For Tennis Parents by a Tennis Parent

The last few weeks have been a bit topsy-turvy around here, to say the least! In addition to celebrating the holidays with our kids, my husband and I sold our Atlanta house, moved into a much smaller condo there, and are now waiting for the rest of our belongings to arrive in SoCal. 

Like I said, lots going on! I apologize for my recent lack of posting and engagement, but things should be back to normal starting today.

That said, there’s also been a lot going on in the world of Junior and College Tennis. We heard from USTA that Winter Nationals was canceled due to concerns around COVID-19 while several ITF Junior tournaments continued to take place in the US and around the world utilizing the ITF’s stricter pandemic protocols.

The Orange Bowl happened last week in Florida with Ashlyn Krueger (Highland Village, TX) taking home the Girls 18 Singles title, France’s Arthur Fils winning the Boys 18 Singles, Reese Brantmeier (Whitewater, WI) and Kimmi Hance (Torrance, CA) winning the Girls 18 Doubles, and Peter Fajta and Zsombor Velcz of Hungary winning the Boys 18 Doubles title. In the 16s, American juniors swept all 4 divisions: Jonah Braswell (Sarasota, FL) and Valeria Ray (Doral, FL) secured the boys’ and girls’ singles titles, Nicholas Godsick (Chagrin Falls, OH) and Ethan Quinn (Fresno, CA) prevailed in the boys’ doubles final, while Vivian Miller (Sullivan’s Island, SC) and Maddy Zampardo (Grosse Pointe Farms, MI) captured the girls’ doubles crown. Congratulations to everyone who had the opportunity to compete despite the pandemic!

UTR announced a new 20-million dollar Global Tour for players ranked 200-2000 that starts today in Naples, FL. For the full release, click here.

The ITA announced changes to its Kickoff Weekend happening in January across the US and a venue change for its Division I Women’s Indoor Championships. College recruiting continues to be virtual-only as the NCAA extended the Division I dead period through April 15, 2021. For updates on college tennis across all divisions, visit USTA’s College Tennis page.

USTA is still on track to launch its new Junior Competition and Ranking Structure effective January 1, 2021. Its new Play Tennis tournament search and signup site (replacing TennisLink) is now live at https://playtennis.usta.com/tournaments. After some initial glitches and missing features, the new search tool seems to be working better now.

Regarding the new Jr Comp structure, I will be doing a video interview with USTA’s Tracy Davies later this week that will be posted here and on our YouTube Channel. If you have specific questions regarding the new structure, please email them to me ASAP at [email protected] so I can get answers for you!

ParentingAces is undergoing a comprehensive rebrand, including a new logo and website. I’ve been working closely with the designer to create a site that is “cleaner” and simpler to navigate so y’all can easily find the information you’re seeking. We will also be announcing some exciting news regarding the podcast in the New Year.

Speaking of the podcast, Season 10 of the ParentingAces Podcast will begin Tuesday, January 5, 2021. If you aren’t currently subscribed to the pod, I urge you to sign up with your favorite listening app such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Amazon Music/Audible. Of course, you’ll continue to be able to access all episodes on this site, too.

For those of you on Facebook, we have launched a new Parents Only group where you can freely discuss your concerns or questions regarding Junior Tennis and College Recruiting. The link to this private, moderated group is https://www.facebook.com/groups/TennisParentsOnly/ – hope to see you there!

Finally, just a reminder to become a Member of ParentingAces.com by clicking here. Our Premium Options include quarterly consultations with me as well as several other benefits and help fund the continued operation of the website, podcast, video production, and tournament coverage. We also offer a Free Option which you can upgrade at any time. 

Stay well. Stay calm. And enjoy the Winter Holiday season safely and masked! Thank you for your continued support of ParentingAces as we all work together to help our kids have the best Tennis Experience possible.