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The enormity of the accomplishment didn’t fully register with Shaan Patel until he was flying home from Florida to Missouri. Only a few hours earlier, the five-star junior had completed a sensational run to win the Boys 18s singles title at the USTA Winter National Championships

Patel’s goal entering the event was just to win a couple of rounds and enjoy the experience. Leaving with his first gold ball was beyond his wildest expectations.

Playing on the hard courts at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Patel secured the title by defeating fellow co-No. 17 Arin Pallegar 7-6(2), 6-4 in the final.

“It's unbelievable. It’s always been my dream in juniors to get a gold ball,” the 16-year-old Patel said. “As a kid, I would see all the different balls from people who trained at the clubs that would host the tournaments and I was always like, ‘Oh, I really want to get one of those.’ Now I have one.”

Like Patel, Girls 18s singles champion Chukwumelije Clarke had never won a gold ball. In fact, Clarke had never won a national ball of any color before.

The unseeded blue chip sophomore from Humble, Texas broke through in a big way by defeating No. 3 Carrie-Anne Hoo 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(5) in the final to earn a gold ball and a main draw wild card into next week’s Palm Coast J30 ITF.

“It felt really amazing,” the 15-year-old Clarke said. “I feel like coming into the tournament, I was clear minded. I wasn't too stressed or worried about anything, so I felt like that helped my game a lot.”

The top two seeds in the Girls 18s were eliminated in the Round of 32, with Kira Farrakhova defeating No. 1 seed Addison Lanton 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 and Sobee Oak beating No. 2 JoAnna Kennedy 7-6(4), 6-1.

Clarke defeated No. 17 Avery Nguyen 6-4, 6-4 in the semifinals while Hoo, a blue chip sophomore from Brooklyn, New York, defeated Catherine Rennard 6-3, 6-4

During the morning final, Clarke used her strong backhand to gain an early advantage over Hoo. She shook off a second-set loss to edge Hoo in the third set tiebreaker and secure the historic win.

“I think that it was a really close third set because we kept holding and breaking, so I couldn't really find an opening,” Clarke said. “But in the tiebreak, something clicked, and I just really wanted to win. I was like, ‘Oh, let me, let me go ahead and fight through this,’ and I think that's what helped motivate me to pull it out.”

The top two seeds in the Boys 18s were also eliminated early, with No. 11 Benjamin Saltman ousting No. 1 seed Nav Dayal 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the Round of 16 and Gray Kelley leading 6-2, 3-0 when No. 2 seed Prathinva Chunduru was forced to retire in the second round.

In the semifinals, Pallegar, a blue chip junior from Granite Bay, California, defeated Saltman 6-4, 6-3 and Patel beat Kelley 7-6(4), 3-6, 6-1.

Patel was able to win another first tiebreaker in the final against Pallegar, and held strong in the second set to complete the multi-day grind through the tournament.

“Mentally, I was ready to make decisions on pressure points,” Patel said about his success in the final. “I didn't really blink much when I was playing. Some longer points would get away from me, just physically here and there. He's an unbelievably quick player and he would chase down a lot of balls and come up with crazy angles. But my ability in the second set to just connect with a couple more balls and get some plus-ones and some quick points off of a couple big shots really helped me conserve energy for those longer points towards the end.”

Patel won a silver ball at National Indoors in early December by reaching the Boys 16s singles final. It was a crucial steppingstone for an even bigger title to kick off 2025.

“National Indoors was probably the happiest moment of my career so far at the time. I was just kind of happy to be in the final,” Patel said. “But at Winter Nationals, I had more experience and had been in the final not too long before. I was just ready to go after it.”

Clarke drove to Florida on Christmas Eve and spent the holiday in Florida. Although she wasn’t in her normal spot, Santa was able to find her and deliver a new phone.

“That's probably the coolest thing I got,” Clarke said.

The New Year’s gold ball was a hard-earned reward of even greater value.

DOUBLES

The Hawaiian duo of Bryan Assi and Sibby Rodi, seeded No. 8, captured the Boys 18s doubles title with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Justin Lin and Cooper Han.

Assi and Rodi were playing doubles together for the first time. They maximized their strengths, with Assi on the forehand and Rodi on the backhand.

“We were both really happy with our performance and winning the title felt like the hard work was finally paying off,” Assi said. “Winning such a well known tournament made it all the more special for us and for our families.”

Unseeded Brooklyn Hoffmann and Sasha Dimitrov captured the girls doubles title with a 6-4, 0-6, 6-2 win over No. 2 Anna Bennett and Emerey Gross.

Hoffmann and Dimitrov, who have been playing together for four years, were extended to three sets in their final four matches.

“It’s been a dream to win a gold ball since I started playing,” said Hoffmann, who has signed to play at James Madison University. “We felt pretty confident in our game leading up to the tournament, but knew we had to stay focused on going 1-0 for each match. Sasha and I have so much respect for all of our opponents because they are all accomplished doubles players.”

Other Results:

Boys 18 Singles 3-4 Playoff: Gray def. Saltman 6-2, 6-3

Boys 18 Singles Consolation: David Wu def. No. 7 Brody Nejedly Krall 6-3, 6-2

Boys 18 Doubles 3-4 Playoff: Pallegar and James Quattro def. Alex Feies and Malhar Patel by injury withdrawal

Girls 18 Singles 3-4 Playoff: Nguyen def. Rennard 3-6, 6-2, 6-3

Girls 18 Singles Consolation: No. 17 Shravani Chennamsetty def. No. 17 Isabelle DeLuccia 6-3, 7-6(4).

Girls 18 Doubles 3-4 Playoff: No. 3 Bella Payne and Sara Shumate def. No. 4 Katiana Gonzalez and Lani Brotman 6-3, 6-7(2), 6-3

Sportsmanship Award Winners

Boys 18s - Stephen Faraci

Girls 18s - Brooke Wallman

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About Rhiannon Potkey

Rhiannon Potkey is a veteran sportswriter with more than two decades of experience in journalism. Potkey has covered many sports at many levels and has a passion for finding great stories. Potkey has covered the U.S. Open, junior sectional and national events, college conference championships and Davis Cup matches. Potkey is currently Content Strategist for Tennis Recruiting. You can reach Rhiannon by email at [email protected].