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After winning the USTA boys 18s national championship back in August, Michael Mmohs parting gift was a trip to New York City.The American teenager, who soared as high as the No. 2 junior in the world, also received a berth in the US Opens main draw, opposite Frenchman Jeremy Chardy.Mmoh is a terrific athlete with dazzling retrieving skills that have been compared to those of Gael Monfils. But looking a tad tentative, he got schooled by Chardy 6-4, 6-4, 6-1.All things considered, it might have been the best result possible. Chardy, a journeyman with a career record just under .500 and a single tour-level title in more than a decade as a professional, preyed on Mmohs defensive posture.Monumental, was how Mmoh recently described it. You cant play tennis just hoping your opponent is going to miss. You have to have an aggressive mentality to win. Andy Murray didnt win many Slams because at crunch time hed revert to his defensive ways. Look at [Novak] Djokovic in the US Open final. He was very defensive in that final against [Stan] Wawrinka -- thats not going to get it done.His coach, Glenn Weiner, seized on that teachable moment.Its been in our vocabulary to make him more aggressive, Weiner explained. In that respect, Chardy was a great learning experience. We simplified the message to: How do we make you just a little more dangerous?We followed that game plan through the fall. After the summer he had, did I expect him to start winning like he did? No. I have to say I like wheres headed.This is not a random assessment. Weiner, who has played and coached at IMG Academy for nearly 25 years, coached No. 5-ranked Kei Nishikori for three years in Bradenton, Florida.After a terrific stretch run at the Challenger level, the ATPs equivalent of Triple A baseball, Mmoh has another Grand Slam main-draw appointment in January. He accumulated the most points in Knoxville, Tennessee, and Champaign, Illinois to win the USTAs Pro Circuit Australian Open Wild Card Challenge.Mmoh, 18, is one of five American teenagers to win an ATP Challenger Tour title this year, joining Taylor Fritz, Reilly Opelka, Frances Tiafoe and Stefan Kozlov, who won in Columbus, Ohio, a couple of weeks ago. Eight American men aged 20 and younger -- the aforementioned five, plus Jared Donaldson, Ernesto Escobedo and Noah Rubin -- are ranked among the ATP World Tours top 204 players.Theres your short list for future U.S. male tennis stars hoping to follow in the tradition of former top 10 Americans Andy Roddick, James Blake, Mardy Fish and John Isner. They are all contenders for the Next Gen ATP Finals next November in Milan, a new event that will feature the top 21-and-under singles players.The last time there more than six Americans under the age of 21 in the year-end top 200 was 1991, when there were seven. That group included Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Jim Courier and Michael Chang -- all future Grand Slam winners.The competition really motivates you, Mmoh said. When Taylor or Francis is doing well, you might be ranked like 300, while theyre 170 and winning a Challenger. You dont want to be the guy falling behind.Its been a constant battle for a long time. At the end of the day, its huge for American tennis, and us, too.That Mmoh is playing under the U.S. flag is something of an upset, considering his unusual provenance.He was born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to a Nigerian-born father and an Irish-born mother. Tony and Geraldine (OReilly) met in Saudi Arabia in the 1990s when she was a nurse and he worked in sports marketing. Tony had moved to the United States to play tennis at St. Augustines and eventually became an American citizen. He was ranked as high as No. 105 among ATP players and played doubles at the Seoul Olympics for Nigeria. With Geraldine, he raised the family in both Washington, D.C., and Saudi Arabia.Michael Mmoh was 12 years old when he got his first big break in tennis, playing at the Eddie Herr ?at IMG in Bradenton. He got trashed in the final by Duckhee Lee of Korea but was discovered by the IMG staff and eventually offered a scholarship. Mmoh has progressed steadily ever since.With his ranking in the mid-400s, he began the year playing Futures events and trying to qualify for Challengers. Receiving a wild card in Miami, he forced rising German star Alexander Zverev -- also 18 at the time -- to two tiebreakers before losing in the first round. On the downside, Mmoh blew a 3-0 double-break lead in the second set.An elbow injury cost him April and May, prompting a weeklong visit and a heartfelt discussion with his father, who now lives in Atlanta.I was struggling after the injury, Michael said, and I wanted a different insight into my game. My dad was a top-100 player and had some ups and downs in his career. He gave me some useful words, and I started playing well.When Im not confident, Im not the most aggressive player. I use my athletic ability to retrieve a lot of balls. In todays pro game, guys