Palisadian Kehrer Nets a Wilson Sponsorship

Wilson Sporting Goods, the largest tennis equipment manufacturer in the United States, has named Palisadian Walker Kehrer to its Junior National Elite Team for 2006. Kehrer, a freshman at Brentwood School, earned the Wilson sponsorship on the strength of his National Top 10 ranking in 2005. Kehrer, who just turned 15, finished ninth in singles and was the United States Tennis Association’s No. 1-rated doubles player in the country in the boys’ 14s. He is already among the top 100 players nationally in the U-16 age division. “Wilson has a long history of supporting players who represent the best in our sport, both on and off the court, including Roger Federer, Pete Sampras, Lindsay Davenport and Venus and Serena Williams, when they were up-and-coming juniors,” said Alex Murosan, National Junior Team Manager for Wilson, which is based in Chicago. “As the top tennis company, Wilson keeps up to date on the most promising junior players in the nation and Walker is one of them.” For Kehrer, the Wilson honor builds on a junior career that began at the Palisades Tennis Center when Palisadian Steve Bellamy first opened its doors in the mid-1990s. Under the tutelage of private coach Ross Loel, Kehrer has moved steadily up the USTA ranks. At the National Junior Hardcourt Championships in August in San Antonio, Kehrer earned the Sportsmanship Award, given to only one person in a field of 192 players nationwide. More recognition followed. TennisRecruiting.com, the nation’s top collegiate tennis recruiting site, ranks Kehrer the No. 2 college prospect in California, No. 2 in the Southwestem United States and No. 15 in the nation among freshman boys. It also recognized Kehrer’s tournament schedule as the sixth toughest in the country amongst players in his age group. In addition to training with Loel, Kehrer also plays in The Gate Junior Tennis Academy at Mountaingate Country Club and has long worked on conditioning and injury prevention with Taylor Isaacs, a world-class trainer who has aided world class athletes such as David Beckham. Kehrer hopes to play on the varsity tennis team at Brentwood this spring.