HEAD Youngest Stars Shining Brightly in 2008

HEAD Team Elite players Michelle Larcher de Brito, Grigor Dimitrov and Bernard Tomic have enjoyed continued success in tournament play in 2008 making them some of HEAD’s most promising young stars.

In all, HEAD has seven players in the top ten of the ITF Junior rankings, in large part due to the success of the Team Elite program and the impact of the International Tour manager Thomas Bischof and his scouting team. The Team Elite program is aimed at promoting young, talented tennis players in more than 60 countries around the world.

Through training camps with respected coaches like Bob Brett, tournaments, and interaction with HEAD representatives, HEAD Team Elite fosters the upcoming generation of world-class tennis players. HEAD Team Elite members are between the ages 11 and 18 and are encouraged by HEAD to play their best in a competitive atmosphere.

The following Team Elite players have gotten off to a fast start in their young careers:

Michelle Larcher de Brito
Fifteen year-old HEAD player Michelle Larcher de Brito has performed extremely well throughout the 2008 season allowing her to jump up to 135th in the WTA rankings. In tournament play this year, she has reached the third round twice at Miami and Montreal, earning the first two Top 20 wins of her career along with way. She has also achieved two second round showings in at Memphis and Stanford, where she lost a close match to Serena Williams 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Her strong play has even resulted in two significant awards for the Portuguese native. Now she was honored by the Portuguese-Brazilian Foundation with Revelation Award for her place in sports and contributions to the Portuguese speaking community.

In addition to the Revelation Award, Larcher de Brito was honored by Sport TV as the Portuguese Athlete of the Future.

Larcher de Brito also enjoyed successful campaign in 2007 being named Orange Bowl Champion and playing the first event of her career at the ITF tournament in Midland, where she was the seventh youngest player in history to win a Tour singles main draw match.

Grigor Dimitrov
HEAD player Grigor Dimitrov has also enjoyed a successful 2008 campaign earning two Junior Grand Slam victories at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. He also reached the quarterfinals at the Junior Grand Slam at Roland Garros tournament and the Orange Bowl finals in 2007.

Due to his consistent play, Dimitrov has increased his world ranking from 1198th in January to 750th. While he has focused most of his play on junior competitions thus far, he will turn his attention to ATP events moving forward.

Bernard Tomic
HEAD player Bernard Tomic is another promising young talent who has earned a Junior Grand Slam victory at the Australian Open. He has also played well at other recent Junior Grand Slam tournaments reaching the semifinals at Wimbledon and quarterfinals at Roland Garros. In addition, Tomic holds the titles for the U12, U14 and U16 Orange Bowl tournaments.