Our "Player" is Home!!!

Levine and Ryan Nelson(USA) vs. Natalie Mayara and Pedro Rocha (Brazil)

With a 2-0 lead heading into the doubles, Team USA brought their doubles specialist, Ryan Nelson into the tie sparking cheers from the crowd. Nelson, a strong new junior addition to Team USA and the international stage, was spectacular in his British Open debut last week and showed some of that magic in today’s doubles. In the first set Levine seemed sluggish coming off his singles victory and five straight days of matches without much rest. Team USA dropped the set 4-6 and looked towards a come back in the vital second set. It was a tough start and Nelson and Levine were having trouble communicating and making sure they were on the court with a plan. It wasn’t until Team USA was faced with a final chance at 4-5 to wake-up or lose the match. Nelson came alive firing balls at the opponent’s chairs and motivating his veteran teammate with his favorite “come on” chant. The crowd went crazy as the boys turned the tide winning the next three games and taking the set 7-5 forcing a 10 point match tie-break. Nelson and Levine were a bit cold in the first few points, giving the Brazilians a 5-2 lead in the breaker. At that point Nelson again started pumping fists and drilling positive energy into his teammate and the sidelines. After trading a few unforced errors both teams were knotted at 8-8. Rocha hit a quicker winner past Nelson to go up 8-9 and force a match point. It was Levine who stayed calm volleying a winner back to the Brazilians and tying it up at 9-9. After missing a match point at 10-9, Levine and Nelson dropped the next two points and were on the verge of losing when the US cheering squad gave one last yell. With Nelson serving after two straight US points, Rocha dinked a ball back into the net sending the large crowd into loud cheers for Team USA. The spectators rushed the court and celebrated the juniors 5th place finish.

By Jeremiah Yolkut

Ryan had a fantastic time, made many new friends and played some great tennis!

He is HOME!

(He is in the front center of the picture - yeah!)