As the men’s and women’s singles and doubles draws of the US Open proceed at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens, New York, a very different US Open is taking place at the Cary Leeds Tennis Center in Corona Park in the Bronx.
A determined group of teenagers is waiting for their matches to get under way in the US Open Juniors Championships Qualifying Competition.
Two Israel players – Mika Buchnik, 16, and Liam Oved, 18 – need to win two matches to advance to the juniors main draw, which will be played at the actual US Open.
The Israelis wait patiently indoors. Oved, icing an elevated leg, appears deep in thought, though she periodically looks up at her coach, Tom Baten, out to the courts and back to her phone to the US Open app so she will have an idea of when she will begin to play.
At a nearby table, Buchnik sits next to her coach, former Israeli tennis great Dudi Sela. She stares out the window watching a match in progress – until Sela gets her up to begin stretching and warming up for her match, the third on Court 8.
Except for Guy Sasson, scheduled to compete in the quads wheelchair tournament, Liam and Mika are Israel’s only hope for representation in this year’s US Open. If the girls can win two matches in two days, they would enter the juniors’ main draw.
Buchnik, the tournament’s second seed, is currently No. 44 in the world. She grew up playing atIsrael Tennis and Education Centers (ITEC) in Israel and has been working with Sela and Yoav Ben Tzvi at the Dudi Sela Tennis Academy for a year. It has been a busy, successful year of playing tournaments around the world.
In January, Buchnik reached the finals at a junior’s tournament in San Jose, Costa Rica and reached the quarterfinals at a tournament in Ecuador one week later. She has also played in tournaments in Thailand, Great Britain and Germany including the Wimbledon qualifying draw.
In July, Buchnik lost in the finals at a tournament in Durban, South Africa, and made the quarterfinals at another Durban tournament one week later. She made it to the third round of a tournament in College Park, Maryland before arriving in New York.
Buchnik describes her own playing style as “mostly aggressive and staying back (at the baseline.”
She attends the Lady Davis School in Tel Aviv which she notes can be difficult given her tennis schedule.
“It is hard but my teachers help me.”
Oved, the No. 9 seed, has followed a very different tennis route from Buchnik. Oved is currently ranked 75th in the world, though she has reached as high as 61.
In many ways, Oved is fairly unknown, even among Israeli tennis fans. This may be attributed to her modest nature, to the fact that she left Israel several years ago to train in Belgium, to the fact that she has never been part of Israel’s formal tennis player development system.
Her Belgian coach Baten, refers to her as a “late bloomer,” noting that she continues to grow and develop mentally and physically and that her game continues to improve.
Baten, who has coached such players as Belgian Greet Minnen (who defeated Venus Williams in Round 1 of this year’s US Open), enjoys working with Oved.
“She is passionate, she has fire, she is a warrior and a competitor on the court. She is also respectful, knows her values and is very open. I want her to be a complete player.”
While Baten has never been to Israel, he is looking forward to working with her in Israel for two weeks this fall.
The good natured, well-spoken Oved is in many ways an “accidental tennis player.” She grew up in Kfar Shmaryahu near Herzliya with her sights on gymnastics and dance.
“When I was eight years old, a friend’s mother was starting a tennis program near our house and didn’t have enough players. She asked the whole class if we want to play and told us we could play for free,” recounts Oved.
Oved began playing tennis and enjoying it, though she adds laughing – “I didn’t know who Shahar Peer or Serena Williams were, and I didn’t even know how to count score.”
As she began to show promise, her parents asked her if she wished to devote more time to tennis – even if it meant cutting back or even giving up dancing and gymnastics. She worked with a series of coaches and the rest is history.
Oved’s tennis journey includes working with coach Oded Yatzkan.
“It was me and seven boys at Kfar Saba Yeruka. I had the best time.The level was so high. I was like a princess!”
She began playing tournaments in Israel and in Europe.
“It was not enough. I needed more. We realized I was 14 and needed more than Israel could offer. I felt limited in Israel. I love Israel. It is my country and my people. I thought about going to an academy alone in Canada, but it was unrealistic. I was 14 and it was the other side of the world.”
As the family considered options, they thought of Belgium.
Liam and her sisters moved to Belgium and her father remained in Israel.
At one point, her family returned to Israel for a month and she was forced to take her bike 40 minutes each way – twice a day – for tennis practice.
“My legs got so big, I couldn’t move on the court!”
When her mother returned to Belgium, Oved got more settled. She began playing at the Justine Henin Tennis Academy.
“From the first practice, I knew this was my place!”
After training at Henin for a year and a half, she moved on.
“I was 18 and started traveling on my own. It was the best decision I ever made.”
Oved, like Buchnik, has had a busy and successful year competing in tournaments around the world. She reached the second round in tournaments in San Jose and Ecuador and reached the quarterfinals at a tournament in Baranquilla, Colombia, in February.
Oved played additional tournaments in Egypt, Italy, Bulgaria, German, Belgium and England and Switzerland. Oved lost in the second round of the Wimbledon qualifying tournament.
Oved and Buchnik’s parents did not come to New York for the US Open qualifying tournament. They were able to follow each point live on the US Open app.
Both young women took to the courts for their first-round matches late afternoon last Thursday.
Few parents were in attendance. Coaches were permitted on court, and more than 50 college tennis coaches wandered the grounds watching prospective recruits in action.
Buchnik defeated Japan’s Nao Nishino 7-6, 4-6 and 10-6 in a super tiebreaker in her first-round match. A top college tennis coach, speaking on condition of anonymity, watched the whole match and noted: “Mika has a beautiful game. Her topspin groundstrokes are efficient with long hitting zones. It’s nice to see a young player with good fundamentals.”
Coach Dudi Sela was pleased.
“She is a very hard worker and very disciplined. Now, we will work on being more aggressive and on return of serve.”
Sela noted that players currently play fewer tournaments per year than he and his peers did when they were Mika’s age.
“We will put in effort in improving – I see her doing what I tell her to do and she is improving all the time!”
Oved defeated Anastasiia Firman of the Ukraine 7-6, 6-0 in the first round of the US Open qualifying tournament.
“I hope to keep going! I need to be aggressive, have a good first serve and most of all, have the right mindset!” Oved reported on court after her first match.
Sadly, Buchnik and Oved lost in their second-round matches – Jessica Bernales of the USA defeated Buchnik 7-6, 6-4, while Olivia Center of the USA defeated Oved 7-6, 6-2.