Who's Hot?
PlaySight Hot 100 List - February '16
by Amelia Thomas, 15 February 2016
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While the winter temperatures go down, junior players turn up the heat on the court. We caught up with a few notable players in this month's PlaySight Hot 100.
The PlaySight Hot 100 lists are published each month, and the February Hot 100 lists feature the one hundred boys and girls who most improved their rankings during the month of January. You can find out more about the PlaySight Hot 100 - and how the lists are calculated - by reading here.
The latest lists, published earlier today, are available here:
We talked to a few of these top performers...
Roundup
Reilly Wilson (Charleston, S.C.)
Three-star freshman Reilly Wilson recently went through a major growth spurt. Having grown six inches in the last year, Wilson has had to adjust to his new five-foot-eight height.
"I am also starting to hit a bigger ball due to the growth. I have been playing a schedule that is recommended by my coaches and have been able to compete well," he said. "I am aging up into 16s and need to play 'bigger' tennis. I accept losing if I am playing this way, but I am improving every day adding these tools."
Some of the tools involve working on his offensive skills and serve with coaches Bryan Minton and Chip Hand of the MWTennis Academy. "We are working on finishing points instead of waiting for the opponent to miss, playing offensive tennis from offensive positions, volleys, overheads and also making bigger first serves," Wilson said.
The Charleston native named a tough win from last month as one at the SC Junior State Open Championships. "I have had some cramping issues in the last few months due to the rapid growth, and it has been tough to put on any weight with the amount of workouts that we do," he said.
In the finals of this tournament, he met fellow freshman Matthew Kandel, who Wilson described as a "good lefty player."
"I was really fatigued early in the first set. I managed to pull out the first set 6-4, and then I found a new level of intensity that I have not felt before," Wilson said. "I won the next set 6-1 by using my experience and began to manage my time in between points much better so I could stay fresh. This was something that my coaches have been teaching our program, but I finally figured out how to use it during a match."
With this win, Wilson cinched the championship. Other notable wins of January include winning the St. Andrew's Point Quest Tournament. Wilson's good play earned him a 9-2 record for January.
The three-star player credits his family for much of his success. He grew up around tennis since his father, Jeff Wilson, is a coach who has worked both at the college level - at Georgia Tech and Duke - as well as with pro athletes.
Wilson's parents, however, are fairly "hands off" as tennis parents. "You will not find us watching practices or most tournaments. This has allowed Reilly to be free and form his own thoughts and identity about his choice of tennis," Jeff Wilson said. "While we are very competitive people, we have been trying hard to teach him how to navigate his own process, and this makes for a very healthy environment for all of us."
A favorite tennis story of Reilly Wilson's illustrates this family dynamic. He went to Europe with his father at age 11 while his father coached Irina Falconi through several tournaments. They started in Brussels and then went to the French Open. His father had to return to the U.S. for work before coming back for Wimbledon, and Reilly Wilson was able to stay in Europe with Falconi through a few grass tournaments.
"I was so nervous and excited. I was called 'coach' by a bunch of players and coaches on the tour," Wilson said. "During these two tournaments, Irina went 6-2 with me as 'coach.' Then, dad came back to meet us at Wimbledon. Irina lost the first round with him, and I have never let him forget my winning record!"