Boys & Girls: U14 Category 1 All England Junior International, Roehampton, grass (Week 23)

DavidC · Tennis legend

RE: Boys & Girls: U14 Category 1 All England Junior International, Roehampton, grass (Week 23)

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Tennisfan2021 wrote:
Also if you want someone who knows these kids fairly well to opine, without mentioning my child. at 14u growth and development is a major factor. in the girls my tip for the future is shamiso ndoro but again hasnt grown so isnt getting the results yet.
Liam channon is well built but not massive and really has the game I feel to develop and progress especially on clay.

Many thanks for the inside opinion - I will note Ndoro's name

It's always great to have the view of someone who knows it from the inside - we go along and have a view from one or two matches but it's only a snapshot

As I know from when I was involved in it seriously, certain aspects of talent stand out, and solid technique is always good, but it's also really important to know where the child was 12 months ago, the other sports they do, what sort of training they've had, their own character, their family set-up etc etc

Lambda · Challenger level

DavidC wrote:

Tennisfan2021 wrote:
Liam, Mark, Mika and Isabelle already are into Wimbledon as they were the finalists at the grass court grade 1 last week which had the same prize!
Thanks for the added information. It makes sense that there are more than two places for Europeans, though it does also mean that the Tennis Europe media release is wrong (it asserts that the other 14 places will be allocated to players from other regions, which cannot therefore be true)

Piecing together information from various places as I can't find anything authoritative, I think it should say the other 14 places will be allocated to players from the other regions and 4 Grand Slam nations. This event awards the Tennis Europe places, last week awarded the GB places. France, Australia and US get their own places outside of the continental places.

Tennisfan2021 · Improver

Those are great points.

my child won all the Nationals 10-u

is now being asked if he is A players younger brother When getting the players food at this roehampton comp

he has been an lta selected player for a while but that ends this year

He still hasnt hit puberty

Is Trying to play against the best man sized Players!

Nix · Futures level

Tennisfan2021 wrote:
Those are great points.
my child won all the Nationals 10-u

is now being asked if he is A players younger brother When getting the players food at this roehampton comp

he has been an lta selected player for a while but that ends this year
He still hasnt hit puberty
Is Trying to play against the best man sized Players!

It's so difficult to know how much and when boys in particular will grow. So many factors involved, not just parents but also grandparents. I've got a friend whose husband is average height, maybe 5 foot 8, she's quite small, 5 foot 4/5, and has a son who's 6 foot 4, possibly down to taller great grandparents. I also follow football (sorry!) and young players can be released at age 16 for being too small and then grow a few inches past then. I think Andy was still growing at 18!

It must be difficult though when some of the other young lads have already hit puberty and he hasn't.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Tennisfan2021 wrote:
Those are great points.
my child won all the Nationals 10-u
is now being asked if he is A players younger brother When getting the players food at this roehampton comp
he has been an lta selected player for a while but that ends this year
He still hasnt hit puberty
Is Trying to play against the best man sized Players!

Well, the one consolation is that (short of very, very rare problems) puberty WILL happen smile

And, to be honest, if height is a factor in LTA thinking (and it's not completely unreasonable), then given two players of the same height, they should make a distinction between a 14 year-old who hasn't hit puberty and one who has.

It is difficult, though, to factor in how it impacts.

Some youngsters I remember who were late developers became very defensive players (because that's all they could do), and became ingrained, so it was their style of play that argued against them - but, of course, their style of play had been dictated by their size and might have changed......

Some also just became a bit despondent with tennis, with life - it's a difficult time for adolescents.....peer pressure etc.... and especially on boys who are still small...

Quite a few of GB's young players who stood out in terms of physique, and were part of the LTA cohort, have not really done anything as the others caught up (I remember Finn Bass being a very 'strong' kid, and highly rated by the LTA, but didn't have tennis that was really stand out)

I always used to note what potential selected players' parents looked like (and often grandparents too, as they would often come to matches). It's not hard science but it's strongly connected/correlated/whatever. It sounds harsh but I do think that if a player is going to be on the particularly small side, then pro tennis is not the right choice. However, until you've reached puberty, you've no idea smile

Do hope your boy is still really enjoying his tennis ! French kids play a lot of tennis against fully-grown adults, from the age of 13 or so, they'll enter adult tournaments, and play adult team tennis. These give ranking points and are important, as a learning exercise too. But, of course, if it's junior nationals etc, it's not the same...... hmm

