Georgia

A Hollywood Career Without The Hollywood Ending For Georgia’s Manny Diaz

May 10, 2024 by Admin

By Randy Walker

@TennisPublisher

During the 2019 U.S. Open, University of Georgia men’s tennis alums gathered at the mid-town New York City bar American Whiskey to watch the Georgia football team play Vanderbilt in its opening game of the season. Former Georgia tennis All-Americans and walk-ons alike exchanged old stories and showed off their Southeastern Conference and NCAA Championship rings while cheering on the football teams rout of the Commodores

In the center of it all was Georgia’s legendary men’s tennis coach Manuel Diaz.

Robbie York, one of the co-owners of American Whiskey, which is the official Georgia Bulldog football viewing venue in New York, turned to yours truly and said, “It’s really amazing to me to see the reverence and awe that all the players have towards Coach Diaz.”

This admiration and respect is the result of the culture of brotherhood and success that Diaz created during his 36 years leading the Georgia men’s program. Not only did Diaz lead Georgia to four NCAA team titles, two Intercollegiate Tennis Association national team indoor titles, 29 SEC team titles, but he fostered an ethos of class, hard work, player development, fun and a championship-minded attitude

The Diaz coaching era, unfortunately, is now over. His 2024 squad was defeated 4-3 to Arizona State in the first round of the NCAA team tournament in Winston-Salem, N.C. It was not the way Diaz deserved to go out as one of the all-time greatest college tennis coaches. It was not a Hollywood ending, only a Hollywood career. The head coaching torch that Diaz took from Dan Magill, his legendary predecessor, will now be passed to Jamie Hunt, the former U.S. Open junior doubles champion and member of Georgia’s 2007 and 2008 NCAA championship teams.

Diaz’s second-to-last season in 2023 was one of his many banner years, leading Georgia to the SEC Championship and an NCAA quarterfinal finish and a season-capping NCAA singles title for redshirt freshman Ethan Quinn. The 2024 season was supposed to a blockbuster year for Diaz and his Dogs with potentially one of the greatest 1-2-3 punches ever in college tennis with incoming recruits Alex Michelsen and Ignacio Buse joining Quinn. However, as many have said, Diaz recruited too well as Michelsen opted to turn pro after reaching the ATP Tour event final in Newport, R.I. and Buse did the same after registering a top 20 win over Nicolas Jarry of Chile while playing Davis Cup for Peru. Quinn also chose to use the momentum from his NCAA win to turn pro. So instead of an NCAA team title contending team, Diaz’s last team finished with a 14-14 record. They were a young scrappy team that won some inspiring matches but also suffered more than a few heart-breaking, tight losses. The fighting spirit and pride never left the young 2024 Georgia team until the last ball was struck, despite suffering from many losses that would have left many despondent. It was the hallmark of Diaz’s teams — fight until the very end.

While much has been written and documented about the championships and titles under the Diaz watch, what might be more important is the culture of brotherhood that he brought to the Georgia tennis community. Being part of the Georgia tennis program is like having a second family. A few years ago, Diaz created a “WhatsApp” group chat for all the Georgia tennis alums where all could exchange old war stories, birthday greetings and other celebrations of life, including wins by players in pro tennis as well as live updates on the Georgia tennis matches. The group features alums from the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s from the time when Magill coached the team, up through the 1990s until the graduating class of 2023, including the new pro Quinn, that were in the Diaz head coaching era.

