Issue link: http://itf.uberflip.com/i/193236
It was also great to see some of the young players like Borna Coric of Croatia, Nick Kyrgios of Australia and Christian Garin of Chile not only participating but showing how much being a part of Davis Cup means to them. and Lucie Hradecka in the women's doubles, and Hlavackova and Max Mirnyi of Belarus in the mixed doubles. While, of course, delighted for Leander and Radek, I was a bit sad for Bob and Mike Bryan who narrowly missed out on achieving a calendar year Grand Slam, falling in the semifinals to the eventual champions. It was great to see two very talented players, Stan Wawrinka and Richard Gasquet, reach the men's semifinals, and Flavia Pennetta finding her form again to reach the women's semis. In the junior US Open, Croatia dominated the singles with Borna Coric defeating Thanasi Kokkinakis of Australia in the boys' and Ana Konjuh defeating American Tornado Alicia Black in the girls'. Kamil Majchrzak of Poland teamed with Martin Redlicki of the United States to win the boys' doubles while the Czechs, Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova, won the girls' doubles title, continuing the trend of Radek, Andrea and Lucie. In the wheelchair events, Stephane Houdet of France won the men's singles, Michael Jeremiasz of France and Maikel Scheffers of the Netherlands won the men's doubles; Aniek van Koot of the Netherlands won the women's singles and teamed with countrywoman Jiske Griffioen to win the women's doubles. Lucas Sithole of South Africa won the quad singles and Americans Nick Taylor and David Wagner won the quad doubles. I was delighted to see Esther Vergeer in New York and to learn that she was commentating for the Tennis Channel. Their coverage will continue to bring profile to these important events. Before the US Open, the ITF's 14-and under championships, the World Junior Tennis Finals, took place in Prostejov, Czech Republic with the same two nations, Russia and United States, competing in both the boys' and girls' finals. The Russians behind Philipp Klimov and Artem Dubrivnyy defeated the Americans to take their first ever boys' title, while the Americans behind Claire Liu and Catherine Bellis defeated Russia to win a sixth girls' title for the United States. Thanks to the hosts who always do such a great job on behalf of junior tennis. Beach tennis continues to grow around the world with 20 nations entering the ITF Beach Tennis World Team Championships in Moscow. Brazil won the title, defeating Italy in the final, while the hosts Russia came in third. In the ITF Beach Tennis World Championships, a sold-out crowd in Cervia, Italy saw Marco Garavini and Alessandro Calbucci of Italy win the men's doubles title and Veronica Visani and Sofia Cimatti of Italy win the women's doubles title. www.itftennis.com I had a chance to attend the event in Cervia and I was very impressed with the attendance and the spirit of the players. I hope you will take a few minutes to read the feature in this edition of ITFWorld which profiles some of the players. The semifinal and play-off round of Davis Cup by BNP Paribas took place the week after the US Open and it was great to see the top three, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray, all representing their countries. It was also great to see some of the young players like Coric of Croatia, Nick Kyrgios of Australia and Christian Garin of Chile not only participating but showing how much being a part of Davis Cup means to them. Our final is set, with Serbia hosting Czech Republic. The defending champions played at home in Prague and Tomas Berdych and Stepanek were just too good for the visiting Argentines who, despite their defeat, were supported by a large contingent of very loud and active fans. Canada, playing in their first-ever semifinal, came close to upsetting the home team, stretching them to the limit in almost every match but, in the fifth rubber, the experienced Serbs pulled it out to reach their second final. In the play-offs, it was great to see two Grand Slam nations, Australia and Great Britain, join France and the United States in the elite World Group. Ironically they will play each other in the first round, with Australia travelling to France and Great Britain to USA. Other teams to qualify for the World Group in 2014 are Belgium, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland. We have a great line-up of ties in the first round in what is looking to be another wonderful year for Davis Cup by BNP Paribas. As I write, over the next few weeks we have Junior Davis Cup and Fed Cup by BNP Paribas in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, the ITF Worldwide Coaches Conference in Cancun, Mexico, sponsored by BNP Paribas, and the final event of our Centenary, the Fed Cup by BNP Paribas Final in Cagliari between hosts Italy and Russia. It's a busy time for us here at the ITF but a satisfying one and we all look forward to a great end of season. Francesco Ricci Bitti ITF President ITFWORLD AUTUMN 2013 3