Elliott Sprecher Wins Boys 14s At Nike Junior National Masters Series
September 22, 2009 03:40 PM
Elliott Sprecher of Cadott, Wis., won the Boys 14s national championship at the Nike Jr. Tour USA National Masters tournament September 18-20 in Stanford, Calif. Sprecher, who was unseeded, defeated the #1, #2, and #3 seeds in claiming the title and becomes the first player in USTA Northern history to win his age group at the Nike tournament.
Sprecher, who is ranked #1 in Boys 14s in USTA Northern, opened the tournament with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Robert Seby of Oro Valley, Ariz. He then beat No. 3 seed Stephen Watson of Orlando, Fla., 6-3, 6-4. In the semifinals, Sprecher defeated Joseph Di Giulio of Newport Beach, Calif., the #1 seed in the tournament and the former top-ranked 14-year-old in the USTA National rankings, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 in a match that lasted three hours and 15 minutes. In the finals, he then took out second seed Jack Murray of Birmingham, Mich., 6-4, 6-2.
Sprecher's success was not necessarily a surprise to him, but he also admits he never really thought about winning the tournament.
"Honestly, I did not think that far ahead. I knew there were going to be great players there so I just wanted to try my best and see what happened."
Although there was not a certain point where his mindset might have shifted in regards to winning the tournament, he was confident going into his match with Di Giulio.
"I actually played him earlier this year at the Easter Bowl in Florida. Even though he beat me in straight sets, we played a tight first set and that prepared me for this match. I developed a game plan, and knew if I executed it, I could beat him this time. He is such a good retriever of the ball and gets everything back. I really tried to hit more short balls to him and get him into the net which he did not expect. I also tried to boom my first serve and then play aggressively following that."
The NJT has partnered with 16 sections of the USTA, which reward the USTA Sectional champions in the 12s and 14s a trip to Stanford, Calif., to compete in the most competitive tennis tournament in the country for this age group. The NJT is comprised of more than 50,000 of the world's best U12 and U14 youth tennis players from 24 countries. With the victory, Sprecher earned one of four spots on the NJT USA Team that will compete at the NJT Internationals Masters at Club Med Punta Cana from October 13-20 in the Dominican Republic.
"I am really excited to play in the International tournament," Sprecher said. "I am going to come into that tournament with the same mindset I did last weekend. I just want to play my game and try my best. People will not know who I am so maybe I can surprise a few more people while I am there."
Note: Other members of USTA Northern who competed at the NJT National Masters in Stanford include Rochester's Ingrid Neel (Girls 12s), Grand Forks' Mimi Yunker (Girls 14s) and Grand Forks' Greg Wischer (Girls 12s). Neel and Wischer finished 2-2 on the weekend, while Yunker was 0-4. Ryan Myhre of Fargo, N.D., served as head coach.