You might remember that during the Australian Open I wrote a bit about the young U.S. player, Kimberly Couts ("Junior Update"). I was intrigued by how and why this 16-year-old kid would travel to Australia on her own (never mind how she ended up playing so well), without having a soul—no coach, no parent—in her corner.
It seemed like such a gutsy thing to do, given that Couts is no junior superstar (yet). In fact, she went to Australia to try to qualify for two events—a junior Australian Open warm-up, and the main event at Melbourne Park—a trip that, all told, would end up costing her $3,600.
Thankfully, Kim made the main draw in both events; she lost early in the tune-up, but reached Round 3 of the junior main draw in Melbourne (where she lost to the eventual champ). But she has yet to crack the elite ITF Top 100 (she’s presently No. 110), so you can't exactly say Kim has a guaranteed future as a WTA player.
I was able to track Kim down with the help of junior girls guru Marcia Frost and Colette Lewis of Zootennis. I spoke with Kim last week. Those of you who have kids playing the game, or are just plain curious about what it takes to compete at the top level these days, may get some idea of what it takes—if your kid's not a certified prodigy, or you're not rich.
Kim was born in New Jersey (somewhere near Princeton), and relocated with her mom, Shelley, to Bradenton, Fla. (She's not affiliated with the IMG/Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy, but she's found that Bradenton is a great place to train and find practice partners.)
Kim's parents are divorced; her dad is a New Jersey State Trooper who remained behind when Kim and Shelley took the plunge and moved to Florida in order to advance Kim's tennis. They were accompanied by Kim’s coach—and now stepfather—Ray Kuzava, but he has since returned to the greener teaching pro pastures of the Garden State.
This is clearly a family that has paid a price for pursuing Kim's tennis dreams. As Kim told me, "The tennis thing, it's really me and mom’s thing.”
On the phone, Kim was chatty, vivacious, and strikingly mature for a girl of her age. She loves American Idol, and she made a point to ask me to thank Nike and Babolat, who provide her with clothing, shoes, and equipment. This is no country-club kid; she also asked if I would mention that she's seeking a committed sponsor—someone interested in underwriting her development until she can get out on the tour and earn some money. So there it is, I mentioned it.
Kim is the kind of bright, restless kid who answers questions before you finish them, and she showed not a trace of self-consciousness or pretense. She knows this for sure: she wants to be a pro. She’s 5-foot-8, 135 pounds, with blond hair and fair skin. She has an athletic build, and says she's been filling in and adding a little more muscle lately. She describes herself as an aggressive baseliner whose main weapons are her groundies, especially her backhand. She says she’s “a good fighter, mentally.”
It turned out that Kim was pretty blasé about having traveled to Oz alone (“I go to so many tournaments without my mom, or a coach,” she said, with a world-weary sigh). She had lined up accommodation at the junior-player hotels in advance, so that often challenging item was taken care of, and it also helped that her flight from Los Angeles to Melbourne had a number of other junior players whom she knew on it.
On the ground in Oz, Kim did very little but practice, play her matches, and try to avoid the debilitating heat (In order to qualify for the AO junior main draw, she had to play two matches in one day under brutal conditions). What Kim missed most was having someone to scout her opponents (something she doesn’t like to do herself).
In the evenings, Kim went online to email and exchange instant messages on one of the computers set up for that purpose at the hotel; sometimes she played cards with the other girls. She did no sightseeing, no shopping, and no socializing. She ate most of her meals at the tournament sites (being free, the price was right) and told me, “I knew why I was there—to play matches and take care of myself between them. Nothing else.”
As it turned out, she did well enough so that the first real day off she had was deep into the trip, the day before she played her third-round match in the junior AO. On that free day, she went to the site at around noon, hit for 40 minutes, and then had the trainer work on some of her minor injuries. She lost the following day, spent the better part of Friday packing, and she was on her way home Saturday.
“My friends asked me what I saw, and I told them, just the tournament sites and hotel, really," she says. "I guess I’ll have lots of time for the other stuff in the future.”
This is what it takes to be in the hunt in junior tennis these days. You have to figure that this was a calculated risk on the Couts' part, because a lot of the top juniors from the U.S. and Europe pass on Australia because of the time and cost of getting there. That translates to an opportunity for players like Kim, who can improve their rankings and reputations by undertaking the trip. But, of course, it's risky.
Say what you will about spoiled brats, silver spoons, or how tennis is a “sissy” sport. The reality is that for most youngsters, it takes an enormous amount of sacrifice to make it to the pros, and at least one of the things they give up they will never, ever be able to get back, no matter what: a typical childhood.
Whether that experience is overrated or not is up to you to decide.