MCTA Stars Set for Season-End Push

Director of Coaching David Sammel says the month of November has been a highly productive one for his Monte-Carlo Tennis Academy stars as they prepare for their respective tournaments towards the end of the season.

Sammel, who is currently in Poland with British charge Anna Fitzpatrick for the $25,000 Challenger at Opole, believes the recent training schedule in Florida has set his players up perfectly as they bid to end 2007 on a high.

“Anna [Fitzpatrick] and Ana [Veselinovic] did a two week physical block in Florida and were joined the second week by Ilija [Vucic],” says Sammel. “They did some excellent work and we hope this will bring a boost in form for the end of the year. Ilija is gearing up for the Eddie Herr and Orange Bowl whilst the girls play a couple of Challengers.”

Fitzpatrick, who has recently been nominated for the LTA’s Female Junior Player of the Year Award, begins her Opole campaign in the main draw on Wednesday. “Anna is in great shape but a little tennis rusty so hopefully the cobwebs will be blown away by the time she starts her first match,” added Sammel. “The court surface is carpet which suits her attacking style especially if she serves well.”
 
Meanwhile, a twist of fate led to Henri Kontinen achieving his first doubles ranking on the professional circuit. The Finn, who has been on trial with the MCTA with a view to joining the Academy in the New Year, was intending to join his peers at the training block in Florida for three weeks but was prevented from doing so because of a delay with his entry visa.

It meant the 17-year-old was forced to remain in Finland but his fortunes changed when he was granted wild cards into the singles qualifying and main draw doubles at the Helsinki Challenger and went on to reach the doubles final with countryman Harry Heliovaara.

“This certainly qualifies as one of those ‘everything happens for a reason’ stories,” said Sammel. “After playing well in reaching the second round of the singles, losing a close match to top seed Martin Fischer, he then proceeded to make the final of the doubles which will rocket him to No. 701 on the ATP tour from no ranking. It would be interesting to know how that compares as a doubles debut for a first year junior as I cannot imagine there will be many better.”

Wesley Moodie is also in action in the Challengers this week and has recently reunited with former doubles partner Stephen Huss. The 28-year-old South African is now in Malaysia and will follow that with a tournament in New Delhi. “Wes is on the hunt,” says Sammel. “He knows what he is capable of doing and is currently on a swing of three challengers in Asia hunting points to get back to the main tour. This week in Malaysia is important because he is ready to get on a roll and will do so the moment he wins back-to-back matches, which he has not done since the US Open.

“If he does so this week I think he will clean up in India in the two Challengers that follow. He has teamed up with his old pal Stephen Huss with whom he won Wimbledon and it would be great if they could rediscover the magic.”

Sammel also revealed that the Academy have had a difficult decision to make with Ana Veselinovic but hope that the Serb will learn from her season. “Ana will probably miss her end of year target so she will have a period on her own to try use the experience and information she has learned from the Academy and reach her new target of 250 by July 2008,” says Sammel.

“The Academy has certain statistical markers we use to establish fair, yet necessary goals and if these are missed we re-evaluate a player’s position in the Academy because the standards we are setting are in line with reaching the top 100 and we cannot compromise these because the world of high level tennis is not a discussion but results and rankings driven. We know Ana has the ability to be a top pro. She only needs to realise this consistently in her own mind and take the responsibility for using the mental tools which will get her there.”