Friday, August 23, 2013

Junior US Open Wildcards


For those of you who don't know, I am a follower of the top levels of junior boys tennis (mostly international). So I have a blog, therefore I'm going to be blogging about the upcoming US Open (Juniors and Men's). Recently, the USTA announced wildcards for the main and qualifying draws of the Junior US Open. Here is a list of the names:


Boys main draw:
1. Collin Altamirano
2. JC Aragone
3. Gage Brymer
4. Jared Donaldson
5. Dan Kerznerman
6. Mackenzie McDonald
7. Tommy Paul
8. TBD

Boys qualifying draw:
1. Jake DeVine
2. Taylor Fritz
3. Sameer Kumar
4. Reilly Opelka
5. Henrik Wiersholm
6. Kenta Miyoshi

Collin Altamirano, the champion from Kalamazoo will undergo an interesting task: his first junior grand slam. After coming out of nowhere to capture the USTA National Championships crown, this will be a test of how he stacks up amongst international competition. It'll be interesting to see if he will live up to his title of national champion, or if he ended up just being a one hit wonder in Kalamazoo. Jared Donaldson (Kalamazoo finalist), MacKenzie McDonald, Dan Kerznerman and JC Aragone are more familiar stacking up against international competition. This will be McDonald's first grand slam since the Junior Australian Open and this will be Donaldson and Kerznerman’s first one since last year’s Junior US Open. Unlike those two, this will be Aragone's first go round at a junior grand slam. Tommy Paul and Gage Brymer have had their experiences with international tournaments (mostly all in the USA), but none to this degree. After coming up short as a 1 seed at Kalamazoo, Brymer will have a second chance to prove he’s the best junior American player. The 8th wildcard is to be determined. I would like to think there is an outside shot of former 16&Under singles national champion Henrik Wiersholm of getting this wildcard (as of now he only has a qualifying wildcard). Also, this spot may have been saved for Ernesto Escobedo if he was to make the trip to New York. If not, it is a mystery who the USTA is saving this for and how long it will be until they release the 8th wildcard.

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