In 2022, Diaz pulled together many former tennis alums back to Athens for an Alumni reunion and fun scrimmage match, that you watch the highlights of here: https://youtu.be/rkbXKK0us6s?si=Z2XUBLzZ0pNqFHjL

When Diaz announced his retirement to the group of tennis alums in February, and after he coached his last match in May, the outpourings of appreciation overflowed on the Georgia Tennis WhatsApp chat from all generations of tennis Dawgs, from Hill Griffin dating back to the 1959 Georgia team all the way to members of the 2023 Georgia team. Perhaps Will Reynolds, a tennis Dawg under Diaz from 2009 to 2012 and a volunteer assistant coach in 2022 and 2023, summed it up best when he wrote in the WhatsApp chat, “Coach, while it’s been mentioned, I think it should be emphasized – arguably your greatest achievement is the impact you’ve had on the people in this group, and that can be overlooked by those on the outside looking in. The trophies – and there are a lot of them! – will rust and memories will fade, but your influence has lasted and will continue to last quite literally for generations.”

Amen.

Was The Georgia – Tennessee Match The Biggest Comeback, Closest College Tennis Match Ever?

March 21, 2023 by WTM

By Randy Walker

@TennisPublisher

It was March Madness but it wasn’t the NCAA Championship and wasn’t even basketball.

The men’s tennis teams from the University of Georgia and the University of Tennessee played in one of the great college matches in recent memory at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Georgia on Saturday, March 18 with the No. 10-ranked Bulldogs edging the No. 18-ranked Volunteers 4-3.

I threw out that what transpired in Athens may have been the greatest comeback in college tennis history and possibly the closest college tennis match of all time as Georgia saved, according to reports, six team match points on two different courts after trailing 3-1. The win for Georgia ended with Bulldog Phil Henning winning the decisive match with the score knotted at 3-3 in a decisive final-set tiebreaker 8-6.

There have been many times in college tennis where teams have come back to win after facing a team match point against them and even multiple team match points, but has a team ever come back to win after saving team match points in TWO separate matches? And was there ever a match on top of that where a total of six team match points (or more) were saved? You can’t find a match that was any closer than a decisive match being decided by an 8-6 decisive match tiebreaker. That is unless you go back to the days of the sudden-death nine-point tiebreaker and if a team match was ever decided with a sudden-death point at 4-4 in a decisive tiebreaker in the decisive match. Please comment on this story, tweet me at @TennisPublisher or email me at RandolphSWalker@gmail.com if you can cite a bigger college tennis comeback win or a similar close match.

After Tennessee won the doubles point to earn a 1-0 lead, it quickly increased its lead to 2-0 after 21-year-old Brit Johannus Monday (ATP No. 564) defeated 19-year-old Californian Ethan Quinn (ATP No. 473) at No. 1 singles by a 6-2, 6-2 scoreline. Miguel Perez Pena of Georgia cut the lead to 2-1 with a 6-2, 7-5 win over Pat Harper of Tennessee at No. 6. Shunsuke Mitsui then put the Vols up 3-1 on the verge of victory with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over Georgia’s Blake Croyder at No. 4.

Tennessee appeared at this point about to push through to victory, needing to win only one of the remaining three singles matches and then had won the first sets at No. 2 singles and No. 3 singles and were battling in a close match at No. 5 singles. At No. 3 singles, according to people at the match, Georgia’s Trent Bryde was fighting off two match points in the second set tiebreaker against Blaise Bicknell, but won an 10-8 second-set tiebreaker to keep Georgia’s hopes alive. He had already saved a team match point at the sudden-death deuce point at 5-6 in the second set, according to people at the match. Then, Teodor Giusca of Georgia beat Angel Diaz at No. 5 singles 7-6(3), 7-6(2) to cut the Tennessee lead to 3-2. At No. 2 singles, Henning won the second set 6-3, after losing the first set 6-3, to force a decisive third set as he and Bryde battled side-by-side on courts 2 and 3, respectively inside the Henry Field Stadium courts. Tennessee just needed to win one of the two remaining matches and Georgia needed to win both. As Bryde and Bicknell battled into the third set at No. 3, Tennessee’s Emile Hudd held triple team match point against Henning at No. 2 with Henning serving at 4-5, 15-40 (with the deuce point being a sudden-death point in college tennis). It was fourth, fifth and sixth team match points for Tennessee on its second court by its second player. Henning was able to save all three points by battling through long baseline points to even the score at 5-5, according to people at the match. After both players held serve, a final-set tiebreaker would decide the match. As Henning and Hudd battled point by point, Bryde, who was suffering from cramps, was able to break serve benefitting from winning the match on a point penalty as Bicknell was overruled on a line-call for a third time, necessitating a point penalty from the chair umpire, according to people at the match. Just as Bryde won, Henning was at 6-6 in the final-set tiebreaker in the now decisive match. Whoever won the next point would have team match point, which is an incredible scenario. Henning then won two straight points to win the decisive tiebreaker 8-6 and give Georgia the incredible 4-3 victory. Video of the last point can be seen here: https://twitter.com/TennisPublisher/status/1637193434107715584

