After more than two years at Superior Tennis, Kassie Green became the fourth student to graduate from the program. Green is the lone senior this year and will continue her academic and tennis careers at Depauw University in Greencastle, Indiana.
Congratulations, Kassie! All the best!
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Lekha Varudandi, a former Superior Tennis student and now a successful student-athlete at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, returned to Superior Tennis during the summer to get ready for her sophomore season.
During her first year as a Bear, she was a starter in both singles in doubles in all regular season dual matches. Ricardo Espaillat tore through the first two rounds of last weekend's Broward Sun & Fun Level 6 held at the Coral Springs Sportsplex. The unseeded Espaillat lost only one game in his first two matches. In the semifinals, he took down fourth-seeded Maxim Kaufmann in a tight three-set battle before falling to third-seeded Jairo Duran from Miami Gardens in the finals.
Rachele Rimondini, one of the most decorated players in Superior Tennis' history, came back for some Spring Break training. Rimondini joined the Columbia University Lions in the fall of 2020 but has been unable to compete after the Ivy League Conference canceled all sports for the 2020-2021 season due the pandemic. Nevertheless, Rimondini took advantage of her Spring Break vacations in Florida to visit Superior Tennis and practiced with current students Kassie Green and Maddy MacNeille. She plans to be come back and train at Superior Tennis during the summer as well.
Superior Tennis has expanded its services to include two additional groups: one for young players under 12 that are starting out in competition and another for older players that are transitioning from the junior and collegiate ranks into the professional tour. In keeping with the concept of Superior Tennis, both groups are very small; only three players make up the younger group and two players make up the older group.
Marcus Carney, Abigail Drolet, and Taylor Zakin, all elementary school students, are the new members of the young group. Although they are all young, all three are strong athletes and fierce competitors. We look forward to seeing these young players develop and grow in the years to come. Tommi Carnevale and Charlie Sullivan have gotten off to a strong start in their quest to join the professional tour since joining Superior Tennis in the fall of 2020. Despite the cancellations in the ITF circuit due to the global pandemic, both players have stayed active in the Men's Open tour in Florida and the newly instituted UTR Pro Tennis Series. Sullivan has posted two wins against top 600 ranked ATP players while Carnevale got his first top 600 win at the inaugural RAT International Series at the end of February, a tournament he founded and directed. Ricardo Espaillat joined the regular junior program at Superior Tennis early in 2021. Like many other players, Espaillat was not able to compete much in 2020. However, in his first tournament as part of the Superior Tennis family, at the Extreme Tennis Academy last weekend, Espaillat showed no signs of rust, reaching the semifinals and beating fourth seeded Alessandro Melotti in the quarterfinals. Superior Tennis welcomes all these new players and we look forward to a long and prosperous relationship together. Maddy MacNeille had to recover quickly from a disappointing first-round loss to win the back draw at last weekend's Florida Level 5 tournament held in Boca Lago Country Club in Boca Raton.
In her first USTA event of 2021, MacNeille showed some rustiness in a disappointing first-round loss to fourth seeded Julia Weiss from Boca Raton. Although Weiss was the seeded player, MacNeille boasted at higher UTR and was considered one of the favorites to win the tournament going in. After dropping the first set 6-4, MacNeille raced out to an early 5-2 lead in the second set. However, the lack of competition due to the pandemic in 2020 took its toll on MacNeille, who was unable to convert any of the set points she held. She eventually lost the set 7-5. MacNeille quickly bounced back the next day and won her opening two rounds in the back draw in impressive fashion, losing a combined three games in both matches. On Monday she showed up with the same resolve and made quick work of her semifinals and finals opponents with scores of 6-1, 6-2, and 6-2, 6-1, respectively. We hope her success will continue throughout the rest of the year. In what turned out to be a bittersweet moment, head coach Fernando Martinez presented Maria McKay, the last remaining senior at Superior Tennis, with a customized backpack at the end of her last practice. Each of the departing seniors received the gift as a gesture of gratitude for their hard work through the years and the opportunity they gave Superior Tennis to be a part of their development journey.
The combination of happiness and sadness is a familiar feeling for the long-time coach who has seen many players transition to the collegiate and professional ranks. However, the departure of Juan, Maria, and Lekha has been particularly emotional as they represent the first group of graduates from the program Martinez first envisioned of creating when he started coaching almost 20 years ago. These players represent the successful culmination of the first step of a long process that Martinez hopes will make Superior Tennis a world-renowned facility for the development of intercollegiate and professional players. With all three graduating seniors joining the intercollegiate ranks, the academy has fulfilled its mission of preparing its students for the intercollegiate and/or professional ranks. We wish our seniors all the very best in their future careers on and off the court! Lekha Varudandi became the first player to graduate from the Superior Tennis program. She arrived in January of 2018, just one month after the academy opened its door and never looked back. The mission of Superior Tennis is to prepare players for intercollegiate and professional tennis, and Varudandi will begin her journey as an intercollegiate athlete in two weeks when she joins the Mercer University Bears Women's Tennis Team for the 2020-2021 season. We will keep an eye out for Lekha and follow her progress as she continues her tennis career at Mercer. Congratulations, Lekha!
Andres Fente's 19-match winning streak finally came to an end this past weekend at the Pro World Level 6 tournament in Boca Raton. Fente reached the finals by dropping only five games in his first two matches. In the finals, Fente took on Port St. Lucie's Nicolas Galligan, the top seed at the event. Fente started strong and took the first set 6-3. Galligan quickly fought back, broke Fente early in the second set and never looked back, taking the set 6-1. Galligan continued his strong play in the match tiebreaker and took a commanding 9-4 lead to set up six match points. Fente fought off the first three, but Galligan eventually capitalized on his fourth match point and took the tiebreaker 10-7.
The Fente brothers closed out the year in style, claiming the 14's and 16's titles at the Broward Holiday Championships held at the Coral Springs Sportsplex this past weekend.
Adrian, the youngest Fente, participated in the 12 and under age group and won two out of the four matches he played and reached the finals of the back draw. Julian, the middle brother, claimed the 14 and under title after taking down Rurik Rajini of New York, 4-2, 4-0. Andres, the oldest brother, claimed the 16's title by defeating top-seeded Oumar Diallo of Miramar, Florida in the finals by a score of 4-1, 5-4 (4). The win extended Andres' winning streak to 17 matches and it brought his title total to five for 2019. |
Fernando MartinezSuperior Tennis Head Coach Archives
August 2021
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