College Recruits at Kzoo ’22 vs past years

[jcgatennismom]

Looking at the top 32 seeds who pull from grad years 21-24 (Quinn was a RS at GA last year and Anthrop was RS at OSU), 5 are committed to Stanford (classes of 22&23), 5 to Ivys, 3 to UGA, 6 are undecided rising sophs or juniors, two have already turned pro (Martin Damm #1 ATP 468 and Bruno K #3 ATP 748), and the rest are mixed among the P5 conferences (other SEC 3, ACC 3 , Big 10 2, Big 12 2 and other PAC12 1). Ethan Quinn at ATP 509 is the highest ranked college commit. Beside the 3 already listed, top seeded players with ATP rankings <1000 include Michael Zheng (Columbia, 937), and Kyle Kang (Stanford 23/24, 902). Notable 18s not playing Kzoo are Bjorn Swenson, Mich commit who just beat Boitan for a 2nd time this summer at a Future, and Alex Bernard, OSU commit, ATP 771. Overall out of the top 32, 18 currently have at least one ATP point. (link to all college recruits playing Kzoo ‘18 https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1x0Xoqpw3ZL6R0Yf010OLhy9IM7p44jlGV_88cxxXRsg/edit#gid=0 this is not mine-I found on tennis twitter)

Just for fun, I compared this year’s top seeds with 2015 which had to be one of the best years for Kzoo (of course for that year only Tommy Paul was a former college commit (at one time to UGA):

Seeds: (with ATP ranking as of early Aug 2015) now with 4 inside top 50 and the 2 others with career highs around 100

1)Tiafoe 274
2) Fritz 675 (2 months later he was 232)
3)Kozlov 354 (and now struggles to stay around 100)
4) Tommy Paul 429
5) Mmoh 486 (Career high was 99, currently 162)
6) Opelka 1109 (took another year for him to break 300)

Then I looked at 2017 finalists Wolf and Kypson.Ironically Wolf had no ATP points when he finished #2nd at Kzoo (now he is #99) and Kypson was around 670 then about the same as he is now (did reach high of 449). Of course being a top Kzoo finisher is no guarantee of college success or pro success-know a kid who finished 5th one year and has hardly ever left the bench at his P5.

Will be interesting to see if Ethan Quinn stays more than 1 more year at UGA. Hard for players to know which way to go. Maybe Mmoh or Kozlov would have benefited from some college.

There are matches livestreamed each day on courts 1-5 https://www.ocamsclub.com/kalamazoo-live. The top seeds get a bye so the more interesting matches would be mid to late next week when seeds start playing lower seeds (there are 64 seeds, 224 draw). The tourney starts tomo but I think that is 16s only. However, all the guys will bring their fight-for the guys below #32, this event and Nat clays may be their only chance outside high level Jr iTFs, and Futures to play the top US Juniors as those guys only play Nat 1 USTAs. One year my son who was within the #33-64 seeds got to play a top 5 seed who'd played jr Wimbledon on a livestreamed court-only time he's ever played a match with two commentators and two ball boys-son actually took the guy to TB for one set. Was great prep for fall freshman college matches.

 

[Sureshot]

I think Swenson and Bernard are ineligible as their birthdays are before the August cutoff.

Also this group doesn’t-seem to have played as much on the Pro circuit apart from the names you mentioned. So not a fair comparison to some of the earlier years in that regard

 

[Fabresque]

I think Koz needed a little bit of college. Someone like Ryan Shane didn’t, he needed to go straight to tour. Obviously an amazing collegiate career though.

 

[jcgatennismom]

I think Swenson and Bernard are ineligible as their birthdays are before the August cutoff.

Also this group doesn’t-seem to have played as much on the Pro circuit apart from the names you mentioned. So not a fair comparison to some of the earlier years in that regard

I listened to a Cracked Racquet podcast today on Kzoo, and Colette from zootennis mentioned that Swenson and Barnard turned 19 later this month; I had just looked at the ATP rankings for US players yesterday 18 and under. She said the 2015 group was the best ever top 8 but this year had so much depth with so many players with ATP points-will be a lot of tight matches from R16 on and maybe some earlier. If anyone wants to listen, here is the link https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/great-shot-podcast/id1290618412?i=1000575039884

 

[jcgatennismom]

FYI Top 32 seeds for '22 by section: Texas 6, Southern Cal 5, Eastern (NY,NJ part of CT) 5, Florida 4, Mid-west 4, Southern 3, MidAtlantic 3, Northern Cal 1, Northeast (CT) 1. There are 17 sections, but the top 6 usually dominate but the order or representation within the 6 change from year to year. Very hard to reach the top of US junior tennis unless, you live (or board) in California, Florida, Texas, the South, Mid-west, Midatlantic (probably mostly JTCC players), or NY metro area training at White Plains. The Mid-west has some strong HS tennis-esp in Chicago area and parts of OH. It is amazing to me how Mid-west turns out good recruits despite almost half the year indoors. Must draw juniors in hopes of playing for OSU, Michigan, or Illinois.

