USTA Nationals
Middleton Sweeps Girls 14s Hardcourt Titles
by Sonny Dearth, 16 August 2023
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Since she started getting serious about tennis at age 11, Lyla Middleton has had her parents accompany her to many tournaments.
Champion Lyla Middleton & Finalist Reagan Levine
© Contributed Photo
And why not? Her father, T.J., starred for the Georgia Bulldogs and reached as high as No. 63 in the world in doubles in 1991. Her mom, Courtenay (Chapman), played her way into the Ole Miss Athletic Hall of Fame via her feats in the late '90s and made the WTA Tour's top 200.
"They're fired now," Lyla said Sunday.
No worries: She was kidding, and she can bask in her dominant hard court performance in the USTA Girls' 14 National Championships at the Rome Tennis Center in Georgia.
Not only did she win the singles championship with seven victories, she also teamed with Welles Newman of Boca Raton, Florida to take gold balls in doubles.
Middleton, seeded sixth in the draw of 192, breezed past No. 3 Reagan Levine of Laguna Beach, California, 6-2, 6-2 for the singles crown. Middleton and Newman, seeded third, won six doubles matches, culminating in a 6-2, 6-2 triumph against sixth-seeded Janica Bo of Boxborough, Massachusetts, and Raina Kim of Santa Monica, California.
Middleton, 13, lives in Rowe, New Mexico, where her dad is the executive director of the First Serve and Forked Lightning Racquet Club in the Santa Fe area. But she grew up in Jackson, Mississippi, and has trained frequently at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, crediting coach Lori Riffice and outgoing American Billie Jean King Cup captain Kathy Rinaldi with helping her develop.
"I really like the hard courts," Middleton said. "I'm aggressive, but I'm more of an all-court player."
Middleton was coming off a round-of-32 loss at the USTA Girls' 14 Clay Court Championships and was determined to improve. She would get up at 6 a.m. for 8 a.m. matches in Rome and "made sure I had good preparation, like jumping rope."
Middleton, ranked 10th nationally among eighth graders by the Tennis Recruiting Network, is in the online Acellus school program and says she enjoys mathematics. The math wasn't favorable in her first match of the tournament, when she faced an early deficit against unseeded Whitney Burke of Alpharetta, Georgia.
"I was down 5-1 in the first set," but the Taylor Swift fan came back to shake it off and win 7-6 (10), 6-3. "I feel like after that match, I played even better," Middleton said.
Doubles Champions Middleton & Welles Newman (Right) and Finalists Janica Bo & Raina Kim
© Contributed Photo
Her last six matches were all against seeded opponents.
"It was kind of hot but not too bad, and I usually just used a towel," Middleton said, adding that she enjoyed going indoors a couple of times when rain necessitated it.
She ousted Clay Courts champion Janae Preston of Henderson, Nevada, the No. 2 seed, 6-2, 6-3 in a quarterfinal and No. 4 Ellery Mendell of Watkinsville, Georgia, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 in a semifinal before dominating in her first clash with Levine, who is ranked 35th nationally among ninth graders.
"Being aggressive was my big strength of the tournament, but I was getting one more ball back and sometimes she would try to overpower you right away," she said of Levine.
In doubles, Middleton and Newman added this title to their 12s Easter Bowl championship a year ago. They edged Adriella Samabaly of Miramar, Florida, and Sephi Sheng of Palo Alto, California, 6-4, 2-6, 1-0 (10-6) in the round of 64 and were off and running.
"I've always liked doubles, and my serve is better in doubles than singles," Middleton said. "Welles is good at poaching. She has a really good serve."
Other Results/Awards
Third Place Singles: Mendell beat No. 7 Reiley Rhodes of Annapolis, Maryland, 6-2, 1-6, 6-2
Fifth Place Singles: No. 10 Lani Chang def. co-33rd seed Kara Garcia 6-4, 6-3.
Sportsmanship Award: Jensen Diianni of Marietta, Georgia
Next Up - Boys 16s
Tomorrow we move our focus to Kalamazoo and San Diego. First up is Colette Lewis’ look at the Boys 16s division. Make sure to check out that article - as well as all the other great content that TRN continues to bring you in our exclusive coverage of Championship Week.
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About Sonny Dearth
Sonny Dearth is a writer and copy editor, primarily for the sports
section, at the Daily Press newspaper and
dailypress.com Web site in
Newport News, Va.
Dearth has more than 40 years of experience in tennis. He is a
former state high school champion who has served as a volunteer
assistant coach in Virginia, where he started for four years at
James Madison University
in the late 1980s. He has competed in a few USTA national junior and
adult events.
