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MCTA Year Roundup
Greetings everyone,
I would like to take this
opportunity on behalf of the
Monte-Carlo Tennis Academy to wish
you all a very Merry Christmas and,
as we look forward to continued
success in 2008, we can reflect on
what has been an excellent year for
the Academy with good news both on
and off the court.
Anna Fitzpatrick has recently
been named as the Lawn Tennis
Association’s Female Junior Player
of the Year, winning 51 percent of
the public vote on the LTA web site,
and will collect her award at a
ceremony in London this week. Anna's
successful run in the Czech Republic
will take her to a career high of
344 (singles) and 307 (doubles)
having started the year ranked 676
and 798, respectively. Combine this
with her junior Wimbledon semi-final
appearance and it is easy to see why
she won this award.
Anna has also signed an endorsement
contract with International
Management Group ("IMG") in another
joint venture which has advantages
for both Anna and the Academy.
Ilija Vucic gained his first
ATP point in singles and in doubles
in Serbia and followed up with two
more singles points in his recent
run in the USA. Come January, Ilija
will be ranked in the top 50 juniors
in the world. His ATP ranking is
ahead of expectation and his junior
ranking has him neatly poised for an
attempt to reach the top 10.
Henri Kontinen, who is still
testing with the MCTA, became one of
the youngest players to reach the
finals of a Doubles Challenger to
get his first ranking points when he
did so in Helsinki and followed up
with a singles ranking point in the
USA. Henri has physical targets to
achieve before we will sign him to a
contract.
Wes Moodie reached the
semi-finals of the ATP Tour event in
Newport and ended the year strongly
with a singles semi-final and
winning two doubles titles in a row
at the $150k Challengers in Malaysia
and New Delhi. The excellent work he
put in during the summer is
beginning to pay dividends and 2008
is an important year for Wes to move
back into the top 100 and challenge
for top 50.
Ana Veselinovic won three
tournaments this year - the Belgrade
$10K and the Calgary $10k singles
and doubles with Anna Fitzpatrick.
Ana has not kicked on as well as we
would have liked, and in line with
our target policy she will have a
period of suspension from the
Academy until she achieves her
target.
In other MCTA news, Jez Green
will be part of the physical
conditioning team for the British
No. 1 Andy Murray in 2008. This
consultancy contract will allow Jez
to divide his time between his work
with Andy and the MCTA players.
Jez is unique because he is a very
good player himself who is able to
translate his sports science
knowledge (Bsc. Sport-science
Loughborough) into tennis specific
training. He knows how a player
thinks and importantly knows how it
feels to move like a player rather
than purely from observation. He
understands the balance and strength
needed to execute each shot from his
own experience of actually hitting
the ball with quality.
Meanwhile, I have been voted onto
the board of the British Tennis
Coaches Association ("BTCA"). It
will be my job to implement a coach
mentoring scheme in a MCTA/BTCA
joint venture.
So, once again, from all the team at
the MCTA, Merry Christmas and all
the best for the New Year.
David Sammel
Director of Coaching, MCTA
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