Meet U.S. youngsters Noah Rubin and CiCi Bellis
Dealing with pressure first lesson for teens
Lindsay Davenport remembers a lot about her first U.S. Open match, at age 15 in 1991.
“I really remember the nerves,” Davenport, now 38 and retired from competitive tennis, recalls in a telephone interview. “I remember there were a lot of people out there watching, and I was thinking that they were watching me to figure me out if was I worth the hype. I was very nervous, filled with an enormous sense of ‘I can’t believe I’m here.’ ”
This month, CiCi Bellis, 15, became the youngest to win the USTA Girls 18s National Championship since Davenport, earning a wild-card entry into the main draw of the U.S. Open.
But with the spot in the season’s final major comes the pressure of playing against the world’s best. Bellis drew Dominika Cibulkova, an Australian Open finalist in January, in the first round.
Will Bellis be ready? Or will the nerves that beset Davenport as a teenager get to Bellis, too?
“I’m trying not to think about that,” Bellis said by phone from her San Francisco Bay Area home last week. “I need to go out and play my game. I haven’t thought about how many rounds I’m going to win.”
Or if she’ll win at all. In the 43 years the Girls Nationals winner has received a berth in the Open, they are 26-43 overall. Chris Evert made the deepest run in 1971, advancing to the semifinals at age 16.
“For us, it’s about taking it dayby-day and point-by-point rather than playing up that she’s going to be at the U.S. Open,” said Gordon Bellis, CiCi’s father. “I know she’s going to be nervous at this one, but we just want the best for her. It’s going to be detrimental if you keep talking and talking about it.”
In recent years, there hasn’t been much talk about American teens in the Open, not since Jennifer Capriati made a run to the semifinals at 15 in 1991, the same year as Davenport’s debut. In 2009, Melanie Oudin made the quarterfinals at 17 as a main-draw entry and became an overnight sensation.
“If you have pressure on yourself, that means you’re doing well,” Oudin said recently of the growing expectations during the 2009 Open. “People expect stuff from you. Don’t get scared or worried; use it to help you.”
“That was the best run,” Bellis recalled. “No one knew her before. It would be crazy if I could do that, too.”
Crazy and unlikely, though Bellis has found success on the junior circuit. She has won prestigious junior events, including the Easter Bowl, the USTA Spring Championships and the Coffee Bowl, before several thousand fans in the final.
Noah Rubin, 18, a Rockville Centre, N.Y., native, won the USTA Boys National Championships the same weekend as Bellis. But he brings more experience to the Flushing Meadow stage: He won junior Wimbledon this summer and last week made his ATP World Tour debut at an event in Winston-Salem, N.C.
“I’ve played on some big stages in the junior events, so it’s not about going to a higher level,” Rubin told USA TODAY Sports by phone from Winston-Salem, where he’ll attend Wake Forest this fall. “It’s just about playing your game and giving myself an opportunity to win. I don’t feel more pressure.”
Bellis, who is home-schooled, has played low-level pro events (none on the WTA Tour) and wants to approach the Open like any other tournament.
“What Bellis and Rubin lack in size they make up for with grit and competitiveness,” Colette Lewis, who covers junior tennis on her website, ZooTennis.com, wrote in an e-mail this week. “While the U.S. Open is obviously the biggest stage yet for either of them, their performances in important junior events have shown their ability to handle the spotlight. Last year, Bellis won Les Petits As, Europe’s top 14-under event known for its large crowds and Slam-like atmosphere.”
A year after Oudin’s run, Beatrice Capra, at 18, made the third round of the Open, drumming up Oudin-like media coverage. She lost 6-0, 6-0 to Maria Sharapova.
“When you step out onto (Arthur) Ashe (Stadium) against Maria Sharapova, it’s beyond surreal. It was overwhelming,” Capra said. “One of the things that always has helped me is to think that it’s just another match.”
Davenport, who won three majors and was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame this year, said it’s all about the learning process.
“At the age of 15, only positives can come,” Davenport said. “I got killed in the first round in 1991, but it was still great for me in my development. She (Bellis) should just enjoy it. Just know that not many 15-year-olds have made the U.S. Open. She earned her way.”