The ITA Arthur Ashe Award recognizes men’s and women’s players from all levels of collegiate tennis who have exhibited outstanding sportsmanship and leadership as well as scholastic, extracurricular and tennis achievements. Recipients of the award, which dates back to 1982, will be honored during a special ceremony at the Arthur Ashe Kids’ Day inside Ashe Stadium in Flushing, N.Y., Aug. 27 (Saturday).

Hume is coming off a solid junior season for the Broncos in which he was the primary starter at No. 1 singles and doubles. Hume played his way to first-team All-Western Athletic Conference honors in both singles and doubles. He also was named WAC All-Tournament in singles and doubles. Hume finished the spring with a 15-13 overall singles record and a 15-12 mark in doubles competition.

]]> http://gctennis.com/2011/07/11/damian-hume-receives-top-honours/feed/ 0 wendz Damian Hume http://gctennis.com/2007/10/10/success-for-damian-overseas/ http://gctennis.com/2007/10/10/success-for-damian-overseas/#comments Wed, 10 Oct 2007 20:06:19 +0000 wendz http://gautengctennis.wordpress.com/2007/10/10/success-for-damian-overseas/ ]]> by Mike Dunk

In whatever profession you choose, the usual starting position is at the bottom. In tennis that means campaigning on the Futures Tour to start with and Damian Hume has just returned from his foray into senior tennis having played in three Futures Tournaments on three different Indonesian Islands.

Exotic as it may sound this was hard work for the young Damian who, as a junior reached number 32 in the world, but this was a tough baptism into world of professional tennis. On the Futures Tour you are going to come across a cross section of players. Some will be “testing the waters” as to what life is like on the Tour and asking themselves, have I got it? And others will be on the come back trail from injury but have been out of the game for a while and their ranking has slipped to a point that will not give them entry into the bigger events. That is like starting all over again.

In the first event he had to qualify for the main draw, which he did. He then had a good run through to the semi finals and beat a young Indian player, with the surname of Singh, who is ranked around 550 in the world along the way. A good win and a confidence booster for young Damian. In the semi final he lost to an Australian, Colin Ebelthite, who is ranked at around 320. So a solid start for him on the Tour.

Unluckily for Damian, the decision was taken by the Tour Referee before the Tour started that regardless of your results in the first or even second tournament, no exemptions would be allowed. This meant that for Damian, despite a semi final finish in the first event, he still had to go through the rigors of qualifying for the remaining two tournaments. The upshot was that he played a lot of tennis and twice had to go for three and a half hours and once for four hours.

Taxing for anyone, let alone someone new to the Tour. His panache for being drawn against seeded players continued. Remember that at the French Juniors and Junior Wimbledon he “bumped” high seeds in the first round. Well, it continued here. In the second tournament he lost to the 6^th seed in the first round. This was a man who had been up to 200 in the world but was now on the come back trail after injury. Then in the last tournament, he drew the top seed, again after qualifying.

Looking back on the tour Craig Berrenge, who accompanied Damian, said he “ was pleased with his performance in as much that he competed every single time. Perhaps he could have done a little better in the last two events but having to qualify took a lot out of him.” Just a pity that the Referees decision regarding exempt entry was made before the Tour started. It could have been all so different.

So Damian has tasted what life can be like on Tour. The experience will be invaluable and the disappointments are all part of the famous “learning curve” and I am sure he will benefit from the whole experience in the years to come.

