NEW YORK -- When Victoria Duval was 7 years old, she trailed along once again to watch her older brothers play in a tennis tournament in Santo Domingo, near her childhood home in Haiti. The tournament director had always watched her sitting on her mother Nadine's lap and suggested she let Victoria compete this time, if only so Nadine could focus on the matches.
Duval didn't know where to stand on the court, how to hold the racquet and certainly not how to keep score, but you've probably already figured out that the plucky little girl won the whole tournament. At that moment, tennis forever trumped her previous love of ballet.
"After that, my mom was like, 'OK, you have to choose now,'" Duval said. "Tennis seemed to be appropriate."
Duval, who was ranked 298th in the world and entered this year's US Open as a qualifier, was paired against No. 11 seed and former US Open champ Samantha Stosur in the first round. Stosur, her arms roped with muscle, had reached at least the quarterfinals in her past three Open appearances, winning it all in 2011. Duval, now 17, was playing in just the second Grand Slam match of her career.
But to the rhythmic chants of "USA!," Duval defeated Stosur 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 on the Louis Armstrong Stadium court in a match that took 2 hours, 39 minutes.
"I was really happy," Duval said in her high-pitched voice. "I mean, you can tell by all the jumping I did."
Twitter congratulations rained in -- which she couldn't even follow because she doesn't have an account of her own -- from tennis commentator Darren Cahill to New York Knicks forward Amar'e Stoudemire to rapper Lil Wayne.
"Weezy F Baby?!?" she shrieked when she was told.
Yes, Duval is an unpolished gust of fresh air.
Unlike 15 years ago, it's rare these days to see a teenager pull an upset on such a big stage. And with her age comes a guileless enthusiasm. Her favorite SpongeBob character is Gary, her motto is "Have Fun" and her goal as a young player was just to beat her brothers.
Tennis has given much to the Duval family -- it was a connection that saved her father's life -- but it is has also come with expenses and expectations. Still, Nadine stresses the family has never nudged Victoria to play.
"That's her passion," Nadine said. "Nobody pushed her into tennis.
"My only little girl," she confessed with a laugh. "I wanted her to be a ballerina."
more.... .. worth the read
http://espn.go.com/espnw/news-commentary/article/9607262/2013-us-open-victoria-duval-surprises-upsets-sam-stosur-first-round
Duval didn't know where to stand on the court, how to hold the racquet and certainly not how to keep score, but you've probably already figured out that the plucky little girl won the whole tournament. At that moment, tennis forever trumped her previous love of ballet.
"After that, my mom was like, 'OK, you have to choose now,'" Duval said. "Tennis seemed to be appropriate."
Duval, who was ranked 298th in the world and entered this year's US Open as a qualifier, was paired against No. 11 seed and former US Open champ Samantha Stosur in the first round. Stosur, her arms roped with muscle, had reached at least the quarterfinals in her past three Open appearances, winning it all in 2011. Duval, now 17, was playing in just the second Grand Slam match of her career.
But to the rhythmic chants of "USA!," Duval defeated Stosur 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 on the Louis Armstrong Stadium court in a match that took 2 hours, 39 minutes.
"I was really happy," Duval said in her high-pitched voice. "I mean, you can tell by all the jumping I did."
Twitter congratulations rained in -- which she couldn't even follow because she doesn't have an account of her own -- from tennis commentator Darren Cahill to New York Knicks forward Amar'e Stoudemire to rapper Lil Wayne.
"Weezy F Baby?!?" she shrieked when she was told.
Yes, Duval is an unpolished gust of fresh air.
Unlike 15 years ago, it's rare these days to see a teenager pull an upset on such a big stage. And with her age comes a guileless enthusiasm. Her favorite SpongeBob character is Gary, her motto is "Have Fun" and her goal as a young player was just to beat her brothers.
Tennis has given much to the Duval family -- it was a connection that saved her father's life -- but it is has also come with expenses and expectations. Still, Nadine stresses the family has never nudged Victoria to play.
"That's her passion," Nadine said. "Nobody pushed her into tennis.
"My only little girl," she confessed with a laugh. "I wanted her to be a ballerina."
more.... .. worth the read
http://espn.go.com/espnw/news-commentary/article/9607262/2013-us-open-victoria-duval-surprises-upsets-sam-stosur-first-round
:clap
