USTA Collegiate Team

[jcgatennismom]

USTA Announces 2022 Collegiate Summer Team

ORLANDO, Fla., June 23, 2022 – The USTA today announced the 10 top American college players named to the 2022 USTA Collegiate Summer Team, the training program designed to help America’s premier college players assimilate to professional tennis in a team-oriented environment via USTA Player &...

www.wearecollegetennis.com

Below are listed the US collegians who will receive travel grants, training, and coaching support for this summer's Futures. Per this article, players were selected based on a number of criteria, including rankings, individual collegiate tournament results or Intercollegiate Tennis Association honors. ITA ranking must have been a big factor as the top 4 US players via ITA made the cut (Shelton 1, Dostanic 5, Kingsley 9, Riffice 13). Murphy was the highest ITA ranked US freshmen (ITA 26). However, why only 5 guys? Why not host the top 12-16 US ITA players for 2 weeks at Lake Nona and pick 3 additional players to make a team of 8? Some US guys just missed the cut-Tracy (ITA 21, #5 Us ITA) who beat Kingsley to reach finals of Columbus 25K in Nov and Stice (23, #6 Us ITA) who beat #3 Daniel Rodriguez at SEC tourney.
One criteria not mentioned is success in early summer Futures. Too bad Andres Martin of GT (ITA 37, US ITA #13) is not on this list-he reached the finals of the 1st Future ever he played and today he beat the 1 seed at Tulsa Yu Hsiou 0,3 to reach QFs of his 2nd ever Future. Last week Hsiou beat Mitsui in 3 and lost to Draxl in 3 but AM crushed him today. The problem with choosing team member mainly on ITA rankings is that Futures and college matches play a different format. Maybe there are guys with slightly lower ITA rankings who do better in 3 hours matches. In college, some games are won by luck or an iffy call. Anybody can have an occasional loose ball or DF; with ads, players only lose a game after deuce if they lose 2 points in a row. Would be great if more players were down training at Lake Nona playing practice matches with ads to see which players do best in that format and add a couple of those to the existing collegiate team. The 5 below deserved a shot at some Futures this summer but they may not be the only ones. if USTA started with a larger team, they could reward those with the best results with more $ for travel expenses.

• Murphy Cassone (Freshman, Arizona State; Overland Park, Kansas) Great choice-NCAA rookie of year, won 4 matches at Little Rock Challenger (2Q, 2MD) to reach QFs, beat Riffice 3, 4 in Tulsa this week, only Future loss this summer was to Chidekh who won Wichita
• Stefan Dostanic (Junior, USC; Irvine, California) He is in QFs of Tulsa-his 1st Future of summer.
• Cannon Kingsley (Junior, Ohio State; Northport, New York) Hasnt played a Future yet this summer. Lost to teammate Tracy in SF of Columbus Futures in Nov. Why isnt Tracy on team too?
• Sam Riffice (Senior, Florida; Orlando, Florida) NCAA singles SFist 22, winner 21 However he is 1/3 at Futures this summer. Lost to Cassone in straights.
• Ben Shelton (Sophomore, Florida; Gainesville, Florida) Obvious choice as '22 NCAA finalist, reached SFs of Little Rock Challenger

FYI Two of the team members were part of the 2021 Collegiate team. Is it fair to help 2 guys 2 summers in a row when other high ITA ranked US players arent getting assistance?
2021 Collegiate Summer Team: William Blumberg, North Carolina (Sr., Greenwich, Conn.); Cannon Kingsley, Ohio State (Soph., Northport, N.Y.); Aleks Kovacevic, Illinois (Sr., New York); John McNally, Ohio State (Sr., Cincinnati); and Sam Riffice, Florida (Jr., Orlando, Fla.)

Women:

• Eryn Cayetano (Junior, USC; Long Beach, California)
• Sarah Hamner (Freshman, South Carolina; Boca Raton, Florida)
• Connie Ma (Freshman, Stanford; Dublin, California)
• Emma Navarro (Sophomore, Virginia; Charleston, South Carolina)
• Peyton Stearns (Sophomore, Texas; Mason, Ohio)

 

[silentkman]

USTA Announces 2022 Collegiate Summer Team

ORLANDO, Fla., June 23, 2022 – The USTA today announced the 10 top American college players named to the 2022 USTA Collegiate Summer Team, the training program designed to help America’s premier college players assimilate to professional tennis in a team-oriented environment via USTA Player &...

www.wearecollegetennis.com

Below are listed the US collegians who will receive travel grants, training, and coaching support for this summer's Futures. Per this article, players were selected based on a number of criteria, including rankings, individual collegiate tournament results or Intercollegiate Tennis Association honors. ITA ranking must have been a big factor as the top 4 US players via ITA made the cut (Shelton 1, Dostanic 5, Kingsley 9, Riffice 13). Murphy was the highest ITA ranked US freshmen (ITA 26). However, why only 5 guys? Why not host the top 12-16 US ITA players for 2 weeks at Lake Nona and pick 3 additional players to make a team of 8? Some US guys just missed the cut-Tracy (ITA 21, #5 Us ITA) who beat Kingsley to reach finals of Columbus 25K in Nov and Stice (23, #6 Us ITA) who beat #3 Daniel Rodriguez at SEC tourney.
One criteria not mentioned is success in early summer Futures. Too bad Andres Martin of GT (ITA 37, US ITA #13) is not on this list-he reached the finals of the 1st Future ever he played and today he beat the 1 seed at Tulsa Yu Hsiou 0,3 to reach QFs of his 2nd ever Future. Last week Hsiou beat Mitsui in 3 and lost to Draxl in 3 but AM crushed him today. The problem with choosing team member mainly on ITA rankings is that Futures and college matches play a different format. Maybe there are guys with slightly lower ITA rankings who do better in 3 hours matches. In college, some games are won by luck or an iffy call. Anybody can have an occasional loose ball or DF; with ads, players only lose a game after deuce if they lose 2 points in a row. Would be great if more players were down training at Lake Nona playing practice matches with ads to see which players do best in that format and add a couple of those to the existing collegiate team. The 5 below deserved a shot at some Futures this summer but they may not be the only ones. if USTA started with a larger team, they could reward those with the best results with more $ for travel expenses.

