From ATP Masters 1000s to W15s titles and everything in between, the top 20 achievements of current and former colleagues and juniors in October are highlighted in my monthly Aces column at the Tennis Recruiting Network. As has been the case for years, I have found it impossible to cover all the titles won by former colleagues or even top juniors, so I apologize if any of your favorites are not listed. But by following them all every month, I stay informed and know who is working their way up the professional tennis food chain.
I’m obviously keeping a close eye on the USTA Pro Circuit, and the W15s over the past two weeks in South Carolina certainly produced some notable results.
The other American junior in the semifinals is 16-year-old Thea Frodin, who today defeated qualifier Bella Bergqvist Larsson of Sweden, a sophomore at South Carolina, 6-4, 6-4 to reach her first Pro Circuit semifinal. She will play No. 5 seed Rose Marie Nijkamp of the Netherlands, a sophomore at Oklahoma State, on Saturday, with Nijkamp beating No. 2 seed Maria Fernanda Navarro of Mexico 6-2, 6-2 today.
Qualifier Mats Rosenkranz, a 27-year-old German, advanced to his second Challenger semifinal in as many weeks with a 6-1, 6-0 win over San Diego senior Oliver Tarvet of Great Britain.
Rosenkranz will face the winner of the night quarterfinals between No. 6 seed Martin Damm and unseeded Daniil Glinka of Estonia.
No. 7 seed Aidan Kim, a junior at Ohio State, lost to No. 2 seed Henry Searle of Great Britain 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-3. Searle will play No. 8 seed Alex Martinez (Oklahoma) of Spain, who defeated qualifier Andreja Petrovic (Florida State, Duke) 6-1, 6-3.
Because Friend wasn’t a highly ranked junior — he didn’t reach the ITF Top 100 — I wasn’t familiar with his tennis before he came to Arizona, so I was particularly interested in his development and how he came to the attention of Wildcats head coach Clancy Shields. He mentions the run he had on the ITF Junior Circuit in 2021, winning three tournaments that summer and reaching the semifinals of another two, but it sounds like Shields had already identified Friend as a player he wanted before that, which Friend said was a factor even as he started getting more attention from other coaches.
Whatever your stakes in junior and college tennis, the documentary is sure to interest you, and the deep dive into the coaching relationship between Friend and Shields is particularly illuminating. I hope this is just the first of many ITA productions in this vein, where every player, whether a major champion or not, has a compelling story to tell.
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