Finally got to do a little reconnoitering of the outside courts today, even though most of the action on them is long gone. It’s like a dungeon in the main press room of Rod Laver arena, plus they have free coffee. I’m like a tuning fork by noon. Fortunately, they put 15-year old American prodigy Donald Young and Korea’s Sun-Young Kim, who contested the Boys’ (18-and-under) final, on Margaret Court Arena. The MC is one of the two “grandstand” courts near the stadium. They’re outdoors and sunken-in, like some swinger’s hot tub. Great atmosphere.
It was breezy, with bright sunshine and sparrows and pigeons foraging in the largely empty venue. Young looks like a Charles Shultz cartoon character: he was wearing a duckbill baseball cap that dwarfed his head, and a red shirt and baggy, navy shorts. Actually, I’m not even sure the shorts were baggy; his legs are awfully thin.
Young is not just a promising player, he’s an interesting one. Lefty. Loads of touch. Great sense of the court. Good concentration and the ability to lift his game at the right moments. He’s slightly built, but has size 13 feet and large hands with fine, long fingers.
He waxed the Korean kid in straights, falling to his knees after match point, shouting, over and over: “What! What! What!”
What?
He later explained that he was so excited he didn’t know what to do–or say. Who can blame him? With the win, Young became the youngest kid to attain the ITF junior No. 1 ranking. He said that he might celebrate by watching a movie, but he wasn’t sure. “My parents are talking about going to the casino, but I can’t go in. So there’s no point. I don’t know. I’ll just sit outside, I guess.”
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Third Time Lucky: **Victoria Azarenka, the Girls (under-18) champion is 15—just like her male counterpart, Donald Young. Unlike Young, though,the native of Belarus, who now lives in Spain, had to swallow two bitter pills before seizing her first junior Grand Slam championship. Azarenka had match point in the semifinals of both the U.S. Open and Wimbledon, only to lose. This time, she wouldn’t settle for the Novotna award (who can forget the Czech former pro’s Wimbledon meltdown against Steffi Graf?). She crushed Hungary’s Agnes Szavay 6-2,6-2 for the title.
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Correction: **Mike Nelson is centerfielder of the day for catching an error in a previous posting. It was Steffi Graf, not Chris Evert, who beat Natasha Zvereva in the 1988 French Open final. While we’re on the subject, does anyone know if her name was officially “Natalia” or “Natasha” at that stage?