Djokovic, Serena seeded first in Australian Open

AUSTRALIAN OPEN

(Sunday through Feb. 1 in Melbourne)

Men's seeds

1. Novak Djokovic, Serbia
2. Roger Federer, Switzerland
3. Rafael Nadal, Spain
4. Stan Wawrinka, Switzerland
5. Kei Nishikori, Japan
6. Andy Murray, Great Britain
7. Tomas Berdych, Czech Republic
8. Milos Raonic, Canada
9. David Ferrer, Spain
10. Grigor Dimitrov, Bulgaria
11. Ernests Gulbis, Latvia
12. Feliciano Lopez, Spain
13. Roberto Bautista Agut, Spain
14. Kevin Anderson, South Africa
15. Tommy Robredo, Spain
16. Fabio Fognini, Italy
17. Gael Monfils, France
18. Gilles Simon, France
19. John Isner, United States
20. David Goffin, Belgium
21. Alexandr Dolgopolov, Ukraine
22. Philipp Kohlschreiber, Germany
23. Ivo Karlovic, Croatia
24. Richard Gasquet, France
25. Julien Benneteau, France
26. Leonardo Mayer, Argentina
27. Pablo Cuevas, Uruguay
28. Lukas Rosol, Czech Republic
29. Jeremy Chardy, France
30. Santiago Giraldo, Colombia
31. Fernando Verdasco, Spain
32. Martin Klizan, Slovakia

Women's seeds

1. Serena Williams, United States
2. Maria Sharapova, Russia
3. Simona Halep, Romania
4. Petra Kvitova, Czech Republic
5. Ana Ivanovic, Serbia
6. Agnieszka Radwanska, Poland
7. Eugenie Bouchard, Canada
8. Caroline Wozniacki, Denmark
9. Angelique Kerber, Germany
10. Ekaterina Makarova, Russia
11. Dominika Cibulkova, Slovakia
12. Flavia Pennetta, Italy
13. Andrea Petkovic, Germany
14. Sara Errani, Italy
15. Jelena Jankovic, Serbia
16. Lucia Safarova, Czech Republic
17. Carla Suarez Navarro, Spain
18. Venus Williams, United States
19. Alize Cornet, France
20. Samantha Stosur, Australia
21. Shuai Peng, China
22. Karolina Pliskova, Czech Republic
23. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Russia
24. Garbine Muguruza, Spain
25. Barboa Zahlavova Strycova, Czech Republic
26. Elina Svitolina, Ukraine
27. Svetlana Kuznetsova, Russia
28. Sabine Lisicki, Germany
29. Casey Dellacqua, Australia
30. Varvara Lepchenko, United States
31. Zarina Diyas, Kazakhstan
32. Belinda Bencic, Switzerland

Bellis, 15, remains an amateur -- for now

CiCi Bellis won the USTA Girls 18 National Championships
last August in San Diego to earn a wild card in the women's
main draw at the U.S. Open. Photo courtesy
of JFS Communications.

   CiCi Bellis isn't turning pro -- yet.
   "Once I get to a certain ranking, I'll turn pro," Bellis, who's No. 251 in the world, said in an interview posted last week on espnW.com.
   That number has not been determined, according to Bellis and her parents, Gordon and Lori.
   But 15-year-old CiCi said Stanford, a lob away from her hometown of Atherton in the San Francisco Bay Area, is "my dream school if I did go to college."
   Bellis, who's listed at 5-foot-6 (1.68 meters) and 110 pounds (50 kilograms), stunned 12th-seeded Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 last August in the first round of the U.S. Open.
   With the victory over Cibulkova, the runner-up to since-retired Li Na of China in the Australian Open last January, Bellis became the youngest player to win a main-draw match at Flushing Meadows since Anna Kournikova, also 15, in 1996.
   Bellis also won back-to-back $25,000 Challengers in South Carolina in October and ended the year as the top junior in the world.
   Bellis will bypass the Australian Open, which begins next Sunday, because she is not ranked high enough to enter qualifying. Instead, she will play in two $25,000 Challengers in Florida.

