U19 Pan Ams

A solid performance, but mostly expected. Pan American competition at the junior and cadet level, on the womens side, is quite weak - likely less competitive than the tournament they needed to win domestically to even qualify for this event. The US should be an expected medalist every time along with Brazil and PR.

Credit definitely goes to Sally - I do have to say that Sarah likely should have reached the semis at the least and roles could've been reversed if the draw shook out differently. Not sure as it seems Sarah was off her game throughout the tournament and lost in the knockouts of singles to an opponent who she should be a clear favorite over - I wonder if other factors were at play.

My broader point is the contrast in skill levels at Pan Am youth competition - outside of US/Brazil/PR, the other contenders often do not come close to even winning single games. To me it is just interesting that the domestic competition is actually more deep, and similarly top heavy. Similar to Chinese internal tournaments versus world tours. When a 15 and a 17 year old face off in the finals of a continental U19 event it is always interesting.

As far as just the US goes, I am curious to see who the next "standout", ala Kanak, Nikhil, Sharon, Lily, will be. It seems like there is no super clear frontrunner at the moment but we will see how things play out. My money is on Sally over Sarah for the womens side, with no other apparent candidates.

Yeah, pretty much what I said in my comment above. Indeed the US team is lacking a bit for the U19 category, most of the top U19 players are also U15 eligible. Bit of a weak generation in the 16-18 age range. The US has been spoiled in the last few generations with standouts Kanak, then Sharon, then Nikhil. I am not sure who, if anybody, will take the torch of meeting their standard. As of now, I'm not super confident in any of the bunch. Maybe Darryl and/or Andrew but neither is a sure bet. Adi if he didn't choose to represent Australia could have been a prospect. Very real possibility there could be a downturn for a few years until someone emerges.