American teenagers in the top 150s WTA

[10ismom]

http://www.wtatennis.com/page/Rankin...~0~193,00.html

17 yo Madison Keys just won $50,000 Challenger event in Saguenay, Canada. She beat Eugenie Bouchard 18 yo 2012 Wimbledon junior champion 4, 2 in the Finals. Her new ranking should be higher than 152.

The current US teenagers in the top 150's are
Christina McHale, almost 20, at #33
Sloane Stephens, age 19 at #38
Lauren Davis, age 19 at #91
Madison Keys, age17 at #152 (this week)
Jessica Pegula, age 16 at#155

Others: Grace Min, age 18, at #184.....previous junior US Open champ
Nicole Gibbs, age 19 at #233......NCAA champ
Samantha Crawford, age 17 at #288...2012 US Open junior champ
And of course.... Taylor Towsend, age 16 currently no WTA ranking..#1 ITF junior

Who on this list do you think has potential to be in the top 20s or be a Grand Slam champion one day?

[Roger Wawrinka]

Sloane Stephens. But that's just my opinion.

[10ismom]

I would vote for Christina McHale, Sloane Stephens and Madison Keys. For Taylor Townsend, I would like to see how she's doing in the pros the next couple of years before voting.

They are just my random picks and best guess.
It would be fun to see this thread again in the future how the guessing will turn out.

[NLBwell]

Sloane Stevens. Possible McHale could get to 20, but not much more than that. Don't know much about some of them, though.

[10ismom]

A little bit more infos.....

Lauren Davis's highest junior ranking was world # 3. She won both junior Orange Bowl and Eddie Herr the same year. She is 5 ft 2 though.

Madison Keys in 2009 at age 14, beat Serena Williams (reigning Wimbledon champ at that time) in a World Team Tennis singles match. She turned pro at 14 and was one of the youngest girls to ever win a WTA match. She is 5 ft 11 and supposedly has good serves.

Jessica Pegula....I've never heard of but Wiki showed she is a daughter of a billionaire and got wild cards to play in some big pro events like US open and Indian Wells.

[monomer]

FYI, Taylor Townsend is playing in the Dow Corning Classic in Midland, MI. Her first round match is the featured match tonight at 7pm EST. It can be streamed live.

Dow Corning Classic

[Chemist]

Originally Posted by monomer

FYI, Taylor Townsend is playing in the Dow Corning Classic in Midland, MI. Her first round match is the featured match tonight at 7pm EST. It can be streamed live.

Dow Corning Classic

Is this her first tournament as a pro? Wish her the best!

[monomer]

It might be. I think she just turned pro in January. For the Dow tournament, she was listed to play in the qualifying tournament on Sunday. At the last minute she disappeared from the draw and was placed in the main draw.

[Chemist]

Originally Posted by monomer

It might be. I think she just turned pro in January. For the Dow tournament, she was listed to play in the qualifying tournament on Sunday. At the last minute she disappeared from the draw and was placed in the main draw.

She might have been given a special type of wild card. JE = Junior exception?

Taylor and Sam Crawford lost their opening round of doubles to Craybas and Vandeweghe in 3 sets. Perhaps, Taylor is a bit rusty.

[monomer]

Yes, I just checked the draw sheet and Taylor is a "JE" entry.

[Soianka]

Originally Posted by monomer

FYI, Taylor Townsend is playing in the Dow Corning Classic in Midland, MI. Her first round match is the featured match tonight at 7pm EST. It can be streamed live.

Dow Corning Classic

Thanks.

It will be interesting to see Sachia Vickery play as well -- another talented junior.

As an aside, on that website, Jainy SCHEEPENS looks like Anna Kournikova in her picture and Brenda SCHULTZ-MCCARTHY looks really old.

[Soianka]

Originally Posted by monomer

FYI, Taylor Townsend is playing in the Dow Corning Classic in Midland, MI. Her first round match is the featured match tonight at 7pm EST. It can be streamed live.

Dow Corning Classic

is the sound echoing for anyone else?

[Chemist]

Originally Posted by Soianka

is the sound echoing for anyone else?