are hitting the s--- out of the ball. Getting a lot of balls back -- that can be your Plan B. But to be successful, you want to be in control of the points.Weiner helped Mmoh make another adjustment, taking a subtle hitch out of his long forehand stroke, which helped take critical time away from opponents. In late September, Mmoh won three matches to qualify for the main draw at the Tiburon, California, Challenger. He survived three match points in a first-round match against Tennys Sandgren and won when Sandgren retired in the third set. Mmoh won seven straight matches to get to his first Challenger final, where he lost to Darian King.In November, Mmoh went one step further, winning the Challenger in Knoxville. Reaching the quarterfinals a week later in Champaign got him into the top 200 for the first time, his overriding goal for 2016.And now he gets to visit Australia, a place that feels like home. His mother, since divorced from Tony, has an Australian passport, and his aunt has lived there for years. The first Grand Slam that Mmoh watched in person was in Melbourne, as a 7-year-old in 2005, the year Marat Safin won the title.After Australia, Mmohs ranking should allow him into the main draw of most Challengers and qualifying for the remaining Grand Slams and some ATP events. For the next month, he and Weiner will work on strengthening his already strong serve by hitting targeted spots more often.It comes down to how good he wants to be, Weiner said. One thing Ive been working on with him is routines and setting a good example. Ive seen moments where there is a glimpse of some special tennis. Glimpses are not good enough.We have to have a higher percentage. It needs to be more of an everyday thing. I believe he can be a great player.So does Mmoh, who lists reaching the top 10 and winning a major among his top career goals. For 2017?Id have to say, I think the year-end top 100 is realistic for me, Mmoh said. The main thing I need to do to improve my game is be more unpredictable.My games there to do the damage. Lance Stephenson Jersey . Boucher previously coached the Tampa Bay Lightning and had a 97-78-20 record over two-plus seasons. He was dismissed by the team last March after the Lightning struggled in the lockout-shortened season with a 13-18-1 record. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Jersey . 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Kentavious Caldwell-Pope Jersey .Y. -- Vancouver Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo had little trouble picking up his first shutout of the season against a Buffalo Sabres team thats having trouble scoring goals.Alex Hales smashed 78 off 52 balls - his sixth straight score of fifty plus - as England beat South Africa A by 44 runs in their T20 warm-up in Paarl. Hales fell short of back-to-back hundreds following his 112 in Englands defeat in the ODI series decider in Cape Town on Sunday, but his efforts here propelled the side to a winning score of 202-6 - captain Eoin Morgan pitching in with a 13-ball 42, tonking five sixes.In reply, Theunis de Bruyn (56 off 38 balls) impressed for the hosts but they fell some distance short of their target, finishing on 158-8 with Reece Topley taking 3-29 and birthday boy Adil Rashid 2-27.England rested Joe Root, Ben Stokes and Moeen Ali for the warm-up, giving James Vince, Sam Billings and David Willey the chance to impress ahead of the first T20I of the two-match series against South Africa on Friday. Adil Rashid (R) and Jos Buttler (L) celebrate the stumping of David Miller Hales had got England off to a flier, striking seven fours from his first 12 balls and 32 of the first 33 runs scored, after Morgan won the toss aand chose to bat first.ddddddddddddThe captain - who had scored just 12 runs in his last three innings - came in at 138-3 after Roy and James Vince both departed for 22, and Hales fell in the 16th over.Morgans sensational striking and a handy cameo by Jos Buttler (29 off 18) kept the runs flowing and saw England up to an imposing 203-run target.It took England only four balls to strike in South Africas reply, as Topley trapped Reeza Hendricks lbw.Any thoughts of an early finish and a comfortable England victory were quickly dispelled when De Bruyn and Morne van Wyk (32 off 28) put on 88 for the second wicket.Both batsmen fell within an over of each other to derail the South African innings shortly after the midway mark, both caught by Willey, with Chris Woakes (1-40) removing Van Wyk and Rashid accounting for De Bruyn.Rashid grabbed his second soon after, with Buttler stumping the dangerous David Miller for 10, before leaving Willey (2-32) and Topley to tear through the tail - Topley finding himself on a hat-trick in the final over.Watch the first Twenty20 international between South Africa and England live on Sky Sports 2 this Friday from 3.30pm.Before then, do not miss South Africa Women take on England Women in their second T20 from 11.25am on Friday, also on Sky Sports 2. 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