“I was in a bit of disbelief after the match, honestly,” said Henning of his match-clinching victory.

Said Bryde just after the match, “That was one of the most memorable moments of my life. I still don’t even know what just happened.”

Manny Diaz, Georgia’s head coach since 1989, said the near thousand fans who came to cheer for the Bulldogs provided one of the most enthusiastic environments at the historic Dan Magill Tennis Complex outside of when the venue was the long-time and historic site of the NCAA Championships. The Georgia team had a locker-room victory celebration that rivals any “March Madness” basketball celebration as you can see here: https://twitter.com/TennisPublisher/status/1637249631582126081

Tennessee coach Chris Woodruff, a former NCAA singles champion for Tennessee (defeating Georgia’s Wade McGuire in the final, ironically), has been a part of many college tennis matches as a player and coach and himself was part of an emotional, comeback team victory when he won the decisive comeback match for the U.S. Davis Cup team and Captain John McEnroe against Zimbabwe in front of a hostile crowd in Harare, Zimbabwe in 2000. He provided his perspective on the result in his post-match comments.

“I thought today was a good college tennis match,” he said. “There were lots of ebbs and flows. One team was going to be disappointed at the result and unfortunately, it was us. I’ve been around long enough to know that one, two or three matches don’t define a season. What truly matters is where you are in May. I’d say it won’t be the last time we lock horns with Georgia.”

Phil Henning of the University of Georgia after clinching the victory over Tennessee

Poll: Over 40 Percent Favor Athens, Georgia As Permanent NCAA Tennis Host

June 17, 2022 by Admin

By Randy Walker

@TennisPublisher

The University of Georgia is the preferred permanent host for the NCAA Tennis Championships, a new poll revealed.

Colette Lewis of ZooTennis, the preeminent blogger for collegiate and junior tennis, posted a poll on her @ZooTennis Twitter profile on Wednesday, June 15 asking her 10,500-plus followers about the site of future NCAA Tennis Championships.

The University of Georgia as the permanent host of the event received a strong majority of the votes, with 42.6 percent of the vote followed by the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida placing second with 28.5 percent of the vote.

The poll received 733 votes from followers of Lewis, who are mostly ardent followers of college and junior tennis. Lewis posted four choices in her poll, 1) Athens, every year (42.6 percent), Lake Nona every year (28.5 percent), Continue rotating (18.3 percent) 1 and 2 every other year (10.6 percent)

Over 50 percent of those polled feel that NCAA Tennis should be played in Athens, Georgia at least every other year.

The University of Georgia first hosted the NCAA Tennis Championships in 1972, under the leadership and promotion of legendary Georgia Bulldog coach Dan Magill. It was so overwhelmingly successful, with crowds of thousands of fans that was never seen before in college tennis, that the facility was awarded as the semi-permanent site of the event starting in 1977. After Georgia’s tennis program began to win NCAA Championships on its home courts in 1985 and then again in 1987, concern arose in college tennis circles that the Bulldogs benefitted from a home-court advantage and, starting in 1990, the tournament was moved to another location every four or so years, starting with Indian Wells, California in 1990, Notre Dame in 1994 and Los Angeles at UCLA in 1997.

