By Mitch Abramson
Before the Mayor's Cup individual championships Sunday, Brennan predicted that his top singles player, Shinann Featherston, would have her hands full with Poly Prep's Nadejda Demidenko in the singles final. In doubles, he said that Prep's second-seeded Kathrin Sorokko and Martina Featherston would pull out a win over Midwood's top-seeded Laken and Carlissa King. The opposite came true. Top-seeded Shinann Featherston breezed by No. 2 Demidenko 6-1, 6-0, and Sorokko and Featherston lost to Midwood 1-6, 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-4) at the National Tennis Center.On a sweltering day when temperatures approached the 90's, Featherston, a freshman, supplied a gust of wind with the emphatic way she beat Demidenko. While her opponent was muttering and puffing out her cheeks in frustration, Featherston played as if she had an appointment to make, surprising Brennan with her dominance. She was the first player from St. Francis Prep since Vania Yui in 1994 to capture the singles title.”That's the most devastating tennis I've ever seen her play,” Brennan said moments after her match ended. “That wasn't even a close 6-1, 6-0. Most of the games weren't even close. The bigger the match, the better she plays. That's not true of a lot of people. Some people shrink in big matches, but not her. I've never seen her play that well. I thought she might dominate, but this is ridiculous.”Featherston's dominance isn't confined to the high school ranks. She is ranked No. 2 in the Under-16 division of the Eastern Tennis Association (ETA), and she has yet to lose a match this year playing for the Terriers. Demidenko was supposed to provide Featherston with a stiff test, having beaten her in the past, but Sunday she wilted under Featherston's muscular groundstrokes.”I was really going for my shots and I didn't feel nervous out there at all,” she said. “I felt good. I was having fun. I knew she would be going for a lot of shots, and I kind of found my rhythm and played well. I had a good time.”Part of Featherston's recipe for success is her demeanor. She conceals her emotions in every situation, including match point when she jogs to the net to shake hands, offering nothing but a short smile.”You wouldn't know if she's playing the first point of a match or the last point,” her father, Patrick, said. “That's part of her strength. Nothing rattles her.”Part of that approach is by design. Marvin Dent, a coach from the USTA, gives her literature on how to comport herself during match points and how to remain focused. One of the most effective exercises she uses is one she invented herself.”I don't like talking about my matches before I play because it makes me nervous,” she said. “I feel more comfortable if I just go out and play. Then I don't have to worry about it. When I talk about it, then I get nervous.”A change in venue after the second set appeared to revitalize the doubles team of Sorokko and Martina Featherston, Shinann's older sister. They led 5-2 in the third set after they were moved from a side court to Louis Armstrong Stadium because of noise coming from a New York Junior Tennis League event. Sorokko and Featherston defeated the King sisters, who live in Laurelton, in the finals of the Mayor's Cup last year, but they faltered down the stretch, committing six unforced errors in the tiebreaker to become the first team in four years from St. Francis Prep to lose the doubles title. Sorokko and Featherston won the final in 2003 and 2004.The King sisters went to I.S. 239's Mark Twain school in Brooklyn with all three Featherston sisters: Shinann, Martina and Ellenoira, who plays No. 1 singles for Fordham University.”We were playing smarter in the third set and they started making errors,” said Laken, ranked No.1 in doubles in the under-18's. “We decided to stay back on the baseline after the first set, and that made a big difference.”Reach reporter Mitch Abramson at TimesLedger@aol.com or call 718-229-0300 Ext. 130.
