Bradley Klahn has continued his reign as the No. 1 player in the country since the final rankings for last year were released. He has also committed to playing for Stanford next year. But the one thing he hasn't done
is slow down the number of tournaments he plays -- or the passion he puts into them.
Southern Caliifornian Bradley has been a consistent figure in the top of the rankings for the last five years. He has placed in numerous national and international doubles events with a handful of different partner. He proved that at the USTA National Spring Championships when he and Steve Johnson won the doubles event -- playing against the partner he had won it with the year before -- Dennis Nevolo, who also happened to be his opponent in the singles final.
The Spring Naionals marked Bradley's fourth doubles title in five months and helped make up for the fact that he was forced to bow out of the doubles semis at Kalamazoo because of an injury last August. It was a brief hiccup in a fantastic 2007 that included a singles title at the International Grasscourts (where he was also a doubles finalist) and a silver ball at the USTA National Claycourts.
Though 2007 marked his first finish as No. 1 in the country, Bradley Klahn made it up to No. 11 in the 12s, No. 2 in the 14s and No. 6 in the 16s in previous years. He owns four trophies from the USTA National Winter Championships, has placed at three National Clay Court and three National Hard Court events, as well as his four National Spring balls. The 17 year old began playing international tournaments in 2006 and has made his way to No. 22 in the world (as of 3/24/08) with results like that of the USTA International Grasscourts, where he was also a doubles finalist in 2006.
Bradley Klahn started 2008 by sweeping the USTA National Winter Championships. He followed with an appearance in the singles finals at the Nottinghill ITF in Australia, where he won the doubles trophy (with Milos Raonic). I sat down to talk to him about it after he won the doubles trophy and took second place in the singles finals at the USTA National Spring Championships.
by Marcia Frost