Starting in 2002 with the event being staged at Texas A&M, the tournament moved more consistently to other locales such as Tulsa, Stanford, Baylor, Illinois and Wake Forest. Athens hosted NCAA tennis six times in this period, in 2003, 2007, 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2017.

Starting in 2019, the new USTA National Campus in Lake Nona, Florida hosted the tournament for the first time. The USTA National Campus also hosted the event in 2021 and will again host in 2023. It has been suggested that Athens host NCAA Tennis at least once every four years, like the Open Championship in golf is always staged at historic St. Andrews on a consistent rota. However, the ZooTennis poll would suggest college tennis fans on Twitter would prefer more frequent visits to Athens. Georgia is not slated to host the event until 2026. Lewis posted her Twitter poll after contributing a story on future NCAA site locations here https://tennisrecruiting.net/article.asp?id=392898029

Colette Lewis Twitter poll results favor University of Georgia as permanent host for NCAA Tennis Championships

NCAA Tennis: Kat Jokic, Estela Perez-Somarriba And The Greatest Broken-String Point Ever Played

May 27, 2019 by Admin

By Randy Walker

@TennisPublisher

The 2019 NCAA women’s singles final where Estela Perez-Somarriba of the University of Miami defeated fellow sophomore Kat Jokic of the University of Georgia 6-7(2), 6-2, 6-3 at the U.S. Tennis Association National Campus in Orlando was not only one of the most dramatic in the history of the event, but also featured perhaps the greatest point in the history of the sport played with a broken string.

It happened with Perez-Somarriba leading 2-0 in the second set and serving. The two players came to deuce in this third game of the second set and, per the scoring rules of college tennis, a sudden-death point, was then played. All sudden-death points in college tennis are crucial and important, this one not excluded as a win for Jokic would get her back on serve and ruin the momentum of Perez-Somarriba, while a win for the Miami Hurricane would give her a commanding 3-0 lead in the second set.

In one of the worst moments of bad luck one can have, Jokic broke a racquet string on her return of serve, almost certain to allow her opponent to easily win the point. With now little tension in the strings left in her racquet, Jokic was then forced to hit slice shots to best control the uncontrollable trampoline-like spring off her racquet face.

Jokic successfully hit one slice shot with her broken string back into play. She then successfully controlled another shot back into play. And then another. And another. And Another. In all, Jokic hit NINE balls back into play with her broken string, which is an unheard of amount of shots to play in this condition at this high level of tennis.

Perez-Somarriba, knowing that Jokic was playing with broken equipment, then proceeded to simply get the ball in play, knowing that the percentages were vastly in her favor for winning the point as Jokic would have difficultly controlling her shots with the broken string. Perez-Somarriba moved the ball from side to side to Jokic with ease, waiting for Jokic to make the error. However, the Bulldog kept retrieving, successfully slicing forehand and backhands with as much control as she could from the baseline. After Jokic hit her ninth slice shot back into the court, Perez-Somarriba tried to become a little more aggressive, but hit a forehand into the net. Jokic had broken serve with her broken string!

“I knew that she broke strings,” Perez-Somarriba said. “I was playing too conservative. I should have come in and just go for the winner and I was just expecting her to miss. That’s what you get.”

It could have been a huge momentum swing for the Serbian but Jokic’s new racquet didn’t immediately serve her as well as the one with the broken string as she turned around and made unforced errors on the next seven points! She had her serve immediately broken at love, then went down 40-0 on Perez-Somarriba’s next service game before she finally broke her unforced error streak. However, the Spaniard held serve for a 4-1 lead, then broke Jokic’s serve for a 5-1 lead before holding on to win the second set 6-2. Perez-Somarriba took a 5-1 lead in the third set but needed seven match points to finally close out Jokic 6-3 in the final set to claim the NCAA singles title.

