Easter Bowl 2007

Emmett Eggers: an very complete all court game.

So that was the general story. And after 6 days it finally got down to 2 players in every division. So who won this year's Easter Bowl titles and how and why? Here's what I observed.

The boys 14s final was very surprising and atypical, compared the grueling power baseline struggles I'd been filming all week. Emmett Egger from Washington state played amazing all court tennis, including lots of serve and volley, to beat Southern California's Sean Berman surprisingly easily, 6-1, 6-3.

I say surprisingly because Sean had gone through to the final without losing a set. Despite being only probably 5'8" or so at this point, Sean had a very effective and surprisingly powerful serve.

He also had a nice mix of consistency and power on his forehand, and his wins were methodical in the best sense of that word. He just always seemed to hit the right shot at the right time, and rarely went for too much or made a bad unforced error.

Sean Berman: a big forehand and a sense of the right shot.

From the start of the final match though, Sean seemed off balance and possibly a little nervous. But the real difference was Emmett. Remember now this kid is only 14. He has a big, smooth serve and an incredibly varied and polished game. He was content to rally with Sean from the baseline, but time and time again took opportunities to change the pace with slice off both sides, and also, to rip a few well-chosen backhand winners down the line.

But his serve and volley game though was the real story of the match. At set point in the first, he edged a deft, short angled, high backhand volley down the line for a clean winner. Then in the second set, just when Sean seemed to be relaxing a little bit and bidding to get back in the match, Emmett blunted his comeback with another series of clutch approaches and angled volleys. At 3-2 serving at 30-30 he played a serve and volley point on his second serve to hold at 4-2. His second serve!

Because Sean had been so tough all week and really hadn't been in the match, I still thought he might turn it around and at least get into the second set, because Emmett had to be feeling the pressure at 4-2, being only 2 service holds away from the Easter Bowl title.

But what happened was the exact opposite. After Sean held to make it 4-3, Emmett held easily, playing two more great serve and volley points, and then finishing off the game with an ace to go up 5-3. Now Sean had to serve to stay in it, but he couldn't do it.

Emmett had one match point, came in and got passed for one of the few times in the match. Again I thought, well, I've seen a set turn around on less. But no way. On his second match point, Emmett came in again and this time finished with another great angled volley. Wow.

Lauren Davis; a fierce baseline competitor.

After the exceptional nature of the boys' title match, the girls' 14s final was more what you might expect to see: a fierce baseline test of will between two surprise finalists, Lauren Herring from North Carolina, who came in unseeded, and Lauren Davis, from Ohio, who was the 17th seed.

You could see the determination that got these two through six very tough rounds to reach the final. There were plenty of 30 ball rallies. Both girls hit the ball very solidly, sometimes quite hard, but mainly in the center areas of the court. Neither was reluctant to go to the moon ball either, especially Lauren Herring, despite being several inches taller and somewhat more powerful. Serve was not a factor.

In the end it seemed the long week affected Lauren Davis more--I'd watched here come through several tough matches with an iron will to stay on court as long as necessary.

Lauren Herring won the first set 6-4, and then early in the second, Lauren Davis got a close call that was probably incorrect. It was just one point, but the steam seemed to go out of her alittle and she started looking discouraged and missing routine balls.

Lauren Herring; calm, methodical, and the Easter Bowl champ.

Lauren Herring just kept doing what she'd been doing, playing error free, smacking an occasional winner, and looking very calm. The points still were fairly long, it's just that Lauren Herring won most of them, and the second set ended up 6-0. It had to be disappointing for Lauren Davis. She looked pretty sad after the match. It was great to see her come out afterwards though and sit laughing and eating something with a friend watching the 18s final.

You don't always get great matches in the finals of big tournaments. That's true in pro tennis and in junior tennis as well. I'd been watching Nadja Gilchrist, from Rochester, NY work her way unseeded through the tournament all week.

Of all the top girls I filmed, she seemed to hit the ball the hardest and flattest, and also stayed the calmest. Nadja was unseeded, but chopped up several better known players on her way to the final against Gail Brodsky, a New Yorker who now trains in Southern California now. Nadja had escaped from a match point in the third set in the quarterfinal round, eventually winning the match in a breaker.

Nadja Gilchrist, unseeded with a smooth power game.

