en

ay. The winner will clinch promotion to D from corse178's blog

After winning the USTA boys 18s national championship back in August, Michael Mmohs parting gift was a trip to New York City. NHL Jerseys From China .The American teenager, who soared as high as the No. 2 junior in the world, also received a berth in the US Opens main draw, opposite Frenchman Jeremy Chardy.Mmoh is a terrific athlete with dazzling retrieving skills that have been compared to those of Gael Monfils. But looking a tad tentative, he got schooled by Chardy 6-4, 6-4, 6-1.All things considered, it might have been the best result possible. Chardy, a journeyman with a career record just under .500 and a single tour-level title in more than a decade as a professional, preyed on Mmohs defensive posture.Monumental, was how Mmoh recently described it. You cant play tennis just hoping your opponent is going to miss. You have to have an aggressive mentality to win. Andy Murray didnt win many Slams because at crunch time hed revert to his defensive ways. Look at [Novak] Djokovic in the US Open final. He was very defensive in that final against [Stan] Wawrinka -- thats not going to get it done.His coach, Glenn Weiner, seized on that teachable moment.Its been in our vocabulary to make him more aggressive, Weiner explained. In that respect, Chardy was a great learning experience. We simplified the message to: How do we make you just a little more dangerous?We followed that game plan through the fall. After the summer he had, did I expect him to start winning like he did? No. I have to say I like wheres headed.This is not a random assessment. Weiner, who has played and coached at IMG Academy for nearly 25 years, coached No. 5-ranked Kei Nishikori for three years in Bradenton, Florida.After a terrific stretch run at the Challenger level, the ATPs equivalent of Triple A baseball, Mmoh has another Grand Slam main-draw appointment in January. He accumulated the most points in Knoxville, Tennessee, and Champaign, Illinois to win the USTAs Pro Circuit Australian Open Wild Card Challenge.Mmoh, 18, is one of five American teenagers to win an ATP Challenger Tour title this year, joining Taylor Fritz, Reilly Opelka, Frances Tiafoe and Stefan Kozlov, who won in Columbus, Ohio, a couple of weeks ago. Eight American men aged 20 and younger -- the aforementioned five, plus Jared Donaldson, Ernesto Escobedo and Noah Rubin -- are ranked among the ATP World Tours top 204 players.Theres your short list for future U.S. male tennis stars hoping to follow in the tradition of former top 10 Americans Andy Roddick, James Blake, Mardy Fish and John Isner. They are all contenders for the Next Gen ATP Finals next November in Milan, a new event that will feature the top 21-and-under singles players.The last time there more than six Americans under the age of 21 in the year-end top 200 was 1991, when there were seven. That group included Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Jim Courier and Michael Chang -- all future Grand Slam winners.The competition really motivates you, Mmoh said. When Taylor or Francis is doing well, you might be ranked like 300, while theyre 170 and winning a Challenger. You dont want to be the guy falling behind.Its been a constant battle for a long time. At the end of the day, its huge for American tennis, and us, too.That Mmoh is playing under the U.S. flag is something of an upset, considering his unusual provenance.He was born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to a Nigerian-born father and an Irish-born mother. Tony and Geraldine (OReilly) met in Saudi Arabia in the 1990s when she was a nurse and he worked in sports marketing. Tony had moved to the United States to play tennis at St. Augustines and eventually became an American citizen. He was ranked as high as No. 105 among ATP players and played doubles at the Seoul Olympics for Nigeria. With Geraldine, he raised the family in both Washington, D.C., and Saudi Arabia.Michael Mmoh was 12 years old when he got his first big break in tennis, playing at the Eddie Herr ?at IMG in Bradenton. He got trashed in the final by Duckhee Lee of Korea but was discovered by the IMG staff and eventually offered a scholarship. Mmoh has progressed steadily ever since.With his ranking in the mid-400s, he began the year playing Futures events and trying to qualify for Challengers. Receiving a wild card in Miami, he forced rising German star Alexander Zverev -- also 18 at the time -- to two tiebreakers before losing in the first round. On the downside, Mmoh blew a 3-0 double-break lead in the second set.An elbow injury cost him April and May, prompting a weeklong visit and a heartfelt discussion with his father, who now lives in Atlanta.I was struggling after the injury, Michael said, and I wanted a different insight into my game. My dad was a top-100 player and had some ups and downs in his career. He gave me some useful words, and I started playing well.When Im not confident, Im not the most aggressive player. I use my athletic ability to retrieve a lot of balls. In todays pro game, guys are hitting the s--- out of the ball. Getting a lot of balls back -- that can be your Plan B. But to be successful, you want to be in control of the points.Weiner helped Mmoh make another adjustment, taking a subtle hitch out of his long forehand stroke, which helped take critical time away from opponents. In late September, Mmoh won three matches to qualify for the main draw at the Tiburon, California, Challenger. He survived three match points in a first-round match against Tennys Sandgren and won when Sandgren retired in the third set. Mmoh won seven straight matches to get to his first Challenger final, where he lost to Darian King.In November, Mmoh went one step further, winning the Challenger in Knoxville. Reaching the quarterfinals a week later in Champaign got him into the top 200 for the first time, his overriding goal for 2016.And now he gets to visit Australia, a place that feels like home. His mother, since divorced from Tony, has an Australian passport, and his aunt has lived there for years. The first Grand Slam that Mmoh watched in person