Hey there, fellow tennis enthusiasts It’s your girl Mia Johnson-Carter here, living the dream in Miami. I’m super excited to share some awesome news with you all about the latest developments in the world of tennis. Let’s dive right in!
Electronic Line Calling at ITA All-American Championships
The ITA announced today that their long-awaited move to electronic line calling will begin in earnest next week at the men’s ITA All-American Championships in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The company they’ve selected for this initiative is PlayReplay, a Swedish company, with the pilot program starting first with the All-American Championships, then followed by the women’s West Sectional in Los Angeles in November, the Men’s and Women’s Team Indoor Championships in February, and dual matches at Pepperdine in March. This new system utilizes a minimally intrusive camera solution that provides users a high level of necessary player and ball tracking data, “challenges” to line calls, a visual representation of where balls land, and a ruling on the call. The PlayReplay system also provides players and coaches access to a wealth of player analysis data, including shot speed, court positioning, in/out percentage, and many other useful metrics. By utilizing coaching features provided by the system, players will also be able to select target areas and gain insight into their accuracy during a training session. After years of assurances that electronic line calling would be coming to college tennis (the US Open began using it on all their courts in 2021), it’s finally here and I’m eager to see it in action next week in Tulsa.
Jagger Leach Earns First ATP Point in Fayetteville
Jagger Leach is the rare junior who earned his first ATP point in his first opportunity, with the 17-year-old making his Pro Circuit debut today at the $15,000 tournament in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Leach, who received entry via the ITF’s Junior Reserved program, did not have to play No. 2 seed Nathan Ponwith, who withdrew. Instead, Leach faced lucky loser Arthur Bellegy of France and won that match 6-1, 6-0 in 70 minutes.
Teens Ahn and Crossley Advance at San Rafael W35
The women’s Pro Circuit is back after a four-week hiatus, and it’s happening in San Rafael, California, for a W35 this week. The top two seeds are Kayla Day and Gabriela Knutson of the Czech Republic. Wild cards were given to India Houghton of Stanford, Katja Wiersholm of Cal, Alexis Nguyen, and Alyssa Ahn. Only Ahn managed a victory in the first round, with the 17-year-old from San Diego defeating Cal senior and qualifier Jessica Alsola 6-1, 4-6, 7-5. Qualifiers who won their first round matches include Carolyn Campana of Wake Forest, Vanderbilt, Pepperdine), Ashley Kratzer (the 2017 USTA 18s National champion), Alicia Herrero Linana of Spain, and Mayu Crossley of Japan. The 18-year-old Crossley has verbally committed to UCLA for next year and defeated Houghton 7-6(5), 7-5 in today’s first round. She faces Day in Thursday’s second round.
Basavareddy Reaches Columbus Challenger Quarterfinals
The third tournament this week on the USTA Pro Circuit is the ATP Challenger 75 in Columbus, with Christopher Eubanks of Georgia Tech and Tristan Schoolkate of Australia as the top seeds. Eubanks advanced with a win over Cooper Williams of Harvard, Duke), but Schoolkate lost to qualifier Patrick Zahraj of Germany yesterday. Zahraj’s run ended there, with a second-round loss today to former Ohio State standout James Trotter of Japan. All three wild cards went to Ohio State players, with Alex Bernard beating No. 4 seed Brandon Holt (USC) on Monday but falling in the second round today to Naoki Nakagawa of Japan. Bryce Nakashima lost to Tristan Boyer (Stanford) in the first round, but the third Buckeye wild card, Jack Anthrop, did earn a win, beating qualifier Murphy Cassone (Arizona State). Stanford junior Nishesh Basavareddy, who is taking the fall off to compete in this stretch of weekly Challengers in the US, reached his seventh career Challenger quarterfinal with a 5-7, 7-5, 6-2 win over 2023 NCAA champion Ethan Quinn (Georgia). The five other quarterfinalists will be determined on Thursday.
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