 

[Sureshot]

I listened to a Cracked Racquet podcast today on Kzoo, and Colette from zootennis mentioned that Swenson and Barnard turned 19 later this month; I had just looked at the ATP rankings for US players yesterday 18 and under. She said the 2015 group was the best ever top 8 but this year had so much depth with so many players with ATP points-will be a lot of tight matches from R16 on and maybe some earlier. If anyone wants to listen, here is the link https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/great-shot-podcast/id1290618412?i=1000575039884

What I meant was although many players have at least one ATP point, most are ranked in the 1000s. There have been years when the top ten were ranked 500 or lower. So again, while the numbers are impressive, the quality doesn’t compare to some earlier years

 

[jcgatennismom]

What I meant was although many players have at least one ATP point, most are ranked in the 1000s. There have been years when the top ten were ranked 500 or lower. So again, while the numbers are impressive, the quality doesn’t compare to some earlier years

I agree with you. I guess Colette had to pump something so she pumped that around 20 kids had ATP points but almost half only had 1-2 points. Good prep for college but nowhere near the level of the 2015 guys. Now both Martin Damm and Ethan Quinn have 2 future titles and 75 and 60 ATP points respectively. They are way above the rest. Michael Zheng reached one final over 6 tournaments, Kyle Kang reached one SF over 10 tourneys but he has beaten Nathan Ponwith and Kypson. Bruno played 18 tournaments and reached 2 SFs; worthy of note is he took Steve johnson #91 to 3 sets before losing in Atlanta Qualis. Michelsen has reached one Futures SF; he's played 4 tourneys over a year. 16 yo Learner Tien reached a SF having played 6 tourneys and beat <400 Govind Nanda. These guys have the most potential, but outside Damm and Quinn, they have gone deep in only 1-2 tourneys. 2015 remains the standard to beat for Kzoo boys.

 

[Sureshot]

I agree with you. I guess Colette had to pump something so she pumped that around 20 kids had ATP points but almost half only had 1-2 points. Good prep for college but nowhere near the level of the 2015 guys. Now both Martin Damm and Ethan Quinn have 2 future titles and 75 and 60 ATP points respectively. They are way above the rest. Michael Zheng reached one final over 6 tournaments, Kyle Kang reached one SF over 10 tourneys but he has beaten Nathan Ponwith and Kypson. Bruno played 18 tournaments and reached 2 SFs; worthy of note is he took Steve johnson #91 to 3 sets before losing in Atlanta Qualis. Michelsen has reached one Futures SF; he's played 4 tourneys over a year. 16 yo Learner Tien reached a SF having played 6 tourneys and beat <400 Govind Nanda. These guys have the most potential, but outside Damm and Quinn, they have gone deep in only 1-2 tourneys. 2015 remains the standard to beat for Kzoo boys.

Yes Kuzuhara seems legit but he’ll have to do some heavy lifting considering his physical stature. He doesn’t have college as a fallback as he’s gone pro

 

[atatu]

FYI Top 32 seeds for '22 by section: Texas 6, Southern Cal 5, Eastern (NY,NJ part of CT) 5, Florida 4, Mid-west 4, Southern 3, MidAtlantic 3, Northern Cal 1, Northeast (CT) 1. There are 17 sections, but the top 6 usually dominate but the order or representation within the 6 change from year to year. Very hard to reach the top of US junior tennis unless, you live (or board) in California, Florida, Texas, the South, Mid-west, Midatlantic (probably mostly JTCC players), or NY metro area training at White Plains. The Mid-west has some strong HS tennis-esp in Chicago area and parts of OH. It is amazing to me how Mid-west turns out good recruits despite almost half the year indoors. Must draw juniors in hopes of playing for OSU, Michigan, or Illinois.

I'm curious where the information for the city and state for these players comes from ? I'm pretty sure Sebastian Gorzny is a Socal kid and isn't from Leander, Texas, but maybe he moved there recently ?

 

[ClarkC]

I'm curious where the information for the city and state for these players comes from ? I'm pretty sure Sebastian Gorzny is a Socal kid and isn't from Leander, Texas, but maybe he moved there recently ?

At tennisrecruiting.net, Sebastian Gorzny is listed as being from Fountain Valley, California.

 

[jcgatennismom]

@ClarkC and @atatu Gorzny is listed on USTA Kzoo acceptance page as Leander Texas. I found this article that might explain it as his mom lives in Austin and his dad in So Cal https://www.ustasocal.com/medical-issue-behind-him-sebastian-gorzny-makes-return-to-socal/ It looks like Gorzny was in Texas in 2019 with his mother after a medical issue; maybe he changed his residency to Texas for USTA and didnt change it back when he returned to So Cal. I heard the jr tennis system changed in recent years, and players can play outside of home sections so maybe that's why it wasnt changed to SoCal. The good new is the player overcame a serious medical issue to continue his path as a top player.