Gordon brews up Coffee Bowl sweep

Michaela Gordon won her first ITF Grade 1 
singles title and added the doubles crown.
2014 photo by Paul Bauman

   Michaela Gordon, 15, of Saratoga in the San Francisco Bay Area on Saturday swept the titles in the Coffee Bowl junior tournament in San Jose, Costa Rica.
   And countrywoman Usue Arconada was a victim both times.
   The fourth-seeded Gordon outplayed the second-seeded Arconada, a 16-year-old native of Buenos Aires living in Puerto Rico, 7-6 (5), 6-2 for her first ITF Grade 1 championship. 
   Gordon had surprised top-seeded Sofia Kenin of Pembroke Pines, Fla., 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 in semifinals. Kenin won the girls 18 title in the Orange Bowl, the most prestigious non-Grand Slam junior tournament in the world, last month in Plantation, Fla.
   In the Coffee Bowl doubles final, the second-seeded Gordon and Claire Liu of Thousand Oaks in the Los Angeles area held off top-seeded Arconada and Evgeniya Levashova of Russia 7-5, 6-4.
   Gordon advanced to the singles quarterfinals of the $25,000 Redding Challenger in September before losing to Alexandra Stevenson, a 1999 Wimbledon semifinalist and the daughter of basketball legend Julius Erving, in a third-set tiebreaker.
   Here's a link to my September profile of Gordon: http://norcaltennisczar.blogspot.com/2014/09/gordon-15-takes-unlikely-route-to.html  

Novikov stays hot with Futures doubles title

Dennis Novikov won his fourth title in singles or doubles
in his last three tournaments. 2014 photo by Paul Bauman

   Another week, another Futures title for Dennis Novikov.
   This one came in doubles against a former Wimbledon champion.
   The fourth-seeded team of Novikov, a 21-year-old San Jose resident, and Dimitar Kutrovsky of Bulgaria nipped top-seeded James Cluskey of Ireland and Frederik Nielsen of Denmark 4-6, 6-1 [10-4] on Friday to win the $15,000 Southern California USTA Pro Futures at USC in Los Angeles.
   Nielsen and Jonathan Marray of Great Britain in 2012 became the first wild cards to win the Wimbledon men's doubles title. Nielsen's grandfather, Kurt, advanced to the Wimbledon singles final in 1953 and 1955.  
   Novikov, who led nearby UCLA to the NCAA final as a sophomore last year before turning pro, won his fourth title in singles or doubles in his last three tournaments. In December, he captured  back-to-back singles crowns in Merida, Mexico, and the first doubles title there.
   Novikov, however, lost to 17-year-old wild card Taylor Fritz of Rancho Santa Fe in the San Diego area 6-7 (3), 6-4, 7-5 in the first round in Los Angeles.
   Fritz then beat UCLA star Mackenzie McDonald of Piedmont, near Oakland, and 16-year-old sensation Stefan Kozlov in straight sets. Fritz will meet third-seeded Jason Jung of Torrance in the Los Angeles area in today's rain-delayed semifinals. 
  Kutrovsky, only 5-foot-9 (1.74 meters) and 152 pounds (69 kilograms), uses two hands on both sides. He reached the NCAA singles quarterfinals as a senior at the University of Texas in 2010.

Saviano to begin coaching Stephens next week

Sloane Stephens will begin working with Nick Saviano
next week in Hobart. 2012 photo by Paul Bauman