When you break a string in the middle of the point, tennis teaching professionals will tell you to slice the ball to control the ball better than taking a traditional swing at the ball, as Jokic did so successfully. Tennis instruction protocol suggests you should try to rush the net when you break a string, as explained here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgoHbjKK50k via Essential Tennis and here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpa_CcM7Tuw via Total Tennis Domination.

The full post-championship transcript from Perez-Somrriba can be found below.

Question: So I’ll start off, you just won the National Championship. I know you’ve been there before but finally take that next step to get to the final today and come out in a tough three-setter, how does that feel?

Perez-Somarriba: I don’t know what to say. It’s amazing. I am really grateful to the University of Miami for letting me come here. To the coaches, to my teammates, to the trainers, to everyone for making this possible. I am just really really happy, all the hard work pays off and I am just so happy.

Questions: The drop you had off that first set and then have to come back and win the next two, what was going through you mind? What did your coach tell you after that first set to help you change the momentum in that match?

Perez-Somarriba: Well Katarina is an amazing player, she is really talented, really aggressive. I think that she was going to my backhand and I wasn’t responding well. So she basically told me to just counterbalance that, play to her backhand more, just play different types of balls with different heights. I think that I was able to just get back on track and just play my best tennis.

Question: You had, I think it took seven points to finish her off? Was it getting frustrating there in the third set?

Perez-Somarriba: I think that Katarina played those match points really smart. She was just going for it. I was playing a little bit conservative. I think that a lot of the things go through your mind at that moment, so yeah, when I was able to just win the match, I couldn’t believe it.

Question: Were you counting the match points? Did you know…

Perez-Somarriba: No, no, not really. Not really. You know at that point, you’re just like lets get it done.

Question: Did you do anything differently when you got to the sixth and seventh match point?

Perez-Somarriba: I basically knew that I had to play on my terms. Just play my tennis. It didn’t matter what she was doing. I just had to play my game and really trust my shots.

Question: There was a crazy point in the second set, where she broke her string, it was a deuce point. And she broke her string and she had nine slices. What did you think of that point and have you ever played against somebody who was able to make that many?

Perez-Somarriba: Well I’ve actually done it too. When you break a strings you just try to finish the point ASAP and just win it, however you can. I knew that she broke strings, I was playing too conservative. I should have come in and just go for the winner, and I was just expecting her to miss. That’s what you get.

Question: This was a match of a lot of long rallies. Do you excel in those situations?

Perez-Somarriba: I think that consistency is one of my strengths. I am like a very athletic player and I think that I enjoy long points. I usually win most of them, if I play smart. I think that Katarina is a very rhythmic player so that helped me a little bit too.

Question: Usually, you win those points, even though they are long, you win them a lot sooner than what Katarina was getting, right?

Perez-Somarriba: Yeah, she’s, she is tough.

Question: So on your bio you said you admire Serena Williams, am surprised not Arantxa or Conchita or Garbine or?

Perez-Somarriba: Well, I am only 20, so I didn’t get to see or to watch those players that much. I grew up watching Serena, also Garbine Muguruza, they are very aggressive players. I really identify myself with them as a tennis players and you know, they are like my idols.

Question: What finally did go through your mind when Katarina netted the returned the serve for the final point?

Perez-Somarriba: We made it. I dreamt about this moment many many times, and dreams comes true. So, yeah. I think that you have to have the most amazing serve or the most amazing forehand or you have to be the tallest. I think that at the end of the day, work ethic is what matters every day, just giving your best and living by example.

Question: Were you expecting the ice bath, the ice water bath at the end?

Perez-Somarriba: Not really. That was a surprise.

Question: You were bound pretty good with the go kings though?

Perez-Somarriba: Yeah, I have some friends over there supporting me. That means the world to me. Well before I leave, I want to thank the USTA, the NCAA and the ITA for making this event possible as an international student athlete and coming here and just participating in this type of events is truly amazing and they just make this sport better. So again thank you so much and I hope that they do it again next tomorrow, eh next year. Sorry not tomorrow.

