Taylor Townsend closes out the 2012 season as the number one Junior – Tennis Special
American top seed, Taylor Townsend, rallied to win an epic battle against the fifth seed Canadian, Carol Zhao, in the final of the Orange Bowl International Tennis Championships. On the eve of Friday, the junior number one grinded out a victory in three
sets with the final scores of 7-5, 5-7, 7-6(2) and confirmed her year-end juniors number one ranking.
Townsend commented at the end of the contest, “When I step out onto the court, I really just play tennis. I mean, if I just play well and do what I know I can do, everything else will take care of itself.”
Moreover, the 16-year-old American will turn pro in the coming year and contest against the big names from the field of Women Tennis Association. However, she will be allowed just 12 tours during a season due to an age stipulation that restricts her from
choosing the number of tournaments, she wants to play.
The decision of turning pro was taken quite earlier by the American powerhouse despite knowing the age stipulation that will restrict her from playing more than 12 tournaments of a year.
In an interview prior to her final appearance in the juniors’ event, Townsend was recorded to have said, “I understand the reasoning of what they’re doing, trying to control the schedule so players don’t get burned out. Unfortunately, you can’t play as many
tournaments as you’d like. They have good intentions, though, so I can’t be mad at that. They’re just trying to protect the players.”
Since 1982, no American teenager has been able to hold a juniors number one ranking but Townsend ended the drought by cementing her position with the final success before the season end.
In 2012, Townsend won the Australian Open (juniors) but faced an upset in the third round of the French Open (juniors) event. Once again, the American teenager was surprised by an inferior seeded player in the third round of French Open (juniors) as well.
However, she did manage to squeeze her way into the quarter-final of the US Open (juniors) before being dumped by the 12th seed Estonian, Anett Kontaveit.
Considering her performances in the Juniors Majors, it might be an early decision for her to turn pro. It will be interesting to know if she can carry the recent form further and becomes a serious threat to the top seed contestants in pro tournaments.
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