentennis.com/index2.html

#tennis #ATP #SAP

Comments

[Warren]

If we all could only get halfway that far off the ground on our serves. It's good that tennis is back in season. Looking forward to more great photos Jim.