There are some families that are just synonymous with tennis. The latest are the Burdettes. What makes this group so unique is that as each girl comes up through the rankings, she exceeds the last. You don't have to take my word for it, Lindsay Burdette is the first to admit it.
Lindsay is currently the No. 3 player in the country in the Girls' 18s and she has certainly earned her place there. In the past year she has made the quarters or better at ever major USTA Championship, winning singles at the El Paso Youth Tennis Center Open and a National Open. She has 2004 doubles trophies from the Easter Bowl and the USTA International Grasscourts. In between she played doubles finals at a Chanda Rubin, the USTA National Hardcourts, Claycourts and International Grasscourts. She has stilled managed to find time to play a number of ITFs, winning the singles title at the Costa Rica Bowl and the doubles at the First Caribbean International Bank.
It was July of 2000 when Lindsay Burdette won her first major title (USTA National Hardcourts). Within the next year she added a trophy from the Copper Bowl and made her appearance in the final eight of tournaments throughout the U.S. and then the world. She consistently played her way through singles and doubles and never had to be Erin's little sister as she made her own place in the junior tennis ranks.
I sat down with Lindsay just after she accepted her fifth USTA Gold Ball. This one was for the singles title at the USTA Spring National Championships and it came just a day after the fourth, received when she won the doubles with Melissa Saiontz.
by Marcia Frost
