Boys: 2023 U16/U18 Junior National Championships, NTC, acrylic (Weeks 14/15)

twentytoone · Lower Club Player

Boys: 2023 U16/U18 Junior National Championships, NTC, acrylic (Weeks 14/15)

twentytoone · Lower Club Player

Amazing match

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Absolutely - really cracking match - from both

Not really impressed though that Bonidng is now getting the officials to come over and look at the 'mark' where the previous serve was - in his opinion - fault.

The commentator clearly saw it in - as did I - and our camera is right on that line, directly lined up with the cente service line

So, sorry, Oli but it was 'in', and it just caught you by surprise. To be fair to Oli, he didn't go in for major dramatics during the match.

Anwyay, that's a guaranteed main draw place in junor wimbly for Ben Gusic Wan.

Oli Bonding is quasi guaranteed one anyway (if he needs one which he may well not, given his current ranking and next events)

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

I actually watched around a set of this , amazing for me !! Haha

Two observations when I watched :

Oli - seemed to play a lot of low percentage shots - underarm serve into the net on one point; he played an outrageous deep cut drop volley on another which literally turned sideways and won him the point but it felt to me a poor time to take such a risk. He didnt play well thought out tennis for the 6 or 7 games I saw - from end of set 2 through to back end set 3.

Ben - small lad but played some killer forehand winners , deep and cutting. Seemed a better match player. Served solid and accurately and got a few aces not through power but through good placement. Solid player, if he grows he could develop some power and be a force

Only time Ive seen either though so this may totally misrepresent them both !

twentytoone · Lower Club Player

I dont believe Ben is going to grow at all which may eventually hold him back from the top 100 or top 50 but it could also be the other way around and be the thing that makes him so unique

DavidC · Tennis legend

Qualifying for the under18 Nationals starts tomorrow with Henry Jefferson as top qualifying seed

Qualifying draw is here

Nix · Futures qualifying

JonH comes home wrote:
I actually watched around a set of this , amazing for me !! Haha

Two observations when I watched :

Oli - seemed to play a lot of low percentage shots - underarm serve into the net on one point; he played an outrageous deep cut drop volley on another which literally turned sideways and won him the point but it felt to me a poor time to take such a risk. He didnt play well thought out tennis for the 6 or 7 games I saw - from end of set 2 through to back end set 3.

Ben - small lad but played some killer forehand winners , deep and cutting. Seemed a better match player. Served solid and accurately and got a few aces not through power but through good placement. Solid player, if he grows he could develop some power and be a force

Only time Ive seen either though so this may totally misrepresent them both !

Just to preface this I'm in no way knowledgeable about junior tennis and how best to develop players but I quite like the idea of trying out all your shots at this age. I'm just thinking of Matilda Mutavdzic and how she played to her strengths to an almost robotic degree but then her game seemed very one dimensional when she started playing adult tennis. It seems less important to win all your matches at this age rather than develop your game. Doing so against better players like Ben might be a good longer term strategy. As I say, I'm no expert but just another perspective.

paulisi · Tennis legend

Ben uses his strengths as his serve is limited by his height.
Lots of small juniors have to adapt by better movement and groundshots

Tennis_observer · Improver

Nix wrote:
JonH comes home wrote:
I actually watched around a set of this , amazing for me !! Haha

Two observations when I watched :

Oli - seemed to play a lot of low percentage shots - underarm serve into the net on one point; he played an outrageous deep cut drop volley on another which literally turned sideways and won him the point but it felt to me a poor time to take such a risk. He didnt play well thought out tennis for the 6 or 7 games I saw - from end of set 2 through to back end set 3.

Ben - small lad but played some killer forehand winners , deep and cutting. Seemed a better match player. Served solid and accurately and got a few aces not through power but through good placement. Solid player, if he grows he could develop some power and be a force

Only time Ive seen either though so this may totally misrepresent them both !
Just to preface this I'm in no way knowledgeable about junior tennis and how best to develop players but I quite like the idea of trying out all your shots at this age. I'm just thinking of Matilda Mutavdzic and how she played to her strengths to an almost robotic degree but then her game seemed very one dimensional when she started playing adult tennis. It seems less important to win all your matches at this age rather than develop your game. Doing so against better players like Ben might be a good longer term strategy. As I say, I'm no expert but just another perspective.

Agree completely.
As this age it is ALL about developing, winning is secondary in my opinion. They should be trying to play like they envision playing as seniors.

twentytoone · Lower Club Player

My picks of qualifying matches are luke hooper vs Liam hooper and Tom Aston vs Luca bluett

twentytoone · Lower Club Player

Meant to say Liam Channon but my spelling skills could use some work . I was held back in school if u couldnt tell

twentytoone · Lower Club Player

It will also be intresting to see how well Ben Gusic-Wan does as well as Oli bonding given that could of easily been our 18u final and you wouldnt have been to surprised

dodrade · Satellite level

twentytoone wrote:
Anybody know why Ben isnt at any of the national academies same with Oliver bonding ?

Bonding was at Loughborough for a while AFAIK.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Out of interest has any player won the 18s after losing at some point the same year in the 16s?

Spireman · Strong Club Player

JonH comes home wrote:
Out of interest has any player won the 18s after losing at some point the same year in the 16s?

Yes. I was fairly sure this has happened so 10 minutes checking the lta website did the trick! In the girls 2017 Lillian Mould won u18 but lost to Indianna Spink in u16 in qf. She then lost to Erin Richardson who went on to win the title. In the u18 final Lillian Mould beat Alessandra Ruggieri.

2019 and before, including 2017, the u14, 16 and 18 nationals were at Nottingham in August. Both u14 and u18 overlapped with u16. So players doing two age groups could suffer from scheduling problems if they had a good run in both, and more so if doing well in doubles. No doubt this affected results sometimes. Current system is better I think. The draws were 32 draws then but no qualifying draw that I remember.