 

[mtommer]

Interesting info on some of the seeds. Right now Tien is playing Quinn pretty well. Tien's getting a lot of BH errors and is clearly teargeting Quinn's bh. Quinn made some adjustments to take the third set. He has definitely started to run around the constant serve to his bh. The interesting thing about Tien's gameplan has been to consistently get first serves in that aren't very hard but lots of spin. You can see Tien can ramp it up if he wanted too as he'll smack a few dtl every once in a while, though rarely. It's keeping Tien in the match so far.

 

[atatu]

Wow Tien wins it and will get a WC to the US Open as a 16 year old.

 

[LOBALOT]

Wow Tien wins it and will get a WC to the US Open as a 16 year old.

I watched the match. He played great and it was a typical power righty vs. crafty lefty match. It was awesome to watch Tien work the shot pattern in his favor time and again.

 

[mtommer]

At least Quinn now knows what he needs to work on if he really wants to succeed on Tour.

 

[jcgatennismom]

At least Quinn gets US Open Quali WC

 

[collegetennisisthebest]

Tennisrecruiting.com lists Learner Tien as class of 2023. Did he start school a year early? He does not turn 17 until Dec. 2nd....so he should be a junior this upcoming year. Based on his birthdate, I would think that he is class of 2024.

That being said, he obviously needs to strengthen his serve. However, I really like his game. His forehand is very special. Very mature for a 16 year old.

 

[collegetennisisthebest]

At least Quinn gets US Open Quali WC

If Tien has to play a top 10 or a top 20 player in the main draw, Quinn getting to play in the qualifiers could benefit Quinn. Quinn is capable of beating a player rankied between 150 and 200 in the first round. It would be a great experience for Quinn to get to play 2 matches in the qualifying tournament.

Of course, Quinn and Nicolas Godsick will get to play in the main draw of the doubles.
Quinn should do very well in the US open juniors singles and doubles.

Nicolas Godsick has to play Sam Riffice in the first round of the Memphis challenger. That will be a good comparison for Godsick as to how he compares against college players.
Godsick had 4 match points when he lost to Learner Tien at Kalamazoo. (Tien won 4-6,7-6,6-3)

 

[LOBALOT]

If Tien has to play a top 10 or a top 20 player in the main draw, Quinn getting to play in the qualifiers could benefit Quinn. Quinn is capable of beating a player rankied between 150 and 200 in the first round. It would be a great experience for Quinn to get to play 2 matches in the qualifying tournament.

Of course, Quinn and Nicolas Godsick will get to play in the main draw of the doubles.
Quinn should do very well in the US open juniors singles and doubles.

Nicolas Godsick has to play Sam Riffice in the first round of the Memphis challenger. That will be a good comparison for Godsick as to how he compares against college players.
Godsick had 4 match points when he lost to Learner Tien at Kalamazoo. (Tien won 4-6,7-6,6-3)

I was thinking this. While Tien played a very smart match I wonder how his skills would translate at the level of a US Open and the physical strength of an adult professional tennis player. I was thinking that Quinn probably would do better.

My son has actually played NG in the past in dubs.

 

[mtommer]

.....I wonder how his skills would translate at the level of a US Open and the physical strength of an adult professional tennis player. I was thinking that Quinn probably would do better.

From what I saw, Quinn clearly hit more outright winners but if they were close enough for Tien to reach them, typically he could handle and redirect the pace well enough. Quinn was also able to bring a few "pro like" games together and there was little Tien was able to do to stop Quinn from winning the game. That's not to say Tien didn't have his moments too but they typically came from smart play moreso than the outright physically imposing winners of Quinn. But again, Tien was clearly targeting the bh with literally almost every shot Tien may very well have a more imposing game in the arsenal.

 

[ClarkC]

Tennisrecruiting.com lists Learner Tien as class of 2023. Did he start school a year early? He does not turn 17 until Dec. 2nd....so he should be a junior this upcoming year. Based on his birthdate, I would think that he is class of 2024.

That being said, he obviously needs to strengthen his serve. However, I really like his game. His forehand is very special. Very mature for a 16 year old.

They list him as a "Provisional" member of the class of 2023. That means he has not informed them of anything (e.g. edited his own profile page), so their computer guesses at his age based on tournament history. That leads to inaccuracy when someone plays up in age bracket a lot.

 

[collegetennisisthebest]

They list him as a "Provisional" member of the class of 2023. That means he has not informed them of anything (e.g. edited his own profile page), so their computer guesses at his age based on tournament history. That leads to inaccuracy when someone plays up in age bracket a lot.

thank you. I appreciate the clarification.