I'd seen Gail play a couple of matches too and her competitive toughness was really impressive. I thought Nadja might have too much game for her, but it was the opposite. Gail looked like she had been saving an extra level to unleash in the final. She was aggressive and her shots seemed more explosive. In particular she hit some absolute laser returns off Nadja's serve, which was probably the weakest link in her game.

As I watched the match it seemed to me that getting to the final was as much as Nadja was ready to handle. That's a big jump to go from unseeded all the way to the final of the Easter Bowl. She just looked slightly tight, although with her composed demeanor it was a subtle difference that you might not notice if you hadn't been watching her other matches. She said as much very matter of factly in a post match interview. Again I was impressed with her, because she was so candid and matter of fact about it.

A family sitting next to me that hadn't seen her other matches was wondering out loud how she got there in the first place, and you could see why they might think that.

Gail's shots were getting on top of Nadja, pushing her contact back back in toward her body. The canon-like groundstrokes winners she been hitting all week, hit with flat arcs and just a little topspin, were now flying 6 and 8 feet out --- so flat you could literally see the Wilson label on the ball. The result was that Gail ran off the first set 6-0.

Gail Brodsky: took it into a new gear to win the final.

I was wondering if this might be a case in which a player relaxes after a really bad first set, but as the second set developed, it wasn't. There were a few games where Nadja hit one or two of the huge, effortless winners that had gotten her to the final, but she couldn't keep it going and she kept following the good shots with more big errors.

Gail stayed aggressive, positive and steady. There was more of a struggle in many of the points. The second set was 6-3, but really it didn't feel much closer than the first. Still an incredible tournament for Nadja, and among all the players I saw she seemed to have intriguing potential. But saying things like that is the exact trap people fall into at the Easter Bowl. As a well-known coach once admitted to me, he didn't think Pete Sampras had the heart of a champion when he watched him play in the juniors.

So Sunday was the last day, with the last three finals, starting with the Girls 16s, Beatrice Capra, another unseeded finalist from Maryland, versus Nicole Gibbs, the 5th seed from Ohio. What an incredible match!

There were tremendous baseline exchanges but what was most amazing was the number of points decided at the net. I wasn't charting the match, but there had to be 25 or 30 volley winners and/or swinging volley winners between the two players.

Nicole Gibbs: overcoming adversity with tenacity, shot making, and amazing swing volleys.

The match started off with an early test of mental toughness for Nicole. Serving at 2-2, Nicole actually won the game, but in the only obvious officiating error I saw all the week, the chair umpire got the score wrong. Although she was somewhat dumbfounded, Nicole pulled it together and won the game anyway.

Then at 2-3 with Beatrice serving, the players had a couple of great hard hitting crosscourt forehand exchanges. In both cases Nicole ended up coming forward and winning the points with swinging volleys, one on the forehand and one on her backhand side. A versatile swing volley game at age 16!

So Nicole broke and was now serving at 4-2. Twice she got to game point and I thought that she was going to take the set for sure. But Beatrice came up with a couple of great volleys of her own, then a big forehand return, and a big overhead to break back.

After the break, you could see the frustration on Nicole's face and the level of her play dropped. Beatrice held for 4-4. Then serving at 4-4, Nicole made a couple of bad errors. Beatrice hit another overhead, and backed that up with a clean drop shot winner to break. So having been down 2-4, Beatrice was now serving for the set at 5-4.

It was an incredible game, with 4 deuces, a few moon ball exchanges, some tight errors, and again some incredible shot making. Nicole hit another forehand swinging volley to fight off one set point. Then she hit one on the backhand side to get to break point. But Beatrice came up with a backhand volley winner of her own. Then on her second set point Beatrice hit a swinging volley and another overhead to take the first set 6-4.

Beatrice Capra: an ability to win points everywhere on the court.

Remember now, this is a girls' 16 and under match! Honestly, I've seen dozens and dozens of pro matches at Indian Wells that didn't have as much dramatic shot making, much less so many skilled, authoritative volleys.

In the first game of the second set it looked like the match might be over. Nicole looked discouraged and hit an early, bad double fault. They got to 30 all, but suddenly Beatrice tightened up and missed 2 easy returns. So Nicole held for 1-0. Then Beatrice hit a couple of double faults of her own in her first service game, got broken, and it was 2-0 Nicole. So suddenly the momentum seemed to have shifted. Nicole starting forcing the action with her forehand and hit two more of those incredible swinging volleys to go up 3-0.

