Thread for 14 year old Pippa Horn, who has certainly not blown it in the last three weeks, winning two consecutive ITF junior events, first on the grey green dirt of the Athens of the North, then on the green green artificial grass of the Emerald Isle.
Pippa lost the Rushbrooke G5 final to a younger opponent. Perhaps she's tired. It'll be interesting to see how she does at the junior nationals.
I have to highlight her harmonious round 2 pairing: Basso Basset - Horn. While she was arguably outmatched in the musical instrument sense, the tennis was another matter with Pippa winning 1 and 0.
"I'm really happy, I probably played my best tennis yesterday. Today I just got the ball in. It's great, I've got nothing to lose here, there's no pressure. I didn't really expect to win my first round match so I'm just really pleased and i've got a lot of confidence now."
She shocked number 2 seed Lucy Brown in R1, the draw opened up for her, and she needed no second invitation. Likely to be Jess Ren in the semis so things may start getting a little tricky again. Is that Pippa in the yellow in the vid? I'm pretty sure Chloe Murphy has a SHBH, so I'm thinking she's the girl in red.
Here is an older vid that definitely has Pippa in it (amongst other things).
Well Pippa has continued her fantastic run with a 60 57 62 win over Jess Ren. She faces the older Ren, Jennifer, in the final. I'd say she's in with a great shot although the slight underdog.
I must say it's wierd seeing Jess Ren losing to a Brit born in 1995. I mean, she used to absolutely dominate all the girls her age, not only in Britain, but all over the world.
I have to say, I didn't share *hingis_forever*'s opinion that Pippa had a shot, I thought Jenny would win easily, but I was wrong: Pippa leads 6-3 2-3 as of the last update.
She is currently ranked 366, but is confident she can improve following last week's success. I've still got the climb the rankings a bit. "My aim is to make it to Wimbledon but Australian Open qualifying could be a possibility. It depends how I do in the other tournaments."
Wow, love the optimism, even if its slightly unrealistic Wimbledon juniors will be definite if she stays healthy since a WC has to be more or less guaranteed.
What is it about mums called Judy coaching their kids to success? I think thats the trick to Britain producing champions, just rename all tennis mums to Judy
First day of practice and were all gagging to have a run about after the journey. Half an hour in and disaster strikes....Pippa (my doubles partner) fell on a ball about 8 metres behind the baseline and couldn't get up as her ankle had swollen to the size of a tennis ball...so off to the hospital she went (she managed to find herself there the last three trips!!) Myself, Fran Stephenson and Lucy Brown finished our practice and went back to the hotel for a shower where we found Pippa on crutches with a cast on her leg...bang goes my doubles partner.
Our national junior champion played what seems like her first match in forever today, in division 4 of the national junior county championships. She's on the entry list for next week's Aegon British Tour event in Sutton, and in the alternates list for Bath 10K the week after. Cross fingers.
She added: “I will be playing a lot over the summer to try and get my ITF (International Tennis Federation) ranking up. I would like to get into the top 100 which I think is a reasonable target.”
Horn, who attends Queenswood School in Hatfield, became Britain’s youngest under-18 national champion at 14 and has three ITF Junior Circuit victories under her belt, including the grade 3 Sarawak Chief Ministers Cup in Malaysia in October.
The tricky business of fitting tennis around her exams has seen the youngster taking part in three senior events on the Pro Circuit since March, including in Nottingham last week.
And she believes the experiences, all first-round defeats, will stand her in good stead when returning to the junior tour.
“It is a different game and it has been more about developing my game than winning,” she said.
Her father, Mike Horn, said: “It was a very disappointing performance.
“It was a good draw and she had beaten the girl before the last time they had played, but she knows she has to look at herself and say ‘that is just not good enough’.
West Harling’s Pippa Horn is not about to give up on becoming a top-level professional tennis player after playing her last Junior Wimbledon.
The youngest ever Under-18s National Champion, at 15 in 2010, admitted nerves got the better of her on court four on Monday as she exited the Junior Championships in straight sets in the first round – 6-0, 7-5 to China’s Shilin Xu.
But after qualifying this year to make three consecutive outings at SW19, having never won a singles match, the 17-year-old Norfolk player is not ready to pack in her dream of making a living on the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Tour.
With offers on the table from American colleges specialising in tennis, she looks set to further her education while preparing herself for a professional career in the sport.
I'm not sure whether I misread that article or not, but her recent twitter made clear that Pippa had chosen to forgo the Upper Sixth and A-levels and was going to university in the US a year early. But I hadn't guessed where: http://www.texassports.com/news/2013/8/22/WTEN_0822132442.aspx
Oh, Pippa, how could you?
Anyhow, good luck, and I hope Fendick turns out better for you than she has for others.