Question: We can set something up.

Perez-Somarriba: No, I think I am good.

Question: What is your plan for the summer and going forward

Perez-Somarriba: NCAA as well. Sorry say again.

Question: What are you going to be doing this summer and you know with this title open up some opportunities for you.

Perez-Somarriba: Well I am going back home tomorrow. I am really excited to see my family they are back in Spain supporting me. I am coming, well my sister is here today and she came all the way from New York, thanks for coming. I am going back to Spain for a month and then I’ll be back for Summer B to take some classes and also to practice. I have many things to improve and to work on. So that’s in my mind.

Question: So no tournament? No ITF tournaments?

Perez-Somarriba: Maybe in the Spring, I am not sure, honestly. Not with new rules of the ITF. I don’t know if I am able to play those tournaments, so I need to see if that’s possible.

Question: They changed the rules though.

Perez-Somarriba: Yeah, exactly.

Question: They announced it a few days ago. Good luck to you.

Katarina Jokic and Estela Perez-Somarriba

NCAA Tennis Now Wedged Perfectly Before Roland Garros

May 23, 2019 by Admin

By Randy Walker

@TennisPublisher

College Football has its post-season presence with its National Championship game. College basketball has its March Madness. College golf is featured prominently on Golf Channel. Now, college tennis and its NCAA Championships has its proper platform.

Starting with this year’s NCAA tennis championships at the U.S. Tennis Association National Campus, Tennis Channel, the USTA and the NCAA entered a three-year partnership for Tennis Channel to televise more than 50 hours of live matches over each day of the 10-day singles, doubles and team competition for men and women. In all, the network will provide the most hours of NCAA Tennis Championships coverage in television history.

With this important partnership, the tournament has now been perfectly wedged into this week before the French Open window of attention. While the pros are quietly waiting for Roland Garros to start, with the exception of minor prep events in Lyon, Geneva, Nurnberg and Strasbourg and French Open qualifying, the NCAAs receive a grander stage of exposure. The scheduling of the matches have worked perfectly – on purpose – where in the morning in the United States, Tennis Channel airs ATP and WTA tournament play and then at 4 pm, it airs the pinnacle of college tennis into the night. With the matches starting later in the day in Lake Nona, it provides not only for prime time TV viewing, but also an easier environment for fan attendance on site as patrons can enjoy an evening of tennis after work. Cooler evening temperatures later in the day in Orlando are also player and fan friendly.

The scheduling of match days was also changed in 2019 to provide for better viewing on television and for fans on site. In the past, the team tournament started on a Wednesday/Thursday and was played through the weekend and into the next week with the team finals being played on a Tuesday. A Tuesday afternoon team final was not the best day to showcase your exciting dramatic team finals, but a Sunday final again provides for more eyeballs on TV and in person as fans can make it a weekend to watch the men’s and women’s team finals (and semifinals the day before). All of these matches were again played in the afternoon and early evening, after the morning tennis from Europe was completed on television.

The individual tournament started on a Monday and perfectly ending on Saturday, May 25, the day before the entire tennis world focuses on the start of Roland Garros, broadcast on Tennis Channel. In the past, prior to Tennis Channel’s involvement this year in the NCAAs, the tournament stretched all the way through the Memorial Day weekend with the last two days overlapping the start of the French Open and the NCAAs receiving very little attention in the tennis world once the tennis started at Roland Garros.

After this year at the USTA National Campus, the NCAA tennis tournament will return to an actual college campus at Oklahoma State in 2020 and then back to the USTA National Campus again in 2021. In 2022, the event will be held at the University of Illinois. Many college tennis fans and observers are hoping that after 2022, the tournament will return to its spiritual home, the University of Georgia, where the event became one of the great spectacles in the sport when it majestically staged the event every year from 1977 to 1989 and for many alternating years after that.

