Curious if anyone had any thoughts on what happened at Wimbledon this past weekend. Carlos Alcaraz winning it all on the gentlemen's side after defeating Novak Djokovic and Barbora Krejcikova winning it all on the ladies' side after defeating Jasmine Paolini. Both were exciting finals results, I thought.
On a different and more personal note, my former tennis coach Tomas Penicka and his wife Olga had both of their twin daughters playing in the juniors. Both singles and as a doubles team. They both won their first round singles match and lost their first round doubles match. Their names are Annika and Kristina Penickova. Kristina is the higher rated of the two, but they are both rated 5-star prospects on tennisrecruiting.net. Tomas and Olga both played on the ATP/WTA tours for a bit before later going into private instructing.
Shortly after Annika and Kristina were born, I joked with Tomas that Annika and Kristina could end up being the Williams sisters of the Czech Republic. They obviously still have a ways to go to get to that level of fame, but they are on their way by playing at junior Wimbledon. It's just been fun to follow and track their progress over the years and see them improve each and ever year. I selfishly would love to see them come to Stanford, but I think odds are good they head straight to the professional levels. Really nice girls and terrific parents. Definitely a pair of girls worth rooting for!
P.S. This is a video they did together a couple years back called "Letter To My Older Self" and then also a video of Tomas talking about his daughters after they faced off against each other in the final of an ITF event in Ghana. Kristina got the better of Annika that day.
www.tennisrecruiting.net
On a different and more personal note, my former tennis coach Tomas Penicka and his wife Olga had both of their twin daughters playing in the juniors. Both singles and as a doubles team. They both won their first round singles match and lost their first round doubles match. Their names are Annika and Kristina Penickova. Kristina is the higher rated of the two, but they are both rated 5-star prospects on tennisrecruiting.net. Tomas and Olga both played on the ATP/WTA tours for a bit before later going into private instructing.
Shortly after Annika and Kristina were born, I joked with Tomas that Annika and Kristina could end up being the Williams sisters of the Czech Republic. They obviously still have a ways to go to get to that level of fame, but they are on their way by playing at junior Wimbledon. It's just been fun to follow and track their progress over the years and see them improve each and ever year. I selfishly would love to see them come to Stanford, but I think odds are good they head straight to the professional levels. Really nice girls and terrific parents. Definitely a pair of girls worth rooting for!
P.S. This is a video they did together a couple years back called "Letter To My Older Self" and then also a video of Tomas talking about his daughters after they faced off against each other in the final of an ITF event in Ghana. Kristina got the better of Annika that day.
The Tennis Recruiting Network
www.tennisrecruiting.net
