A refreshing, healthy perspective from top American Junior Fed Cup competitor Connie Ma.
Nice to see not every family chasing ranking points on the Junior Circuit.
More and more, I’m favoring a limited tournament approach for my top juniors.
Healthier for them and oftentimes healthier for the whole family, too.
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“Ma rarely plays ITF Junior Circuit events, with most of her competitive match play coming either during school breaks or the summer. But the fact that she was competing for the national team in an international championship made getting out of school for this event a bit easier.
“When I told my teachers I was competing for USA, they were like, yeah, that’s pretty cool,” said the 16-year-old from Dublin California. “It got them excited too. My math teacher was like, send me the link if they’re live streaming it or putting it on TV.”
Ma doesn’t play much on the Har-Tru surface that is being used at this event, so she was grateful to have a week of preparation at the National Campus prior to this week’s competition.
“There are a couple of clay courts back in California, but I don’t really play on them,” Ma said. “Playing on clay, you obviously need an adjustment and you have to be willing to work harder for points.”
Ma’s ITF junior ranking is 322, which is quite low when compared to those who play ITF events more regularly, with seven girls competing this week, including her two teammates, in the ITF Top 50.
“Rankings don’t show the full extent of someone’s skill,” said Ma, who reached the final of the ITF Grade 1 in Carson during her spring break. “Someone may just not play tournaments, but they can be really good. I don’t really play ITF tournaments, which is I guess why my ranking isn’t that high. But I don’t think that affects me…”
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