USTA Boys’ 12 Tournament : Salzenstein Wins Singles and Doubles

Twelve-year-old Jeff Salzenstein is an All-American kid. He is an A student, the president of his sixth-grade class, the editor of its paper, and a basketball and soccer player. And Sunday, Salzenstein swept all the awards at the USTA Boys’ 12 National Junior Tournament at Balboa Park’s Morley Field.

In fact, the only problem the 5-foot, 85-pound Englewood, Colo., resident had was trying to manage congratulatory handshakes while juggling his mound of awards.

Salzenstein, the No. 4 seed, defeated second-seeded Brian Dunn of Grenelefe, Fla., 6-2, 6-3, to win the singles title. After a call to his father in Florida and a pizza, he teamed with Jeffrey Giraldo of Grosse Pointe, Mich., for the doubles title, defeating Vincent Spadea of Boca Raton, Fla., and Wayne Boich of North Miami Beach, Fla., 7-6, 4-6, 6-1.

Salzenstein is the 13th double winner in the tournament’s 25-year history. He also was awarded the tournament’s sportsmanship award, although he claimed that Giraldo was more deserving.

In the singles match, Dunn committed 34 unforced errors, 20 coming in the first five games of the first set as Salzenstein was commanding a 5-0 advantage.

“Every time I’d get a rhythm going he’d nullify it with a few great shots,” Dunn said. “I wasn’t hitting my shots the way I expected to. I just didn’t have a great day.”

Salzenstein’s stepfather, Miles Cortez, had a suggestion to why Dunn didn’t have a great day: “He’s (Salzenstein) a thinker, an analytical type. He goes through every shot mentally and rarely goes through something without thinking.

“Jeff is very intelligent. He has the court mentality of an 18-year-old.”