   It didn't take long for Nick Saviano to find another promising young woman to coach.
   The 58-year-old former Stanford All-American will begin working with Sloane Stephens next week in Hobart, tennis.com reported recently.
   Saviano announced in late November that he and Canadian Eugenie Bouchard had split after eight years.
   It was a surprising development, considering that Bouchard, who will turn 21 next month, reached her first Grand Slam final (Wimbledon) and cracked the top 10 in the world for the first time last year.
   Stephens, a 21-year-old American, slumped last year after reaching the semifinals of the 2013 Australian Open and climbing to a career-high No. 11 in October of that year. A right-hander with a two-handed backhand, she struggled with a left wrist injury.
   Stephens worked with Paul Annacone, the former coach of Pete Sampras and Roger Federer, for eight months and briefly with Thomas Hogstedt, the ex-coach of Maria Sharapova, Li Na and Caroline Wozniacki.
   Ranked No. 35, Stephens returned to the circuit for the first time since mid-September in this week's ASB Classic in Auckland. Seeded sixth, she lost to 5-foot-2 (1.57-meter) countrywoman Lauren Davis 1-6, 6-4, 6-1 in the second round.

Book review: "The Secrets of Spanish Tennis"

Rafael Nadal leads the Spanish Armada.
2014 photo by Paul Bauman

   Spain, with a population of 47.7 million, has five of the world's top 20 men's tennis players and 12 of the top 100.
   The United States, with a population of 318.9 million (almost seven times Spain's), has one man in the top 20 and five in the top 100.
   John Isner, the leading American at No. 18, would rank sixth in Spain.
   And consider this tally of Grand Slam men's singles titles since 2005: Spain's Rafael Nadal 14, United States 0.
   Chris Lewit, a certified USTA high-performance coach, examines Spain's success in his 2014 book, "The Secrets of Spanish Tennis."
   Before discussing six "secrets," Lewit acknowledges several factors contributing to the Spanish Armada.
   Spain has a strong tennis tradition, tournament structure, club system and coach education program. The weather is favorable, and clay courts that place a premium on patience are abundant. Coaches and players are eager to pass on their knowledge to the next generation. Also, the 1992 Barcelona Olympics poured money into Spanish tennis.
   The six "secrets" (arguably eight or nine), according to Lewit, are:
   1. Movement, footwork and balance. Lewit notes that Europeans tend to play sports (i.e. soccer) with the feet and Americans with the hands (i.e. baseball).
   2. Racket speed and weapon building. Because clay is slow, players must generate their own pace.
   3. Consistency. Spaniards believe tennis is a game of errors, not winners.
   4. Defense. Spanish coaches preach moving back to defuse power rather than taking the ball on the rise or staying on the baseline.
   5. Physical conditioning. "Modern tennis," Lewit writes, "is a physical game where generally the strongest, fastest, fittest and most powerful athlete wins."
   6. Suffering. Spanish drills feature nonstop repetitions of 20-60 balls or more to teach discipline and perseverance. "There is nothing like hitting your 30th ball -- legs burning, lungs on fire -- only to realize that you still have 30 or more shots left to go in the exercise!" Lewit notes.   
   It doesn't hurt Spain that hardcourts and even grass around the world play much more like clay these days to increase rallies, television ratings and -- surprise -- revenue.
   Lewit calls Lluis Bruguera, the father of two-time French Open champion Sergi Bruguera, and Pato Alvarez "genius coaches," which they may be. Oddly, though, there's no mention of Toni Nadal, Rafael's uncle and arguably the greatest coach of all time.
   Nor is there any mention that Spanish women have not matched the men's success, although Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario was inducted in the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2007 and Conchita Martinez won Wimbledon in 1994. The top-100 figures vs. the United States are the reverse for the women: five Spaniards and 12 Americans.
   One obvious reason for the disparity between men and women in Spain and the United States is that tennis doesn't face competition from football and baseball for U.S. female athletes. Furthermore, the WNBA pays poorly because of microscopic TV ratings, and pro softball is virtually nonexistent. Meanwhile, Spain's attitude toward women might be more conservative than the United States'.
   "The Secrets of Spanish Tennis" won't win any literary prizes. It could be much more in-depth. At 164 pages with many drill diagrams, the book can be read in about two hours. Even so, many words -- especially "obsessed," "obsession," "hallmark" and "holistic" -- and statements are repeated frequently.
   Lewit does, however, help illuminate the reasons for Spain's amazing success in men's professional tennis.    

