2021 Clay Court Nationals
Top-Seeded Jack Secord Cruises to Boys 12s Title
by Rhiannon Potkey, 20 July 2021
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Jack Secord set a very manageable goal entering this year’s USTA National Clay Court Championships.
On the first day of the Boys 12s event in Orlando, Florida, Secord turned to his mother and said, “Mom. I want to do better than I did two years ago.”
Boys 12s Singles Champion Jack Secord
© Contributed Photo
The bar wasn’t set very high.
During his clay court nationals debut in 2019, Secord lost four straight matches in the compass draw format.
His return was a smashing success.
The top-seeded Secord of Lake Forest, Illinois defeated No. 13 Teodor Davidov of Denver, Colorado 6-4, 6-1 to capture the Boys 12s singles title at the USTA National Campus.
Secord only lost a total of 25 games in his seven matches to capture the first gold ball of his budding career. The blue chip rising seventh grader faced his only deficit in the final against Davidov.
Secord trailed 4-2 in the first set before rallying to wrest away the momentum and win 10 of the final 11 games in the match.
“He was playing out of his mind and I just stayed with him and then I came back,” Secord said. “I panicked a little bit, but I didn’t panic too much.”
