| MCTA Year Roundup |
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| Tuesday, 18 December 2007 17:43 |
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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 |