Men's, women's college rankings

COLLEGE RANKINGS

(Top 10 and Northern California)

Men's team

1. USC
2. Oklahoma
3. Virginia
4. UCLA
5. Ohio State
6. Baylor
6. North Carolina
8. Georgia
9. Texas
10. Texas A&M
15. Cal
30. Stanford
56. Santa Clara

Men's singles

1. Sebastian Stiefelmeyer, Louisville
2. Brayden Schnur, North Carolina
3. Yannick Hanfmann, USC
4. Thai-Son Kwiatkowski, Virginia
5. Julian Lenz, Baylor
6. Ryan Shane, Virginia
7. Mackenzie McDonald (Piedmont resident), UCLA
8. Jonny Wang, USC
9. Dominik Koepfer, Tulane
10. Gonzales Austin, Vanderbilt
25. Tom Fawcett, Stanford
75. David Hsu, Stanford
93. Filip Bergevi, Cal
106. Andre Goransson, Cal
122. Ashot Khacharyan, Santa Clara.

Men's doubles

1. Roberto Quiroz and Yannick Hanfmann, USC
2. Mikelis Libietis and Hunter Reese, Tennessee
3. Tim Kopinski and Ross Guignon, Illinois
4. Kevin Metka and Ralf Steinback, Ohio State
5. Gonzales Austin and Rhys Johnson, Vanderbilt
6. Roberto Cid and Sasha Gozun, South Florida
7. Denis Nguyen and Brian Yeung, Harvard
8. Alex Lawson and Billy Pecor, Notre Dame
9. Eddy Covalshi and Josh Hagar, Notre Dame
10. Ashok Narayana and Max Schnur, Columbia
11. Mackenzie McDonald (Piedmont resident) and Martin Redlicki, UCLA
40. Andre Goransson and Oskar Wikberg, Cal
42. Gregory Bayane and Chase Melton, Cal
48. Bernardo Saraiva and Nils Skajaa, USF

Women's team

1. UCLA
2. Duke
3. Florida
4. North Carolina
5. Georgia
6. Virginia
7. Cal
8. Alabama
8. Stanford
10. Texas A&M
46. Saint Mary's
70. Fresno State

Women's singles

1. Julia Elbaba, Virginia
2. Robin Anderson, UCLA
3. Chanelle Van Nguyen, UCLA
4. Carol Zhao, Stanford
5. Maegan Manasse, Cal
6. Brooke Austin, Florida
7. Stephanie Wagner, Miami
8. Jamie Loeb, North Carolina
9. Josie Kuhlman, Florida
10. Viktoriya Lushkova, Oklahoma State
12. Taylor Davidson, Stanford
13. Caroline Doyle, Stanford
14. Zsofi Susanyi, Cal
30. Karla Popovic, Cal
32. Danielle Flores, Saint Mary's
34. Lynn Chi, Cal
41. Giuliana Olmos (Fremont resident), USC
47. Sophie Watts, Fresno State
49. Andrea Ka, USF
51. Alina Soltanici, Sacramento State
64. Denise Starr, Cal
78. Klara Fabikova, Cal
94. Kareena Manji, Saint Mary's
123. Catherine Leduc, Saint Mary's

Women's doubles

1. Catherine Harrison and Kyle McPhillips, UCLA
2. Beatrice Gumulya and Jessy Rompies, Clemson
3. Emily Flickinger and Pleun Burgmans, Auburn
4. Maegan Manasse and Denise Starr, Cal
5. Viktoriya Lushkova and Kelsey Laurente, Oklahoma State
6. Carol Zhao and Taylor Davidson, Stanford
7. Brooke Austin and Kourtney Keegan, Florida
8. Lina Lileikite and Stephanie Wagner, Miami
9. Zsofi Susanyi and Klara Fabikova, Cal
10. Emina Bektas and Alex Najarian, Michigan
12. Caroline Doyle and Ellen Tsay, Stanford
31. Giuliana Olmos (Fremont resident) and Gabby Smith, USC
39. Zsofi Susanyi and Lynn Chi, Cal
60. Karla Popovic and Klara Fabikova, Cal