When I come across a young man making big moves in this industry that has very high barriers to entry, I have to give him props. Yesterday, Darren Rovell tweeted,
Sam Duvall, a 26-year old agent who has never felt so many vibrations from his Blackberry in his life, is the Vice President of Tennis for BEST (Blue Equity Sports Television). The large corporation, chaired by Jonathan Blue, has a very strong tennis division run by one of the most successful agents in the history of our profession, Donald Dell. Dell recently wrote an excellent book titled, Never Make The First Offer. Anyway, Duvall started as an intern for Dell before Dell was a part of BEST (he was with SFX at the time). The fact that Duvall was a 2-year captain of his Bates College tennis team had to have helped him gain access to Mr. Dell.
Anyway, Duvall now reps roughly 12 ATP and WTA players, including the now popular John Isner and Melanie Oudin. It has been quite a U.S. Open for Duvall and BEST.
As Duvall recently stated,
“I think Melanie [Oudin] will have no problem endorsing a lot of different products – she’s like the girl next door. People relate to both Melanie and John [Isner]. They are just such real and genuine people.”
Duvall signed Oudin in December of last year, when she was ranked #178 on the WTA Tour. At the age of 17, she had time to improve that ranking. It obviously has not taken her long. At the U.S. Open, she defeated Dementieva, Sharapova, and Petrova, and is the talk of the country (at least in tennis circles). Let’s not forget that John Isner upset Andy Roddick in a real stunner, as well.
Isner is tall at 6’9. Oudin is short at 5’6. Isner is 24-years-old and Oudin is 17-years-old. Their agent is 26-years-old. This tournament will change his life forever. As Lil Wayne would say, “Young moolah, baby!”