Damian Hume (left) with coach Craig Berrange

FUTURE CHAMPION – TIME WILL TELL

“Absolutely awesome.” That is how 18 year old Damian Hume described his experience of playing at Junior Wimbledon this year. And this after competing at the French Open Juniors and Queens Club before that memorable Wimbledon occasion. But we are racing ahead of ourselves. Damian was born in Port Shepstone, so a Shark by birth, and came to Boksburg when he was 5. The sporting genes come from his father and grandfather, who both played Provincial cricket and hockey, for Natal. So where does his love of tennis come from? Well, at Primary School he played what was possibly the forerunner to mini tennis and proved to be good. “It was played with small racquets with big spongy balls over a high net” he said, but for a 9 year old, any net was probably considered high. He then tried tennis and won his first under 16 tournament in Klerksdorp, followed by the Super 7 series in Durban. Then in 2006 he was runner up in the SA National Junior Championships at under18. It was 2006 that saw him become committed to the sport that he was now growing to love. Playing in the ITF Grade 2 Junior tournament in Pretoria he reached the semi finals, and then the quarter finals in Vereeniging. Another step up the rung was achieved. 2007 saw him play in Grade 3 Junior events overseas with quarter final appearances in Malaysia and Indonesia. His ranking was rising but he was still short of the required points to compete at both the French and Wimbledon. He won the warm up tournament for the Africa Cup in Botswana and then won both the singles and doubles in the actual Cup event. He was now on his way with a world junior ranking of 45. By becoming attached to the ITF team, he played in Italy, Spain and Belgium as warm up events for the French Juniors and also to get in some clay court practice. He won on the hard courts in Spain and reached the quarter finals on clay in Italy. “It was tough playing on clay” he said and from my own experience of having learnt the game many, many years ago on the clay in England, it is not a surface that you “bond” with immediately. Learning to slide is an integral part of the game and that alone takes more than a couple of weeks to master.

At the French Junior event he was unlucky to draw the 9^th ranked Junior in the world and a player with vastly more experience on that surface. But he had the privilege of hitting with “Rafa” Nadel, for 45 minutes, a practice session organized by the ITF. He was now beginning to “rub shoulders” with the stars of the ATP Tour as his next door neighbour at the hotel was Nikolay Daveydenko. On to England and Queens Club, that so British of British tennis clubs, where he again had a rough draw and lost to Vladimir Ignatik who had just won the French Junior title at Roland Garros. Although up 3-0 in the second set, he finally succumbed 4-6, 6-7. But he was meeting the stars. He played Play Station with Andy Roddick, “he was very friendly”; pool with Novak Djokovic, “what a great guy” and cards with the Brian Brothers. His locker in the dressing room was next to Marcos Baghdatis, “who would always chat to me before his matches.” Damian must have been in his own seventh heaven rubbing shoulders with players of this calibre. At Wimbledon, he was a victim of the draw, yes again, and the weather. He lost in the first round to the world sixth ranked junior who possessed a big serve. The match, originally scheduled for the first Saturday, finally got under way on the following Wednesday. His much needed practice on grass was somewhat curtailed.

When asked who his heroes are he is quick to answer. “Leyton Hewitt because of his fire and passion and his positive attitude and Juan Carlos Ferrero for his shot making especially his “inside out” forehand which I just love.” If he can combine those elements from the two Grand Slam Champions into his game, then all will be well. He credits Earl Granger as “the greatest influence on my game. He has taught me to hit a backhand as all I could do was slice, and improved my all round game. He has also worked on my mental attitude and made me believe that I can do well.” Now he is ready for the next step up and has left to play in the ITF Futures Circuit in Indonesia, comprising three tournaments. This is his first venture into the mens’ circuit and Damian has set a goal for himself of reaching a semi final spot. Looking ahead, he would like to be on the ATP Circuit in two years time. He is being accompanied by Shaun Leisher, with whom he will play doubles, and coach Craig Berrenge. Sadly, South African juniors have had precious little opportunity to travel overseas over the past 15 years. Those who have, like Neville Godwin and Gareth Williams, are the exceptions, as SATA has not been in a position to finance a squad. The last such squad was in the Wayne Ferrera, Grant Stafford and Marcos Ondruska era. So we wish Damian all the very best not only on this trip but in the fulfillment of his dreams of competing on the ATP Tour in a couple of years time.

Interview conducted by Mike Dunk