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The last time a tennis player as young as CiCi Bellis won a match at the U.S. Open, CiCi Bellis was three years from being born. The last time an American player so young won a match at the U.S. Open, Ronald Reagan was president. There’s a new youth benchmark now.
On Tuesday, the 15-year-old Bellis stunned the tennis world with a magical three-set upset of 2014 Australian Open finalist and No. 12 seed Dominika Cibulkova, 6-1, 4-6, 6-4. Here are 7 things to know about the newest teenage tennis star.
1. She’s the youngest player to win a U.S. Open match since Anna Kournikova in 1996.
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The days of the teenage tennis prodigies are gone, as the biggest stars in the sport have gradually gotten older. For much of this year, both the No. 1 and No. 2 players in the world (Serena Williams and Li Na) were 32. Players now have breakout seasons in the early-20s rather than their mid-teens.
As such, no 15-year-old had won a match at the Open since Kournikova did it in 1996. The last American to win while so young was current ESPN analyst Mary Joe Fernandez, who took two matches in 1986. (She also won a match in 1985 while 14 years old.)
2. Bellis was born the same year Serena Williams won her first U.S. Open
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If you haven’t already done the math, Bellis was born in 1999, the same year Serena Williams won the U.S. Open as a 17-year-old. The California native isn’t a soon-to-be 16 either. She was born in April.
3. Her match wasn’t even supposed to be on TV.
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The U.S. Open has seven television courts. Bellis was placed on one of the non-TV courts, for good reason. After she took the first set, ESPN sent over a camera that had to film from behind the court.
4. Her current world ranking is No. 1,208.
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The Californian played a few futures events in 2014, going 2-4 in the main draw and earning $799 in winnings (though she’s not a professional). Cibulkova has won four career titles and made over $1.1 million for his finals appearance in Melbourne alone, where she lost to Li Na. The Slovakian is currently ranked No. 13 in the world.
Bellis will move up approximately 800 spots in the rankings when they’re released after the U.S. Open. Even with a second-round loss, she should expect to be ranked around No. 430.
5. The teenager made it to the U.S. Open by winning the girls’ 18s nationals and was the youngest to win that event in 23 years!
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In one of the biggest junior events of the year, Bellis defeated another up-and-coming player, Tornado Alicia Black, to win the girls’ 18’s nationals and earn a U.S. Open wild card. In doing so, she became the youngest winner of that 18-and-under event since Lindsay Davenport in 1991. That win helped Bellis move to No. 2 in the world junior rankings.
6. In 2011, she posed with Maria Sharapova and Daniela Hantuchova before a match.
The professionals look pretty much the same. Bellis was 12. TWELVE!
7. She does NOT like Justin Bieber.
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Apparently, Bellis was listed as a Bieber fan on her U.S. Open bio sheet. She cleared the air in an interview with The Tennis Channel. “I don’t know where you got that. I mean, he’s okay. I liked him a lot when I was younger.”
Good on you, CiCi. Oh, and for the win too.
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据我所知，很多女孩子并不喜欢 Justin Bieber 
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