Deja's Videos Have Been Viewed By Nearly 1 Million People Since She Was 11 years Old
Deja Has Since Removed Her Earlier YouTube Videos(Out With The Old/In With New) If You Are Interested In Watching These Videos to See Deja's Development. You Can Do So By Liking, & Friending Deja On Face Book. The Video's Will Then Be Made Available
Deja Kitchiner began playing tennis at age 3 in Chico, Ca. Her ball striking talent was apparent even on the first day. On the second day Deja & her father made a commitment to practice daily, and that they would pursue professional tennis with all of their might. Due to financial restraints in comparison to other juniors Deja played a relatively small junior schedule. Deja has averaged about eight tournaments per year.
At age 9 Deja met & worked with a man named Vic Wroobel(Northern, Ca) for approximately two months. Vic suggested a western forehand grip to the overly aggressive Deja. Deja in her young age adopted the grip for her serve as well. The grip is not traditionally used for serves, but Deja felt at home with it, so she kept it. Also at age 9 Deja's father began to incorporate the serve & volley style into her game. During this time it was common for Deja to play one tournament in her age group, and the next tournament she would play several age groups higher. Generally she used the natural age group matches to build confidence, and the older age group matches to expose and fix flaws in her game. When a flaw was exposed Deja and her father would take weeks, and sometimes months to fix it. During these times they rarely played competitive matches
Practicing during Northern California(Kelseyville,Ca) winters became challenging. Deja and her father still practiced though. They practiced in the rain, wind, and even in living room hallways. When the courts were too soaked the often practiced in the driveway hitting target practice through the back of a SUV truck.
At age 10 the family moved to Ocala, Florida, so that Deja could train year round during that a very important physical developmental stage. Before leaving Northern, California Deja established herself has top, athlete and top 20 player. That year Deja won (4) tournaments in a very limited schedule(2) in California, (1) in Georgia, and (1) in Florida.
The western grip that Vic Wroobel suggested was beneficial for the slower Florida clay courts. After breezing through an easy (Natural Age)tournament without losing a set, it was decided that Deja would play in the higher age groups full-time.
When Deja was 11 years old, her YouTube videos began to garner a lot of attention. Deja' also submitted a video for a Myspace/Adidas(Impossible Is Nothing) contest., and won the national contest. Deja's national popularity began to rise and Deja's video's began to reach influential tennis personalities. Deja was invited to work with Etienne Dumas a former coach of Venus & Serena Williams who coached them while they attended the Nick Bollettieri Academy. This workout was recorded and broadcast over youtube as well. Deja worked out on the center courts of the Sony Ericsson Open, and she also got to play on the grass courts. Etienne was impressed with Deja's athleticism, effort, and also her ability to adapt to grass courts(first time)In retrospect Deja's practice on the wet courts of Northern California had made it easier for her to adapt lower bouncing surfaces. Deja's workout with Etienne resulted in a scholarship offer which would have required Deja to move away from the family. The family agreed that Deja was not mature enough to leave, thus Deja continued training with her father.
At age 12 Deja got hot and qualified for 18 year old Nationals in Florida. One month prior to Nationals Deja's racquets were stolen. Deja had been using the backhand slice very often, so Deja's father figured that he would get Deja a heavier racquet which would in theory benefit Deja's backhand slice. The racquet did in fact help Deja's slice, but the added weight made it so that Deja was not able to swing her backhand as fluidly. This turned out to be the wrong racquet choice, but in the end using this racquet for few months did in fact help to teach Deja the fine art of playing highly competitive matches using the Steffi Graf formula of play.
A few months later(December/4months before her 13th) Deja switched from a BjornBorg(1.5 handed) type of backhand to a standard one handed backhand shot. Deja was approaching the net often, and using this grip would make it easier for Deja to transition to a more suitable backhand volley grip. This change turned out to be correct, but it took approximately 2 and ½ years before Deja and her father felt that her backhand swing was back to normal.
Deja's game was developing, and her popularity was soaring. By this point most of Deja's videos had been viewed by over 100,000 people. Deja now had to learn how to play against opponent's who had seen her videos, and who had actually formulated game-plans to beat her. Deja's father reminded Deja that top pro's also face this dilemma. He reminded Deja that if she wasn’t predictable, and that if she played her game she would likely have the athletic, and overall advantage. He taught Deja to embrace the learning process, and said that she should use this as an opportunity build a style that could win a high percentage even if the opponent knew her tendencies.
Personally Deja was growing as a young teen, Deja was home schooled for half of the year, and when Deja's father noticed that she wasn’t as happy she would attend public school.
In Deja's 14th year she seemed to balance both life and tennis very well. Deja was a B+ student, that summer she won 4 tournaments, and she was also growing socially. Deja's & her father were happy with Deja' s stroke development, and her growth as a person. An employment opportunity forced the family to make the tough decision to move back to Northern California. This move seemed a perfect fit for everyone except Deja. Deja who was now just a few months from being 15 was frustrated because she would have to leave her good friends in Florida. Deja is slowly adapting back to California life, and California junior tennis. Deja's grades, & socializing fell below her standard during her first semester. Joining the high-school tennis team seamed to point Deja in the right direction in both categories. Deja is currently near a 3.0 gpa & has gained many friends as a freshman number (1) for the girls varsity tennis team) At the time of this writing Deja was undefeated in high-school tennis competition.
Deja and her father feel that Deja must improve in 3 categories before she is ready to take her game to the pro level. As mentioned in the video Deja is working on hitting her forehand with a semi western grip(switched from extreme western). Deja feels that this grip can benefit her against the aggressive Florida style, or the patient Northern California style. She is also working on her backhand slice preperation, & delivery. Deja will not have the luxury of taking much time off while making these game improvements. Deja's father feels that it will be better for her to keep playing throughout the improvements, and that playing through the change will force her to use more parts of her game to win matches. Deja will be uploading match play videos, and other updates, so be sure to subscribe, friend, follow or like to receive timely updates on Deja's tennis progression
