Boca Juniors: An academy hotbed back in the spotlight

Last week, the Boca West Country Club in Boca Raton, Fla. hosted the Rendez-vous à Roland-Garros, in partnership with Longines. This week, we'll take a closer look at what happened in South Florida, including profiles of the Paris-bound champions who will compete for a wild card into the junior Grand Slam, an examination of this worldwide event's rapid evolution and interviews with the players, professionals and personalities who help make this unique red-clay tournament happen.

BOCA RATON, Fla.—“Boca’s tough,” Rob Norton, head pro at the Boca West County Club, said with confidence. “There’s a lot of good players down here.”

Norton’s words could be read as a comment on the Rendez-vous à Roland-Garros, in partnership with Longines, the prestigious junior tournament held last week at Boca West. Sixteen boys and 16 girls from around the United States converged in south Florida to compete on red clay for places in French Open play-in events in Paris.

But in truth, Norton was referring to the tennis hotbed that is Boca Raton itself.

“There’s hundreds of players around the academies down here,” Norton said after watching two of them reach the final four of the boys’ competition. “To represent Boca is huge.”

Those two players, Michael Heller and Christian Alshon, train out of the Magallan-Martinez Tennis Academy and have known each other since they were 8 years old. They are longtime friends, each keeping close tabs on what the other is planning to do after graduation. They are also longtime foes—“I’ve played him a million times,” Heller says. “It’s very competitive between us.”

Heller had never played on red clay before the Rendez-vous à Roland-Garros, in partnership with Longines.

Constant companionship and competition are hallmarks of academy life, a commodity Boca Raton specializes in. A Google search of “Boca Raton tennis academy” yields results of a quantity and quality of those you’d receive from a search of “Austin barbecue” on Yelp. Everyone has an opinion on which tennis academies are the best, but everyone can agree that Boca Raton is a place you need to be looking.

“There’s so many players at my level or better than me at my academy and near me,” says Heller. “I love it because we all push each other to get better.”

The two Boca boys brought the best out of one another in the first set of a gripping semifinal. Innumerable brushstrokes on the clay recorded their court coverage, while vocal volleys exerted from both men allowed all in attendance to feel their intensities.

On serve after 11 games of adroit and aggressive tennis, Alshon and Heller reached deuce. A point later, and a point away from the haven of a tiebreak, Heller served and made his way to the net to pick off a short Alshon return. Heller’s put-away strike landed near the baseline, and a few seconds of silence passed.

Then, the mark was circled—Alshon wanted it checked. The chair umpire descended from his perch and inspected the imprint. A few seconds of silence passed. The critical call was changed to out.

If the organizers of the Rendez-vous à Roland-Garros wanted to give junior players an authentic French Open experience, mission accomplished.

Alshon rode his serve and shotmaking to a first-set win in the semifinals.

Heller was incensed, questioning the umpire’s decision to allow such a late call. Alshon then joined the debate, to the annoyance of Heller—who, as you might suspect, was eventually broken to lose the first set.

“In the moment you don’t really think clearly,” said Heller. “Looking back on it, it was a late call, but, ball was probably out. The easiest think to do is look for an excuse, and that’s what I did in the moment. I didn’t deal with that too well.”

But all was not lost for Heller, not on this day or the Rendez-vous à Roland-Garros—which he went on to win. Heller regrouped after the frustrating first-set conclusion to defeat his academy-mate, and he rode his home-court advantage in the final against Californian Matthew Tsolakyan.

“I see Christian, he does well at a tournament, that gives me a drive to work harder, try to to better,” says Heller, who will turn 17 in May and is leaning towards college tennis with a watchful eye on someday turning pro.

Before this week, Heller had never before played on red clay, though he plays on green Har-Tru every day at his academy. He’ll return to Boca West to train on the terre battue before boarding a flight to Paris—“I live five minutes from here!,” he said with excitement—but for the most part, he’ll prepare at his home base.

At the Magallan-Martinez Tennis Academy, Heller will be joined by Alshon and a slew of other highly motivated and naturally gifted students, including his sister, Katie. The Hellers are, quite simply, a tennis family. Michael’s father is a former player at the University of Florida and is currently his coach; his brother, Andrew, plays college tennis at Yale; his mom also plays. It’s no wonder Michael is excelling in the academy—he’s essentially lived in one his whole life.

One of the world’s most famous soccer clubs is the Buenos Aires-based Boca Juniors. They are a professional team, but their monicker includes a shade of truth: some of Boca’s younger players begin their careers in Argentina, then go on to star on grander stages for other clubs. Carlos Tevez is a good example, having played for Boca Juniors when he was 16, but making overseas during Cup runs with Manchester United, Manchester City and Juventus.

Whether Heller is the next in a long line of Boca Raton academy products to make it in the pros—Madison Keys is just the latest example—he’ll always have this achievement, and this opportunity. He’ll always have Paris.