Larcher De Brito.

Drew · Mar 24, 2007

Larcher De Brito.

andyjmr · Intermediate Club Player

The Panda Bear wrote:

Much was said about IMG apparently wasting a wild card on a girl who is 14 years and 1 month old and is obviously unranked.

But.... she actually beat Meghann Shaughnessy in Miami.

Shaughnessy is ranked inside the top 50 and is aged twice as much as Michelle.

-- Edited by The Panda Bear at 04:01, 2007-03-22

So a few weeks ago she was only 13 years old.

how on earth is she holding her own with top 50 players

Drew · Mar 24, 2007

How tall is she ?

Drew · Mar 24, 2007

The young lass could not keep up..she lost 7-5 6-0 but what a performance for a girl just turned 14 !!!!

Salmon · Tennis legend

Josh wrote:

and 7 DFs already

His serve is her weakness, so it isn't a big surprise. I think that the fact that she can win matches at this level without a big serve makes her all the more special.

Drew wrote:

How tall is she ?

5 feet and 4 inches, I believe. Most girls who peak early are physically ahead of their peers - Sharapova, Vaidisova, Paszek etc. This girl is actually looks weaker than most tennis players of her age.

She managed to win Eddie Herr 16s when she was just 12 so you have to expect big things from her.

Salmon · Tennis legend

Doesn't look very well built...

She'll be world number one even if she converts half of her talents into results.

Sheddie · administrator

OMG, I can't believe these results !! This is absolutely amazing...I guess only Hingis can compare.

Has anyone here seen her play ? The fact that she's so small makes it all the more impressive, she looks very slight from those photos so it must be incredible touch, timing and anticipation which has enabled her to get these results.

and of course, we can never have a thread about a promising junior without some wild over-optimism from the Panda and some pessimism from the shedman

...so here goes

Arks, I know her results so far have been brilliant but how can you say she's gonna be a future world no 1 already

To compare, Andy Murray is on the verge of the top 10 and has beaten most of the world's elite but all the tennis experts agree that it's too soon to say whether he'll get to the top spot as there's so many incredibly talented players at the top of the game, all fast-improving plus we don't how long the dominance of Federer could continue for....could be another 5-6 years.

Larcher de Brito isn't even ranked yet...for sure she'll be top 50 but a lot will depend on how much she grows and fills out her frame (the womens game today is a lot more physical than even 10 years ago, most of the top players are all very muscular players with massive serves who can blast scorching winners from the back)....not having a good serve is a major disadvantage now. Also, could burn-out be a factor...she's done so much so young, a lot of players who've done things like her, have ended up quitting in their early 20s.

Sheddie · administrator

DUSTY DICK wrote:

Well it does show ours up abit when a 14 year old wins like that in an event of this magnitude. However, in reality I have to say that my own personal opinion is that at 14 she did not ought to be allowed to play at this level yet. It can go wrong and spell disaster further down the road. At 14 you should have to stick to the juniors for a while longer. There is plenty of time ahead if you are good enougth to make it.

Do you agree/disagree.

I wouldn't say it shows ours up at all tbh, a player like Larcher de Brito is just an incredible phenomenon who comes along once in a generation....like Hingis and Capriati in the last generation.

The Belgium system is more the sort of thing which shows the LTA up. They're a similar sized country, much smaller population density and apart from Antwerp they don't have a big tournament while in comparison we have the biggest tennis tournament of the year plus Queens, Nottingham, Eastbourne and Birmingham.

Yet in the past decade Belgium has produced Malisse, the Rochus brothers, Vliegen, Dick Norman, Elseneer (has been top 100) plus Henin, Cljisters and Flipkens...all home grown players.

For us, Henman and Murray both developed outside the system and then we got lucky that a Canadian guy decided to make use of his British passport (for which I am and have been thoroughly delighted). The only top 100 players who've come through the system have been Sam Smith, Stretch and Aucks (who've done it in doubles).

You've got a good point there, burn-out is a serious problem in the womens game where players develop so early...there is the tournaments restriction rule though. John says Hingis was good enough at that age, but in less than a decade she'd burnt out and was forced to retire for 3 years, injury-ridden. Personally I think that players should focus more on developing their fitness and their game at 12-14 rather than thinking about ranking points...then start to compete more at 15-16 like Sharapova. Btw Vik, Sharapova had already made an impact on the tour before Wimbledon 2004, she'd already won several WTA titles and was top 20 !!

Salmon · Tennis legend

Sheddie wrote:

Has anyone here seen her play ?

David, you can judge what her game is like from these videos:

She was playing an exhibition match against Elias at Estoril.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6964525619347718813

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2143076871559188608

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1833207160679790241

-- Edited by The Panda Bear at 13:21, 2007-03-24

Drew · Mar 24, 2007

Just like Martina she is very pretty...hope she has a better taste in men in years to come though !!!

andyjmr · Intermediate Club Player

Sheddie wrote:
The only top 100 players who've come through the system have been Sam Smith, Stretch and Aucks (who've done it in doubles).

As for Stretch - surely you mean "who've come through despite the system".

Sheddie · administrator

Lol, v true andyjmr

Sheddie · administrator

Drew wrote:

Just like Martina she is very pretty...hope she has a better taste in men in years to come though !!!

I agree Drew, she has a slight look of the young Martina. Would you say Martina's lost her looks in recent years, for some reason she doesn't seem quite as cute as 5-6 years ago.