Tennis Briefs: USTA Jr. Changes for 2017; Collegiate National Indoors

Florida Singles, Doubles Qualifiers Gear-up for USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships

Josie Kuhlman

Four men’s and five women’s singles players or doubles teams from the universities of Florida, Florida State, Lynn, Miami, and North Florida will compete on Nov. 3-6 at the 2016 USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships, held at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y.

Florida Men’s Singles/Doubles Participants:

Jack Findel-Hawkins/Lasse Muscheites, University of North Florida, Saint Francis ITA All-American Finalist
Guy Iradukunda, Florida State University, Southeast Regional Champion
Alfredo Perez, University of Florida, Saint Francis ITA All-American Semifinalist
Alfredo Perez/Johannes Ingildsen, University of Florida, Southeast Regional Champion

Florida Women’s Singles/Doubles Participants:

Diana Bogolii/Rosalie Willig, Lynn University, ITA Oracle Cup Champion
Josie Kuhlman, University of Florida, At-Large Selection
Josie Kuhlman/Belinda Woolcock, University of Florida, Southeast Regional Winner
Belinda Woolcock, University of Florida, At-Large Selection
Sinead Lohan, University of Miami, Riviera/ITA All-American Consolation Champion

Every match court will be streamed live on www.FloTennis.com throughout the duration of the four-day event, while live scoring for every match will also be available. Visit the ITA’s event page for links to live scoring and draws.

As part of the USTA’s increased efforts to support college tennis as a professional development pathway, American players now have the opportunity to earn wild card entries into future USTA Pro Circuit events with their results at the National Indoors. If an American wins or reaches the men’s/women’s singles final this weekend, he or she will automatically earn a wild card entry into a future USTA Pro Circuit tournament. American singles champions also automatically earn a place on the 2017 USTA Collegiate National Team.

Past champions and finalists include James Blake (Harvard), Bob and Mike Bryan (Stanford), Irina Falconi (Georgia Tech), Nicole Gibbs (Stanford), John Isner (Georgia), Steve Johnson (Southern California), Jamie Loeb (North Carolina), Todd Martin (Northwestern), Lisa Raymond (Florida) and MaliVai Washington (Michigan).

The event features a 32-player singles field and 20-team doubles field for men and women, including: men’s and women’s champions from each of the 12 Division I USTA/ITA Regional Championships, the men’s and women’s USTA/ITA National Small College Super Bowl champion, the quarterfinalists of the ITA Men’s All-American Championships, the semifinalists from the Riviera/ITA Women’s All-American Championships and the consolation winners from both, the Oracle/ITA Masters champions, as well as at-large and wild card selections made by the ITA and USTA.

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USTA Announces 2017 National Junior Competitive Structure Changes

Effective Jan. 1, 2017, revisions approved by the USTA Junior Competition Committee to the national junior competitive structure will go live.

Highlights include:

“Points Counting Up” on Standings List — Singles and doubles results for each player earned in a division for the previous 12-month period shall also be counted as results in the next-older division at 20 percent.

New Tournaments — USTA National Indoor Championships, to be held in late November; USTA National Spring Championships as a National Level 1 Gold Ball tournament; USTA National Level 3 Tournaments, which will be sanctioned up to six times per year in each division; Split of USTA National Spring Team Championships, creating a separate tournament for 18/16/14 age division players and 12 division players. Both events will have a tournament format that mirrors the college tennis dual match format.

New Selection Processes for USTA National Championships — The new selection process seeks to have a better balance to both encourage Sectional play, but also to value L2 and L3 national play. Re-introduction of the NSL and qualifiers from National Level 2 Tournaments as a pathway directly into National Championships.

Elimination of Concurrent National Tournaments — The Open and Closed USTA Regional Tournaments have been eliminated from the 2017 schedule and have effectively been replaced by USTA National Level 3 Tournaments that are held on weekends that have no other concurrent national tournaments.

New Locations — Consolidating the location for the boys’ 12s and 14s National Championships, which will be held in Mobile, Ala., and the boys’ and girls’ 16s and 18s Winter Nationals, which are moving to the USTA National Campus in Orlando.

To see the full list of structure changes go to www.usta.com/Youth-Tennis/Junior-Competition/players_and_parents.