The Road to THE TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP 2024
Aug 18: USTA Boys & Girls 12U and 16U Dominant Duo Level 6, Bethesda
Aug 18: USTA Boys & Girls 12U Level 6, Princeton
A total of eighty players up and down the East Coast contested Tennis Central USTA events over the last weekend in three different major tournaments.
Jessica Wilkinson and Brooke Hall clinched the championship of the 16U girls red division in the last doubles play of the day on Sunday. They faced a sibling duo sitting in a tie for first place. Their 6-3 win over silver medalists Alexandra and Michaela Koeva Brooks gave them a hard earned title.
Dominant Duo was the format of choice at the southern events, where the rain held off long enough for five champions to step to the top of the podium. Each tournament featured a round robin of four ties where two players would play singles and doubles with three points on the line.
Except the boys 12U championship, which was a straight knockout won in style. Vihan Jain and Matthew Kaindin teamed to overcome to seeds Anders Gick and Ethan Fromer in the final. The winners only dropped one match en route to the crown. In the semifinals. Alek Sedej was strong enough to take a singles match from them, but they squeezed out a 6-4 doubles win to slip past.
Jain makes the most impressive debut ever seen on the Tour. Winning the major gives him 200 points, while he brought 45 points from the 14U Tour to earn an initial ranking of No. 7 for the yearlong 12U competition. That alone would qualify him to play the Tour Championship. Kaindin begins his quest just below his partner in the standings, at No. 16.
Some of the teams in the round robins, put the dominant in dominant duo. For the older boys, Vikram Reddy and Rikky Sanjeev went unbeaten without losing a single set in any of their twelve matches. Both tied at No. 20 in the rankings following the major victory, along with Hall and Wilkinson, all playing their first TCJC events this year, some having returned after long hiatuses.
Meanwhile the girls' 16U blue division champions put up similar numbers – actually, even more impressive. Zoe Taylor and Aerin Fenty went 20-0 in sets played.
In the older boys' red division, Kendall Nguyen and Surya Arivumani faced the toughest battle in the opening match of the day. Daniel Li won singles in a tiebreak, his team finishing fourth, but the champions marched en route to a 4-0 overall record with a quick doubles victory.
Caroline Peterson leapt from No. 11 to No. 6 after her second-place performance with teammate Isabella Sofia Martelli, who climbed nine spots just outside the Top 10. But none of the No. 1 players relinquished command.
Up north in Princeton, rain punctuated the day of play on Saturday and washed out the finale on Sunday. But semifinals were almost set at the boys major competition. Daniel Wang, Eric Li and Arthur Lynn all won in straight sets and were set to welcome top-seeded Karan Undavia to the table before the storms. No. 1 had to work for his spot, winning an 11-9 tiebreak in the Round of 16 against Agam Gill.
The girls' event also featured all straightforward victories for Saanvi Patel and Kelly Wu, the top two seeds who were due to face Evelyn Ma and Katherine Chen, respectively, for the right to contest the 200-point final.
There's even more in store this weekend for Tennis Central players, whether they're in the DMV or in New Jersey. Another level six USTA Major kicks off in Princeton this time for the 18U sort, while the Tour finds its way back to Holton Arms again for a Level 7.
2024 Points Change
A change to the points applied to higher-level tournaments from lower levels should reflect ages and skills better from now on. It used to be that all points were halved when applied to a higher age group's rankings. Now, the points are halved each step up the ladder, not just once.
So a player can no longer earn 80 points at 10U and count them as 40 at 16U. They would be halved at 12U (40 points), again at 14U (20 points), then again at 16U (10 points). It provides the incentive without disrupting the older players' earnings too much.
However, a younger player earning points in an older tournament, much as Arnav Nadikatla did in this Tour Championship edition, is still a sure way to rise faster in those rankings.
Remember the newly added feature to the rankings: the Plus / Minus, which will tell you how far up or down the player has moved within the last week.
The full tables now look like this.
Each weekend this spring and summer, Tennis Central is bringing you USTA and UTR tournaments at Holton-Arms School. Earn points for advancing through each round, just like on the pro tours, and qualify for the TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP at season's end.
Bigger events offer more points, with the TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP offering the most, as well as prizes.
Check here for updates each week to the Tennis Central Tour Rankings, a 52-week points system based on the pro tours, as well as recaps of all the action and photos. We'll post the 2024 schedule soon!
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