12's Rankings - Northern Region
I have been involved with junior tennis in the Northern Region for many years now. I can only remember one time before when there were three Northern Region players in the top 100 nationally in their age group.
There are currently three players in the top 100 in a single
age group, and there are four players in the top 200.
I don’t remember when four Northern Regional players were in
the top 200, let alone four from the same age group – five if you include Ilaria
Bitunova. I doubt it has ever happened
before. We have a very talented group of
players in the 12 and Unders, and the future of tennis looks bright for
Northern Region tennis.
For this article, I am including Ilaria Bitunova. Although she lives in the New England
Section, she trains, practices, and plays tournaments in this area.
So why are there so many highly ranked players from this
area in the 12’s? They all enjoy
competing!
“I like competing a lot because you get to play against
different levels of players, and you learn a lot from the matches.” Ilaria
Bitunova
“I like being competitive, and I like getting to play kids
in a match format.” Rajeev Rai
“I love competing, traveling all over the country, and
meeting new players. It is the reason I
stay motivated to practice.” – Olivia Dartawan.
Not that’s it is always easy. “When you are under pressure, it is hard to
focus. Once you get in the rhythm, you
start winning.” (Ilaria). These players
train hard and play hard. They earn
their successes by training smart and training hard. As Olivia told me – the hardest part is
preparing. They need to ensure they get
a proper warmup and cool down and plan proper practices for the week
before.
In the end, it also comes down to desire. As Rajeev said succinctly – “I don’t like to
lose.”
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