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Nationals Feature
USTA Boys 14 Nationals Championships Wrap-up
by James Hill, 12 August 2008
The web site of John Richmond's hometown of Pawleys Island displays a motto for the South Carolina resort - "Arrogantly Shabby."
Boys 14 Champion
John Richmond © Doug Wrege, TennisRecruiting.net
But Richmond's performance last week was neither arrogant nor shabby at San Antonio's McFarlin Tennis Center. The left-hander captured the singles title of the
USTA Boys 14 National Championships with a convincing 6-1, 6-2 victory over
Reo Asami of Irvine, Calif.
"I had to play a clean game of tennis," said the seventh-seeded Richmond, who used an effective pinpoint serve. "I was able to open up the court and make him hit on the run. He wasn't hitting his first serve very well. I got the ball back deep from the start."
The statement about return of service would be crucial during the 1-hour, 15-minute match. Asami, the tournament's No. 2 seed, was able to hold serve only once during the match, in the sixth game of the first set. Richmond, an Easter Bowl finalist, held serve throughout the opening set and lost it twice in the second. The tightest game of the match was the opener of the second set, which went to deuce five times.
"He had that lefty spin," said Asami, an Easter Bowl semifinalist and Southern California champion. "He was returning my serve well."
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