The level dropped again though as the tension started to get to both players There were a lot of errors and the set lurched ahead unevenly to 2-5, with Beatrice serving to stay alive. In another error filled game, Nicole broke her again and got the split, finishing it with a couple of good forehands.

They exchanged breaks to start the third and got to 3 all. At this point they exchanged two more breaks each, both players alternating between winners and tight errors. So that made it 5-5.

Nicole and Beatrice: a dramatic, high quality match that swung both ways.

Finally, Nicole held serve to get to 6-5, as Beatrice made two forehand errors from 30 all. Then in another tight game, Nicole broke Beatrice one more time to win the title.

This match was razor close and could have gone either way. But Nicole seized the initiative at the very end and finished it with a flourish hitting a forehand return winner on her second match point. In the end, it was a display of great mental tenacity to go with all the shot making.

Boys 18s

In the 18's Johnny Hamui had been fighting his way through the tournament all week in a series of tough matches with long back court points. There was no doubt he had played inspired tennis and wanted the title. He also was the only player in any of the finals with a one-handed backhand, a beautiful, consistent stroke that he used throughout the tournament to rally from deep behind the baseline, and to hit running winners and amazing, improbable passing shots.

But then he ran into Rhyne Williams. A taller and but equally athletic player, Rhyne had too much game with his big serve and big forehand, plus more than enough mental power to deal with the occasion of an Easter Bowl final.

Rhyne Williams: calm, methodical and a big game.

The first set stayed on serve to 4 all. With Johnny serving at 15-15, he hit a double fault. Rhyne hit a big forehand, Johnny hit another double, and then Rhyne crushed an overhead to break. That was it and he served it out, finishing the set with an ace, 6-4.

The players traded breaks to start the second, but then Rhyne broke Johnny again, then served 3 aces in the next game to hold for 3-1. At this point you could see a little bit of the incredible fight that Johnny had showed all week just drain away. Serving at 1-3 he made 3 unforced errors, the last one at the end of a long point. Broken, he went down 1-4, and tossed his racket.

Two holds later Rhyne served for the title at 5-2. He got to 40-15 with help from two unreturnable serves. He hit a double fault on his first match point, but then finished it with a huge, clean forehand winner. It was a mature performance, because once the match started it was obvious Rhyne had the opportunity to win the tournament, and he took advantage without any real hesitation.

The 16s final between Bo Seal from Chattanooga, Tennessee and Lawrence Formentera form Colton, California was the most closely contested, uncertain, most dramatic match I saw, even more so than the 16 girls that started off the day.

The level of tennis in this match was just beyond belief. These two guys just hit the ball so well and so big, for so long, first point to last.

The way their rackets moved through the contact zone just looked slightly more explosive than many of the other kids. It also seemed they were the most comfortable at taking the ball on the rise of any of the players I filmed all week. This seemed especially true of Lawrence who just picked up the ball and ripped it so effortlessly.

A gorgeous one-handed backhand and a fighting heart.

Bo also had some of the best posture and most precise movement of any player I saw in the tournament. Just very light on his feet, quick, very balanced, moving to the ball with precision and rhythm.

Even at this age both guys could hit huge serves with confidence and control. And like the other kids, they had no hesitancy to go in and finish at the net.

They both also fought with tremendous courage, coming up with clutch winning shots at critical moments time and time again. It was 3 sets and it looked like the match could go either way up until the last point. Which it did--settled by a tie-breaker in the third. I actually took 9 pages of notes on the highlights, but let's try boil it down a little further.

The first set was very even most of the way, when at 4-4 when Lawrence just exploded to take the last two games. First he held serve, finishing the game with a big, wide ace to go up 5-4. Then with Bo serving at 30 all, Lawrence hit a forehand winner. Then on the next point he cleaned a backhand volley, and suddenly, that was it.

Lawrence continued the roll at the start of the second, holding easily. Bo then made two bad forehand errors to immediately go down a break. Lawrence held and was now up 3-0. You might have concluded this was going to finish like the 18s in straight sets, but I'd been studying Bo's incredible competitive fighting skills all week , and something told me it wasn't going to be that simple.