• Murphy Cassone (Freshman, Arizona State; Overland Park, Kansas) Great choice-NCAA rookie of year, won 4 matches at Little Rock Challenger (2Q, 2MD) to reach QFs, beat Riffice 3, 4 in Tulsa this week, only Future loss this summer was to Chidekh who won Wichita
• Stefan Dostanic (Junior, USC; Irvine, California) He is in QFs of Tulsa-his 1st Future of summer.
• Cannon Kingsley (Junior, Ohio State; Northport, New York) Hasnt played a Future yet this summer. Lost to teammate Tracy in SF of Columbus Futures in Nov. Why isnt Tracy on team too?
• Sam Riffice (Senior, Florida; Orlando, Florida) NCAA singles SFist 22, winner 21 However he is 1/3 at Futures this summer. Lost to Cassone in straights.
• Ben Shelton (Sophomore, Florida; Gainesville, Florida) Obvious choice as '22 NCAA finalist, reached SFs of Little Rock Challenger

FYI Two of the team members were part of the 2021 Collegiate team. Is it fair to help 2 guys 2 summers in a row when other high ITA ranked US players arent getting assistance?
2021 Collegiate Summer Team: William Blumberg, North Carolina (Sr., Greenwich, Conn.); Cannon Kingsley, Ohio State (Soph., Northport, N.Y.); Aleks Kovacevic, Illinois (Sr., New York); John McNally, Ohio State (Sr., Cincinnati); and Sam Riffice, Florida (Jr., Orlando, Fla.)

Women:

• Eryn Cayetano (Junior, USC; Long Beach, California)
• Sarah Hamner (Freshman, South Carolina; Boca Raton, Florida)
• Connie Ma (Freshman, Stanford; Dublin, California)
• Emma Navarro (Sophomore, Virginia; Charleston, South Carolina)
• Peyton Stearns (Sophomore, Texas; Mason, Ohio)

I laugh when I see Navarro on this list.

 

[Sureshot]

If redshirts count, Quinn should have been included

 

[JLyon]

I laugh when I see Navarro on this list.

why? She has played for the past 2 years and has not gone pro, unlike Stearns, so why the calling out?

 

[jcgatennismom]

If redshirts count, Quinn should have been included

USTA would still consider Quinn a junior. Quinn will play Kzoo 18s and has a chance at US Open MD or Qualifying WC if he finishes 1st or 2nd.

 

[silentkman]

why? She has played for the past 2 years and has not gone pro, unlike Stearns, so why the calling out?

her father is a billionaire. The spot should go to someone else that could actually benefit from it.

 

[mikej]

FYI Two of the team members were part of the 2021 Collegiate team. Is it fair to help 2 guys 2 summers in a row when other high ITA ranked US players arent getting assistance?

yes, one of those guys won NCAA team and singles one year, then made the semis of singles the next year (beating some of college tennis's best - Kingsley, Montes - along the way) - maybe if folks want what he's receiving they should have stepped up and taken it from him

 

[Sureshot]

yes, one of those guys won NCAA team and singles one year, then made the semis of singles the next year (beating some of college tennis's best - Kingsley, Montes - along the way) - maybe if folks want what he's receiving they should have stepped up and taken it from him

I’d say team results are less relevant in this context but agree Riffice should be in based on his back to back runs in the singles competition. Not sure about Kingsley though

 

[jcgatennismom]

I’d say team results are less relevant in this context but agree Riffice should be in based on his back to back runs in the singles competition. Not sure about Kingsley though

OK so both should be in but there should be a team of 8. Latest results from Tulsa-Andres Martin (not on team) beat Murphy Cassone in QFs 0,2! Must have been long rallies as match time was supposedly 1hr 25min but maybe they started clock early or let it run. An 0,2 college match would be <45min. Cassone beat Riffice 3,4 yesterday. Martin beat one of last year's team John McNally in 3 in 1st rd . So there were 3 guys from team at Tulsa-Riffice, Cassone, and Dostanic. There will be 2 guys who played college in 21/22 in SFs-Dostanic (on team) and Martin. Martin did get a WC into Tulsa-dont know if it was via uSTA or Tulsa TD so he did not have to go through Qualis. Even if college players arent on collegiate team, they still could be offered WCs. Conversely being on collegiate team doesnt guarantee WC into MD-Murphy didnt get one and went thru Qs. It makes sense for TDs/USTA to save some WCs to give out at short notice to the player(s) who have been on a recent streak of wins. Players have direct acceptance into MD based on ranking at deadline which is about 3 weeks prior to tourney start. The guys who go deep in the tourneys 1-2 weeks ahead might not get into MD without WCs. The WCs went to Andres Martin, Dostanic, Bjorn Swenson (jr and rising Mich freshmen who went thru Qualis, beat Boitan and reached SFs at Rancho Sante Fe 15K), and Pierce Rollins (A&M player from Tulsa-the local WC). Riffice had the ranking for direct entry. Swenson after going deep in Cali lost in 1st rd to a UTR 12.63. Players are unpredictable-a young player can beat a UTR 14 in straights and then 2 weeks later lose in straights to a lower ranked player.