Tennis
The Russian tennis player was officially recognized as the best in the world. Alina left no choice!
Alina Korneeva / Photo: © Clive Mason / Staff / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru
The International Tennis Federation made an absolutely logical and correct decision.
The Russian school of tennis has once again proven its strength. At the junior level, its representatives have no equal in the world. And this is once again recognized at the highest international level!
Better than the American by a thousand points
The International Tennis Federation (ITF) has published a list of world champions, according to its own version. Since there is no tournament called the “World Championship,” performances in the calendar year are taken into account, and preference is given to the leaders of the ITF rankings.
Russian Alina Korneeva was recognized as the world champion among juniors. Over the year, she has seriously grown in skill and experience, resulting in a confident first place in the junior rankings. The 16-year-old girl has 3659.25 points, and according to this indicator she is ahead of Clervie Nguna from the USA by almost a thousand points!
Among juniors, Brazilian Joao Fonseca was named the best. The 17-year-old tennis player scored 2902.25 points in the ITF rankings. This year, the guy made a lot of noise at the junior Grand Slam tournaments, winning the US Open and reaching the quarterfinals at all other majors.
Phenomenal results at Grand Slam tournaments
The Brazilian tennis player is certainly talented. But even his achievements pale in comparison to Korneeva. The Moscow native had a phenomenal season!
It all started with a bright January victory at the junior Australian Open – then Alina beat compatriot Mirra Andreeva in the final. In June, Korneeva made a golden double, becoming the Roland Garros champion among her peers. The winning hat-trick did not work out, as the Russian lost in the semi-finals of Wimbledon, and American bureaucrats did not allow her to attend the US Open. But even two Grand Slam titles in one season is an achievement that few achieve.
But there were also two victories at adult ITF tournaments in South Africa and Portugal and a worthy debut at the WTA level. The pinnacle of Alina’s triumphant season was her success at the Final Junior Tournament in October. In total, Korneeva won six titles in the past year.
Korneeva will challenge Andreeva
The tennis player herself, of course, was pleased with the awarding of the champion title. But she already has plans for the new season.
“I’m happy to become number one at the end of the year.” I don’t want to stop there. I can’t wait for the next season and I hope that it will bring something new,” the ITF official website quotes Alina.
In theory, Mirra Andreeva could also have competed for the title of world champion among juniors, but she chose an adult career and made the right decision, deservedly becoming the WTA Rookie of the Year. The 16-year-old native of Krasnoyarsk practically did not take part in junior tournaments and took only 21st place in the ITF rankings.
But her friend Alina Korneeva concentrated on tournaments among her peers. But there is no doubt that next season the young Muscovite will impose serious competition on her older rivals. She has all the data for this.
Source: Sportbox
I am a sports journalist who has written for a number of Sportish. I have a background in journalism and have been writing since I was young. My main focus is sports news, but I also write about general news. I am currently working as an author at Sportish.