Top Juniors Travel to Florida in December

Those of you who are looking to get a better understanding of what’s out there in the big wide world of tennis will find it worthwhile to keep an eye on the junior events in Florida over the next few weeks.

The Eddie Herr International Junior Tennis Championships and the Junior Orange Bowl International Tennis Championships are two of the biggest events in junior tennis and will be attracting many of the world’s top young players.

The Eddie Herr is played in the first week of December at the IMG (Bolletieri) Academy in Bradenton while the Orange Bowl is played in the middle of December in Miami. Both events have boys’ and girls’ singles and doubles competitions in U18, U16, U14 and U12 age groups.

It’s also worth keeping an eye on The Prince Cup that is played in between the two bigger events – it’s not as prestigious, but a lot of players use it for match practice before the Orange Bowl.

Should players compete in their own age group?

An important point to remember at these events is that even though they are in December, players can compete in the same age groups that they have played in during the summer – even if they have been playing in an older age group during the autumn.

So players at the end of their age group have an interesting decision, do they go and play back down an age group and hopefully do well, or do they stay and compete in Europe where they will be one of the youngest?

Always remember this when looking at results. If a player does well in the event and they’ve still got another year left in that age group, then that’s impressive. However, if a player does well and they are moving out of the age group, then there is a good chance that there were other good players who chose to go and play the older age group elsewhere.

What are the pros and cons of playing in Florida?

As those of you who have made trips abroad will know, the biggest problems are often not being sure that you are going to get in (so missing out on cheap flights!) and going all that way to lose in the first round. This is not so much of a problem here, one of the reasons that I would recommend it as ‘one to consider’ when making plans for competitive tennis overseas.

The beauty of these events are that the draws are big so players can get in and that if a player makes the trip out there they are sure to get lots of great tennis. This is due to there being two day and four day match-play competitions before the main events followed by consolation competitions which spring up at neighbouring facilities for players who lose in the early rounds.

Another good feature is that the events are made up mainly of players from the US and South America. It’s great to get experience against as wide a range of opponents as possible and you’ll definitely find that in Florida. You haven’t lived as a tennis player until you have tried arguing a line call with a South American!

However, it is definitely a tough test for British based players. All the matches are outdoors and you can almost be certain to face windy conditions – pretty tough when you’ve been training on indoor courts throughout the autumn. Although the humidity is not as bad as earlier in the year, December in Florida can be pretty warm so the heat is also be a factor to consider.

My advice would be to get some outdoor practice in before you go and then get there as early as possible to get over the jet lag and acclimatise.

What are the things to look out for this year?

If you have a look at the draws you will see plenty of British players competing in both the qualifying and main draws. These Brits will generally come from three groups, the GB team, British players who have travelled independently or British players who are based in the US (usually at a Florida Academy).

In the girls, Laura Robson will head up the British challenge as the No 1 seed in the U18 singles at the Eddie Herr where she son the U14 title in 2007. Laura has switched back from competing on the senior tour to play on the junior circuit.

In the boys, there is a strong entry in the U16s with George Morgan, winner of the U14 Orange Bowl last year, leading the way. In the U14s, Liam Brody will be amongst the favourites following his U14 Tennis Europe Junior Masters victory in Italy a couple of months ago.

Would I recommend it as a trip for junior players based in the UK?

It’s impossible to give exactly the right answer for everyone as it depends on each player’s individual situation and each family’s budgeting.
However, I do think that a player going out to play in this series of events will get a great tennis experience – one that you might have to make several separate trips to Europe to replicate. So if it suits you, can be fitted around school commitments and works within the budget… then go for it!

Links:

Eddie Herr

Junior Orange Bowl

Two of Britain’s leading junior coaches Leon Smith and Arvind Parmar, who are travelling to Florida during December with some of the top British boys, provide an insight into the trip and what life is like on the junior circuit... Read the article.

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