On A 30-Year Anniversary, “Trojan Tennis” Book On USC Men’s Tennis Team Is Published

May 22, 2018 by Admin

By Randy Walker

@TennisPublisher

It was 30 years ago this week that I first saw, in person, the USC men’s tennis team.

It was at the 1988 NCAA Championships in Athens, Georgia – the first I would experience. That entire year while a freshman at UGA I heard all of the legendary stories and first-hand anecdotes of the famous 1987 NCAA semifinal match the previous year where eventual NCAA champs Georgia upset the No. 1-ranked and undefeated Trojans 5-4 in front of the jam-packed crowd at Henry Feild Stadium in what might have been the most famous college tennis match ever played.

Now 30 years later, it is perhaps a bit ironic to have published via New Chapter Media a book on the USC Trojan men’s tennis team, “Trojan Tennis: A History of the Storied Men’s Tennis Program at the University of Southern California” which is the first ever book on a college tennis program. The amazing stories of all the great Trojan players through the years, from Gene Mako to Alex Olmedo, Dennis Ralston and Rafael Osuna to Stan Smith, Bob Lutz, Rick Leach, Luke Jensen, Byron Black and Stevie Johnson among many others are all featured. The author Mark Young did an amazing job of putting all of this history into an fantastic historic book on the legendary Trojan Tennis tradition and on college tennis. I found particularly interesting hearing the other side of that infamous 1987 USC vs. Georgia match and how that devastating loss had such an effect on those players.

“Losing that match was the biggest disappointment of my entire life,” said 1987 USC team member Eric Amend in the “Trojan Tennis” book. “It continued to haunt me to two decades.”

Said Luke Jensen in the book of the loss, “There is no other one single moment in my life where I felt I let everyone down. I have lost Grand Slam finals and have emotionally healed from them, but not from the 1987 NCAA semifinal match with UGA. I think about this match more than any other that I have ever won or lost, and have lost more sleep because I didn’t do my job on a very hot and humid day in May in Athens, Georgia.”

Of course, four years later in 1991, USC finally won the first NCAA team title under Coach Dick Leach beating Georgia in Athens in the final in kind of a poetic “we’re even” type scenario.

In 1987, Coach Leach was desperate to finally break through and win his first NCAA title and his older son, Rick Leach, held off turning pro just to come back to help his dad win the national title. While Rick Leach was not able to get his dad over the hump in 1987, younger son Jon Leach was able to do so in 1991. The younger Leach, who graduated from high school early so he could join his dad’s team, nearly clinched the first NCAA title for his dad, holding two match points against Bobby Mariencheck at No. 4 singles before losing 1-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-4.

“I’m feeling on top of the world,” said Coach Leach after winning his first NCAA title in his 11^th year as Trojan coach. “I’ve always been playing golf on Tuesdays of the NCAA finals and today, I got to come to the tennis matches. I haven’t felt this good since my son Rick won (men’s doubles) at Wimbledon last summer, and this was just as good. I’m very happy my youngest son, Jon, could be a part of this team and be here with me.”

Of course, USC is the most successful men’s tennis program in NCAA history winning 21 national team titles, including a four-peat from 2009 to 2010 led by current U.S. Davis Cupper and Olympic doubles bronze medalist Stevie Johnson.

Tennis Channel had a great interview with Young and USC coach Peter Smith on air Tuesday that you can see in the Tennis Channel link on the “Trojan Tennis” Twitter page here: https://twitter.com/USCTennisBook

Stan Smith and Stevie Johnson, two of the classiest guys ever in the sport of tennis and two of the greatest collegiate players ever, both contributed forewords to this book, which you can order here: https://www.amazon.com/…/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_U_x_Wah.AbXFJ4H2J via Amazon.com.