Lawrence Formentera: exploding to the title.

Sure enough, things started to turn. It must have been dawning on Lawrence at this point that he could actually win the Easter Bowl in straight sets, and he tightened up. He had a game point to go up 4-0, but Bo finally held to make it 3-1. then it was Bo's turn to go on a run. He raised his level suddenly and ripped off the next 5 games, taking the set in a blur, 6-3.

When they split, Lawrence tossed his Gatorade bottle, and was looking pretty discouraged. The momentum really did appear to be with Bo. But to me it still seemed like either player's match.

The third set started ugly, compared to the first two, but it developed into an amazing struggle with both players reaching new levels. You had to wonder whether either one of them had played this well before.

Lawrence immediately broke Bo, with some help from a lucky let cord winner. In a tight second game, however, Bo broke back. Bo then held at love, bouncing an overhead over the back fence on game point. Then he broke Lawrence a second time, with help from two bad double faults. So it was Bo, 3-1 in the third.

Bo had been down a set and 0-3, but had now won 9 of the last 10 games, about to serve with a chance to make it 4-1. That was a huge swing, but as it turned out, far from the last swing in the match.

With his back to the wall, Lawrence relaxed and broke back with a big forehand return on game point. He then reeled off 3 more forehand winners, including a running passing shot to hold and get to 3-3.

Both players held. Then at 4-4 they played longest, toughest game of the match, which was saying something at this point. There were 7 deuce points, and some almost unbelievable shot making on both sides as it swung back and forth. Bo finally held though, to get to 5-4.

Bo Seal: super balanced movement and posture.

With Lawrence serving, Bo hit a forehand winner to get to 15-30. So he was now just two points from the match, but he couldn't get them. They played 2 more deuces, and then Lawrence unleashed a screaming forehand crosscourt winner, which was followed by an unforced forehand error from Bo. So that made it 5-5.

Bo held fairly easily for 6-5. Then he got Lawrence down again15-30 on Lawrence's serve, once again reaching 2 points from the match.

Lawrence worked it to 40-40, but Bo hit a clean forehand winner and finally reached match point. then he made a quick, over eager backhand error to go back to deuce. Lawrence had another one of those sudden explosions, hitting a clean down the line backhand winner, followed by a forehand winner to get out of the game and make it 6-6.

Time and time again, these guys had gone back and forth. And now it was down to the third set tiebreaker. The crowd by this point was totally immersed in the drama, and clapping and cheering on almost every shot.

Bo slammed an overhead winner on the first point of the breaker and rode that out to a 4-2 lead at the changeover. It really looked like this time he might make it home. But he missed a forehand wide, and then Lawrence hit a forehand winner, and suddenly it was 4 all.

Now there was absolutely no way to tell who was going to get the match, although when you looked at Bo's body language he seemed unperturbed and just as calm and confident as the first point. Lawrence looked somewhat tenser, but still, that was the way they had both looked for most of the match.

One of the best Easter Bowl finals--ever?

Then suddenly it was over in 3 points. Bo hit a forehand error. Then seemingly out of nowhere Lawrence unleashed one of the gutsiest, biggest forehand winners of the match. Bang it was 6-4.

On the next point, Lawrence hit a good first serve, and Bo made a backhand error. Suddenly that was it. Lawrence had run off 5 straight points and was an Easter Bowl champ. If you had seen a final with that kind of nerve racking drama at Indian Wells, you would have been bragging to your friends about it for years.

After the match I had a chance to speak with Marylynn Baker, who has run the tournament for Seena for many years, and also with Rob Roy, one of the referees. Both of them were pretty much in awe of what they had just seen. Their verdict was that this had been the best Easter Bowl final in recent memory, and maybe, ever.

So I was glad I decided to stay to the bitter end, and obviously, I picked a great year for my first Easter Bowl. But it may not be my last. Did I see a future Grand Slam winner? I have no idea.

But you can check out the clips of many of the players for yourself in our new Future Stars section. Well filmed over a hundred players and would have filmed more if we could have--and maybe next year we will. This month will put up the three boys next month we'll put up the girls next month. Not just the few top players, but a wide cross section of American junior tennis. Then let us know what you think in the Forum.

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Easter Bowl 2007

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John Yandell

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