Two years after breakthrough, CiCi Bellis makes another run at U.S. Open

NEW YORK — CiCi Bellis hasn’t watched any of the coverage from her 2014 U.S. Open win, when at age 15 she shocked No. 12 seed Dominika Cibulkova and became a media darling overnight.

In fact, she doesn’t think about it much at all.

“It was so long ago,” a matured 17-year-old told reporters after her first-round win Monday. “I don't think it really has anything to do with me or my game right now.”

Two years after Bellis became the youngest winner at the Open since Anna Kournikova in 1996, there is a lot different in her life: She is the No. 158-ranked player in the world; she qualified for the U.S. Open on her own volition; and she’s done the work in the lower-ring levels of tennis to earn her right to play Friday night on the biggest stage in the sport when she takes on No. 2-ranked Angelique Kerber in the second night match inside Arthur Ashe Stadium.

“One of the things that I admire about the route that CiCi took is after she had the breakthrough here two years ago, she had a lot of offers to take wild cards into big events and just try to skip a level and she did the opposite,” Martin Blackman, general manager of player development for the USTA, told Paste BN Sports. “She really worked her way up and built her confidence. Now, here, she knows that she belongs because she’s gone through the process.”

Bellis’ 2014 brought about all of the media bells and whistles you might expect: ESPN did a rare on-court interview with her after she lost in the second round; offers came from TV personalities for talk show interviews; some thought she would turn pro immediately.

But, instead, it was a more measured approach: Bellis kept her base at her parents’ Bay Area home near Palo Alto, oftentimes hitting with Stanford scholarship players, and she began working with Anibal Aranda, a USTA coach, full time in April of this year.

“When she was here at 15, our chief concern was to shield her from the media and just to save her from what was going to happen,” her father Gordon Bellis said in an interview. “You know it’s going to end badly at some point and you don’t want it to all come crashing down. The media exposure at a young age is good only in small doses; it takes away from what we need to be doing.”

The media attention this week hasn’t been nearly what it was in 2014, though Bellis’ run has lasted twice as long. She was clinical in a 6-2, 6-3 win on Court 6 (the same court she beat Cibulkova on two years prior) over 65th-ranked Viktorija Golubic and then was the more steady player against American compatriot and No. 49-ranked Shelby Rogers in a 2-6, 6-2, 6-2 second-round triumph on the new Grandstand court.

She leapt with excitement after the win, covering her face with nails painted a dark purple.

“This week has shown that she’s progressing,” ESPN commentator Pam Shriver told Paste BN Sports. “You don’t have to progress at lightening pace. It’s the modern-day progression, even for a teenager. Twenty or 30 years ago, if you were going to reach the top, you were expected between the ages of 15 and 17 to do so. It’s totally different now. I think it’s slow but sure. I also love her spirit and her bounce on court.”

Bellis is a thrill to watch. She’s 5-foot-7 and throws all of her body into every shot. She is an undersized star on an oversized stage and thrill in the performance aspect of it all. The U.S. Open — in a way — is the perfect setting for her.

“I think that I can do big things in tennis,” she said boldly at one point this week.

For now, the plan is to attend Stanford beginning in the fall of 2017, although Bellis sounded more hesitant of that plan after first- and second-round wins. Two years ago, her parents told her to get inside the top 200 and she could go pro. When she did so months later, they changed it to the top 100. She is projected to be inside the top 120 after this U.S. Open, even if she were to lose to Kerber Friday night.

Arthur Ashe Stadium will no doubt be the biggest stadium court Bellis has played on, but she isn’t a stranger to co-starring in a marquee match. Last March, she played Serena Williams in a match in Miami (she lost 6-1, 6-1) and a few weeks ago she played in her first WTA quarterfinal in an evening session against Venus Williams, who beat her 6-4, 6-1 in Stanford.

“I've played both of the Williams sisters,” Bellis said, appearing dumbfounded by the truth of her statement. “That's so amazing to do at my age. I'm so honored to have played against both of them. … When I played against Venus it just taught me so much about what she's doing at her age (and how it’s) unbelievable. She's done it for so long. It's just amazing. It taught me a lot about my game, where I could improve on certain aspects.”

As Shriver noted, however, it’s amazing what Bellis is doing at her age. Tennis is no longer a game that belongs to teenagers. She is one of four teens in the final 32 of the women’s event, and by far the youngest.

Age restriction rules on the WTA now exist two decades after the sport watched athletes like Jennifer Capriati and Martina Hingis burn out in the first iterations of their respective careers. It’s part of what has kept Bellis at bay, although the approach has been calculated, too.

“You have to plan through the restrictions. It’s onerous, let’s say that,” said Gordon Bellis. “It’s intended to save the younger players.”

Bellis will turn 18 in April, although she hopes a win against Kerber Friday night will catapult her even further in the sport. The two have never played.

With Stanford still the plan — for now — she only can use prize money to cover her expenses. After three hard-earned qualifying wins last week, she decided it was time for an upgrade: She had her dad book her into a suite at the J.W. Marriott Essex House on Central Park South.

“I think I just moved up to a regular suite,” she laughed after her second-round win Wednesday. “Maybe the presidential suite this time?”

Whatever happens against Kerber, Bellis has proved that she has staying power. The only question is: Can she keep it up? At 17, time is on her side.

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