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Denenberg versatile champ; teen winner on both hard court
and clay
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| Chris Piccirillo,
Register Staff |
August
03, 2000 |
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| Scott Denenberg of Trumbull is emerging as
one of the most versatile tennis players in the
area. |
Denenberg, 15, won the Rocky Hill Boys’ 16 Championship
Sunday as the No. 4 seed, beating second seed Max Tedaldi of West
Newton, Mass., 7-6 (9-7), 6-3 in the final.
In the
semifinal, Denenberg knocked off top-seeded Tyler Deming of Cheshire
6-3, 1-6, 6-2.
"The Rocky Hill tournament was one of my
toughest so far," Denenberg said. "There were many good players
there. I just served well and stuck with my forehand, which I live
and die by."
Denenberg’s triumph on the indoor hard court
surface at Rocky Hill followed his victory at the Worcester Boys’ 16
Championship, a red clay tournament, on July 16.
There,
Denenberg defeated Cheshire’s Tyler Edwards 6-2, 6-3 in the final.
Currently, Denenberg is ranked No. 34 in the Boys’ 16
Championship Division by USTA New England. That ranking does not
include his latest two victories. Denenberg’s ranking will
undoubtedly go up once the new rankings are released.
"I’m
glad that I’m starting to win some tournaments," Denenberg said. "I
started out slow in my last year in the 14-year-old division, but I
had a good finish. I won three or four tournaments at the end of
last year."
The momentum that Denenberg generated from his
run at the end of last year carried over into the high school
season. As a freshman for Trumbull High in the spring, Denenberg had
a 12-2 record playing No. 2 singles and qualified for the CIAC State
Open.
"I’m pleased with where I am," Denenberg said. "But I
have a long way to go."
In his quest to become the best
player possible, Denenberg has studied with two coaches, both of
whom have helped fine-tune one aspect of his game.
First,
there’s Dave Fowler, the tennis pro at Brooklawn CC in Fairfield
during the summer and at Fairfield Indoor Tennis in the winter.
Fowler had been Denenberg’s primary coach since Denenberg
was 7. "When I was really young, I would take lessons at the
Trumbull Tennis Club," Denenberg said. "I was in Dave’s clinic and
wanted to take private lessons. With him, I work mostly on strokes,
footwork and consistency.
"But the one thing that he’s
helped develop more than anything is my forehand. A few times I
moved my grip so much to where it had too heavy of a topspin, and he
keeps and eye on that."
Fowler said he could tell that
Denenberg was coordinated at a young age and had the potential to be
a good player. But there were still aspects of his game which needed
to improve.
"Throughout the last year-and-a-half, Scott has
progressed from being a soft hitter to more of a hard hitter, which
you need to do when you go into the 16-year-old age group," Fowler
said. "I was insistent about him changing. It’s a gamble, but one
that’s necessary if you’re going to be good in the long run."
While working on improving the technical aspect of his game,
Denenberg wanted to hone his strategy. The Tennis Club of Trumbull
was his next stop. There, Denenberg worked with Brian Barker, coach
of James Blake, who graduated Fairfield High in 1997 and turned
professional last year.
"I’ve taken a few private lessons
with him," Denenberg said. "With him, everything is point play and
that helps me with strategy.
"My parents take the credit
(for working with Fowler and Barker). They knew who the coaches are
and what they do. They’ve given me the best of both worlds."
Fowler and Barker’s coaching, along with Denenberg’s natural
ability, officially places Denenberg into the "players to watch"
category in high school tennis for the next three seasons.
"A lot of people are still ahead of me (in the USTA
rankings)," Denenberg said. "But many of them are aging out (will be
17 next year and no longer in Denenberg’s age group), and I should
move up in my second year of 16’s. That’s the big year. It’s the one
that colleges look at."
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Register 2002 |
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