DavidC · Tennis legend

Mika is on a roll. Including the main draw of last week's event highlighted by Tennisfan2021 I make it that she has won 16 sets in a row

Boys SF

(6) Maximilian Heidlmair (AUT) d. Mark Ceban 3-6 6-3 6-4

Girls SF

Mika Stojsavljevic d. (7) Arabella Loftus 6-4 6-0

F

(6) Andreea Diana Soare (ROU) v Mika Stojsavljevic

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Mika seems a very interesting prospect

Love the fact that she's also the school hockey star and came second in the 1500m in some English Schools Athletics tournament (according to the school mag)

Very tall girl - London tennis tube have various of her matches on Youtube (although from a year or two back which makes quite a difference at that age) - but strong aggressive player

And has a little sister who's very good for her age too.....

DavidC · Tennis legend

DavidC wrote:
Mika is on a roll. Including the main draw of last week's event highlighted by Tennisfan2021 I make it that she has won 16 sets in a row

Make that 18 smile

F

Mika Stojsavljevic d. (6) Andreea Diana Soare (ROU) 7-5 6-0

DavidC · Tennis legend

Mika came back to win the doubles title as well with Arabella. Liam, and Czech partner, took the boys title

Strongbow · All-time great

For the record

Mika Stojsavljevic d. (6) Andreea Diana Soare (ROU) 7-5 6-0

Don't remember if Indie counts these. but she deserves a

Hope her sister gets as good.

Congrats to Arabella Loftus (hope I've got the right one) biggrin

DavidC · Tennis legend

British success here proved timely, as entry lists have been published for the under 14 Summer Cup which acts as a qualifier for the World Juniors. The rankings rises of our top under 14s should mean that both our boys and girls teams are one of the top 2 seeds in their initial qualifying groups. That probably isn't particularly relevant to the boys, given there are no obviously outstanding teams in their group, but it may well be significant to the girls' hopes. They are in a tough qualifying group (2 make it to the European finals) along with Romania and Ukraine. Romania (3 girls), Czech Republic (6) and Russia (3) dominate the Tennis Europe top 20, and not having to beat them to qualify should be helpful (though they could still be in the same section of the draw as Ukraine, who have good pedigree). Mika, Arabella and Isabelle are the selected trio, so Hannah Klugman will not be in the team.

Tennisfan2021 · Improver

Thank you for all the nice comments. And realistic ones too!
Happy as my boy has a wild Card into the itf this week.l- as a 14u we are pleased he has been recognised. The organisers questioned his age though - are you here for the 12u camp?
Will be good experience

Tennisfan2021 · Improver

Thanks coup droit. He absolutely loves tennis. Every week is asking what tournament hes playing next

-- Edited by Tennisfan2021 on Friday 29th of July 2022 10:07:14 PM

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Tennisfan2021 wrote:
Thank you for all the nice comments. And realistic ones too!
Happy as my boy has a wild Card into the itf this week.l- as a 14u we are pleased he has been recognised. The organisers questioned his age though - are you here for the 12u camp?
Will be good experience

Ouch !

I hope he didn't mind and can see the funny side smile

It's brilliant that your son loves tennis so much, and here's hoping he gets a big growth spurt soon. It's a rather sensitive thing and it sounds as though you're dealing with it really well.

For girls it's usually the other way round. I know a couple of girls with East European parents who lived and played in France as juniors. They were miles bigger than the average 11-13 year-old girl there. There was a lot of rather nasty sniping behind their backs, (and not behind their backs too ), saying it wasn't fair and 'something should be done' - some people actually questioned whether their parents had lied, effectively, on the federation site and registered them as younger than they were so they'd win more - basically accused them all of cheating.

One of the girls took it particularly to heart - at the risk of being a bit indelicate, it's not easy for the young teenage girls, when you've got a whole heap of pre-pubescent little girls and then one who's not only miles taller but way more developed than too, and wearing a little skimpy tennis kit. This one actually quit and went to do volleyball instead (several tall girls there already, she felt more at home). But a real shame for tennis, she was very talented.

Anyway, great news about the wildcard and best of luck to your son in the ITF !!!! biggrin

-- Edited by Coup Droit on Saturday 30th of July 2022 07:54:31 AM