Google News Kayla Day, the Junior Girls' winner at The Open creating milestones-one Slam at a Time
by GALE MOORMAN
"I wish we all could be California girls..." the famous lyrics of the 'California Girls' song by the Beach Boys goes, but Kayla Day was a New York City girl winning the U.S. Open Junior Girls' Singles title at Flushing this year.
She learned to play tennis at 7 years old, the time that the average girl would be out skating, bicycling or surfing out on the waves of the crisp blue waters of a California ocean. Kayla had big dreams, far from the entertainment at her hometown of Santa Barbara, California.
She dreamed of being a top world tennis player by 22 years old and she'd wrote a letter to her tennis instructor saying just that. She trains 3 days a week at the USTA tennis complex in Carson, California, a town of multicultural populations and multi-sport complexes.
But Kayla's trek from rising to stardom began in April when she outbeat a strong rival she'd played since the age of 8 years old. Day, played opposite Claire Liu in the Girls' 18s final at the USTA International Spring Championships and she played that final like a young woman on a WTA mission, with her powerful lefty forehand and a racket full of tricks to win in almost 3 hours at the StubHub Center in Carson, a very popular stadium that caters to soccer, football as well as tennis lovers.
She went on to beat even last year's US National Junior Champ--Sofia Kenin of Pembroke Pines, Florida. One of Kayla's skills is mixing up her stops which takes patience and skills to execute and to win, much of what Kayla has did for years.
She reached the finals at the Orange Bowl last year, reached the semis at Wimbledon, made her WTA debut at the 2016 Connecticut Open in New Haven winning over Great Britain's Naomi Broady and Belgium's Kirsten Flipkens to earn a wild card into the main draw of the U.S.
Open. Kayla has been quite the busy one because the day before her Girls' singles final, she played the doubles final with partner Caroline Dolehide and they missed beng the winners just slightly on that title. Kayla, seeded no.
5, defeated Slovakia's Viktoria Kuzmova in two straight sets at The Open's Grandstand Court and because of the win is now the new Internatonal Tennis Federation no 1 world-ranked junior girls player as well as the seventh American girl to win the U.S.
Open Junior singles since Lindsay Davenport did in 1992 and more recent, Samantha Crawford in 2012. She admits that it's been a very exciting two weeks since beng in The Open and after almost winning that doubles title she adds that "I think I'm pretty good about...leaving the past behind me and just focusing on being in the moment".
Well, Kayla Day will have a lot of moments on her journey rising in the ranks of the WTA and with the spunk, determination and talent she's shown in the past, she'll be enjoying every moment of it. Also Read: Testing times: Can Angelique Kerber stay above water?