was in Melbourne, as a 7-year-old in 2005, the year Marat Safin won the title.After Australia, Mmohs ranking should allow him into the main draw of most Challengers and qualifying for the remaining Grand Slams and some ATP events. For the next month, he and Weiner will work on strengthening his already strong serve by hitting targeted spots more often.It comes down to how good he wants to be, Weiner said. One thing Ive been working on with him is routines and setting a good example. Ive seen moments where there is a glimpse of some special tennis. Glimpses are not good enough.We have to have a higher percentage. It needs to be more of an everyday thing. I believe he can be a great player.So does Mmoh, who lists reaching the top 10 and winning a major among his top career goals. For 2017?Id have to say, I think the year-end top 100 is realistic for me, Mmoh said. The main thing I need to do to improve my game is be more unpredictable.My games there to do the damage. NFL Jerseys Cyber Monday . Spiller left Week 3s 27-20 loss to the New York Jets with a thigh injury, but fully practiced with the team all week and expects to be ready to go on Sunday. Authentic Cyber Monday Jerseys . -- Ryan Getzlaf grabbed the three pucks wrapped in tape and held them up to his chest in the Anaheim Ducks dressing room for a celebration nine seasons in the making. http://www.cheapnfljerseyshome.com/ . Ibaka equaled a career high with 20 rebounds, adding four blocked shots and 15 points as the Thunder smothered the Milwaukee Bucks offence in a 92-79 victory Saturday night. Fast bowler Amjad Khan has dedicated Denmarks four-wicket win over USA on Wednesday at WCL Division Four to captain Michael Pedersen, who left Los Angeles to go back to Denmark on Tuesday night after receiving word that his mother had been involved in an accident.Its a win that wed like to dedicate to Michael really because he had to go home for family reasons, Amjad told ESPNcricinfo after the win. Its something that affected us all and its our captain that we lost so we wanted to win for him. We havent really lost to the US in [50-over] tournament cricket so we were quite confident going into it. But for us it was to make sure that now that Michael is home, we do right by him and we dedicate this win to him.It was a significant bounce back win for Denmark after losing to previously winless Bermuda by 38 runs on Tuesday. A day later, they handed the tournament hosts their first loss - Denmarks sixth straight win over USA in one-day cricket at ICC tournaments dating back to 2001 - thanks in large part to a brilliant bowling effort spearheaded by Amjad, the former England Test representative.Amjads ability to achieve reverse swing in his final four overs at the death resulted in 1 for 12 during that spell and overall figures of 1 for 35 in ten overs. At the other end, Aftab Ahmed bowled a magnificent final over into the wind with a 55-yard straight boundary at his back, taking 3 for 1 off the last six balls to hold USA to 261 for 9. Over the course of the final four overs, Denmark bowled 13 dot balls including the wickets while restricting USA to 17 runs, which gave them a huge lift heading into the innings break according to Amjad.Were pretty clear on our death plans and its something we work really well on, Amjad said. Weve got a quartet of seamers and all of us have done a lot of death bowling. If youre bowling at the death and you hit your areas, it doesnt really matter how big the boundary is. I think Aftab and myself we just took the boundaries out of it and just executed our skill.I think we hit our yorkers really well and held the pace back on the right occasions. I think that was really the background for our success there. Its the first time weve been really tested at the death and it was greatt to see the boys executing our skills really well. Cyber Monday Jerseys. Though USA entered the final four overs at 244 for 6, they struggled to get a big partnership going throughout the day. USAs best stand was produced by Nicholas Standford and Timroy Allen who added 77 runs for the sixth wicket. Amjad says Denmarks ability to disrupt partnerships throughout the day to prevent momentum from building was also a significant factor in the win and it allowed them to get off to an aggressive start in their chase.We thought they could have got 30 more, Amjad said. We were excellent at the death but we never felt they got away from us. We were always getting wickets. Everyone chipped in at the right times and we did feel 260 was gettable. Short boundaries and it a nicely paced wicket, it wasnt turning a whole lot and there wasnt much in it for the seamers. We decided that we were going to be positive, get off to a good start and then coasted home from there. Today everything went according to plan.Denmarks two other wins have been by fairly comfortable margins - 114 runs over Italy and six wickets against Jersey with 7.5 overs to spare - and Amjad says coming back from the loss to Bermuda was a big confidence boost that he feels will set them up for a strong performance against Oman in the final round of group play. The winner will clinch promotion to Division Three but if Denmark loses they will need a lot of mathematical help from other results to give them a chance of also being promoted on the net run rate tiebreaker.We had a bit of a blip against Bermuda but I think the confidence has been pretty high and this victory boosts the confidence even more, Amjad said. I think the guys know we need to focus on our skill. The main difference today was that our pace bowlers bowled with more skill than they did. We varied our pace better and we moved the ball consistently.I believe were one of the most skillful teams in this competition, especially with the ball. For me as a captain, Ill tell everyone to relax and have a good day off but then do our skills again and Im sure well finish on top. Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China Cheap Jerseys From China Cheap NFL Jerseys Authentic Wholesale Jerseys China Cheap NFL Jerseys China NFL Cheap Jerseys ' ' '

The Wall

No comments
You need to sign in to comment