The sound was really bad here too

[Chemist]

Originally Posted by Soianka

is the sound echoing for anyone else?

its good now

[Chemist]

Sachia played really well, moved well, played consistently and smart. Taylor played well but not well enough against a girl who has much more experience in the pro circuit. Taylor served really well in the 1st set. She had beautiful forehands. She moved quite well. However she just hit way too many unforced errors, most of them just over hitting (wide or deep). From time to time, Taylor played as if she was playing a junior player. One example was that she threw a moon ball that landed 2-3 behind the service line, but she came in to the net and got passed down the line. She could not hit hard from her backhand. She still loves to come to the net. But against good players, she would need to hit a lot better and deeper approaches or come in when her opponent is chasing the ball. In addition, she would need to put more pressure on Sachia's serves. Taylor appeared to stay cool through out the match, while Sachia often showed displeasure for missing shots. However, in the end it was Taylor who did not play like she had confidence to come back and win the match.

Maybe she is just rusty - no tournament for more than 4 months!

[10ismom]

Originally Posted by Chemist

Sachia played really well, moved well, played consistently and smart. Taylor played well but not well enough against a girl who has much more experience in the pro circuit. Taylor served really well in the 1st set. She had beautiful forehands. She moved quite well. However she just hit way too many unforced errors, most of them just over hitting (wide or deep). From time to time, Taylor played as if she was playing a junior player. One example was that she threw a moon ball that landed 2-3 behind the service line, but she came in to the net and got passed down the line. She could not hit hard from her backhand. She still loves to come to the net. But against good players, she would need to hit a lot better and deeper approaches or come in when her opponent is chasing the ball. In addition, she would need to put more pressure on Sachia's serves. Taylor appeared to stay cool through out the match, while Sachia often showed displeasure for missing shots. However, in the end it was Taylor who did not play like she had confidence to come back and win the match.

Maybe she is just rusty - no tournament for more than 4 months!

I watched the last 5-6 games of this match and pretty much agreed with what you said.
I also watched the match she played double with Martina Navratilova against other pros in World Team Tennis last year. Taylor loved coming to the net but it seemed she could not handle the pro level pace and passing shots yet. Her volley skills and all court game soothed her well in juniors but she will need to evolve to be successful at the pro level.

[monomer]

Originally Posted by Chemist

Sachia played really well, moved well, played consistently and smart. Taylor played well but not well enough against a girl who has much more experience in the pro circuit. Taylor served really well in the 1st set. She had beautiful forehands. She moved quite well. However she just hit way too many unforced errors, most of them just over hitting (wide or deep). From time to time, Taylor played as if she was playing a junior player. One example was that she threw a moon ball that landed 2-3 behind the service line, but she came in to the net and got passed down the line. She could not hit hard from her backhand. She still loves to come to the net. But against good players, she would need to hit a lot better and deeper approaches or come in when her opponent is chasing the ball. In addition, she would need to put more pressure on Sachia's serves. Taylor appeared to stay cool through out the match, while Sachia often showed displeasure for missing shots. However, in the end it was Taylor who did not play like she had confidence to come back and win the match.

Maybe she is just rusty - no tournament for more than 4 months!

Thanks for the analysis. I was hoping she could win a couple of matches as I'm going for the quarterfinals on Friday. I'm sure it will be a big step up for her to play at this level. At age 16, I guess it may take her a few years to get the needed experience.

[Chemist]

Originally Posted by 10ismom

I watched the last 5-6 games of this match and pretty much agreed with what you said.
I also watched the match she played double with Martina Navratilova against other pros in World Team Tennis last year. Taylor loved coming to the net but it seemed she could not handle the pro level pace and passing shots yet. Her volley skills and all court game soothed her well in juniors but she will need to evolve to be successful at the pro level.

Agree. She should watch the match between Sloane vs Serena at AO. She can learn a lot from Sloane when to come in and how to put volleys away. I think TCF can give her more tips than us.

[ga tennis]

I hope they all make it!!!

[monomer]

Very impressed with Lauren Davis today at the Dow tournament. She is small in stature and lacks a big serve but is a real fighter. Was down 2-5 in the first set and fought back to 5-5 before dropping the set 7-5. The second set went to a tiebreak. She was down 1-4 before coming back to win 7-4. She ended up winning the 3rd set 7-5 after being down 2-5 and holding off a match point. It was very high quality play by both.