At some point as a University of Georgia graduate and walk-on tennis letterman, I’d love to be involved with a history of Georgia Tennis book or perhaps more specifically a book on the 1987 USC vs. Georgia match as almost everyone involved in that match has such amazing personal stories and recollections. Last year at the NCAAs in Athens, people still talk about the match as though it was yesterday…

Dick Leach Made Headlines In Athens, Georgia in 1991

USTA Pro Circuit Player, Former Georgia Star Nathan Pasha Aims To Inspire

May 7, 2016 by Admin

By Kevin Craig and Randy Walker

Nathan Pasha is enjoying life on the USTA Pro Circuit as he reaches the one year anniversary of his graduation from the University of Georgia, a school at which he was an All-American and has used his connections to work with and gain advice from fellow Georgia Bulldog John Isner.

What makes the life on the USTA Pro Circuit so fun for Pasha isn’t necessarily winning matches and earning money and points in the ATP rankings, but seeing the progress he has made as a person.

“You have to try to conquer yourself and see how good you can become as a person,” said Pasha about life on the pro tour. “From the discipline, to the sacrifices, and just dealing with struggles and pain of losing,”

Pasha, ranked No. 755 on the ATP computer for the week of May 2, claims that finding success on the USTA Pro Circuit is a matter of winning the ultimate battle with yourself. Looking at the general adversity of professional tennis as the most fun part of his life on the tour is Pasha’s way of keeping himself going week in and week out and not being discouraged if he comes across a rough patch of performance during the year.

Pasha’s goal for the near future is to reach the “three or four hundreds” of the ATP rankings and begin playing in more challenger level tournaments. However, the 2010 USTA National Boys’ 18 Doubles Champions is not going to let himself be distracted and discouraged if those goals are achieved further down the road than he hoped. Overall, Pasha just wants “to be the best [he] can be each day and then hope that everything takes care of itself.”

One thing that Pasha had to take care of himself early in 2016 was having to sleep in his car during a wild card tournament to get into the Memphis $25K event when he was unable to find housing.

“I’m more than willing to do it and to be honest, it’s not the worst thing in the world because, you know, with phones these days you can watch TV on your phone and it’s like you have everything there,” said Pasha about sleeping in his car. The time was spent watching “a little bit of tennis, a little bit of HBO, a little bit of South Park, really anything.”

Pasha came from a single-parent home in Atlanta, his mother Delmarie Payton raising Nathan and sister Natasha by herself, suffering economic hardships and being, at one point, being homeless as a family.

Pasha recently told a group of children at the Boys and Girls Club in Vero Beach, Florida of his struggles and eventual successes during the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships, a $10,000 USTA Pro Circuit event. It was at a Boys and Girls Club in Atlanta where Pasha was first introduced to tennis when someone asked the group of children if anyone wanted to play tennis.

“I was kind of debating whether I should raise my hand or not,” Pasha told The Red & Black newspaper at the University of Georgia in 2014 of his decision to first start tennis. “Then I raised it. Then I started playing every Friday from there on out.”

“Nathan is an ambassador for what is really important in the world we live …kindness and mentoring,” said Joe Pappalardo, a board member of the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation and the Boys and Girls Club of Vero Beach. “He understands John Wooden, the late great UCLA basketball coach and mentor, who once said, ‘It takes one moment of time, one kind word to change a child’s life.’ Nathan acknowledged that he owes a huge debt to his Mom and to the Boys and Girls Club of Atlanta for giving him that ‘moment’ of time.”

Pasha has not let the financial struggles of the lower levels of professional tennis get to him, though, as “it all depends on how you look at things.” Pasha continued by stating that “the money part is what takes the fun out of tennis…I’ve just come to terms with the fact that I’m just going to be broke sometimes.”

No matter how successful Pasha’s career winds up being, he will remain humble and will not forget those who helped him get to wherever it is he ends up.

“My ultimate dream is to be top 20 in the world,” he said, “and ultimately be able to give back and help people as much as I can.”

Murphy Jensen Envisions Sea Island Resort As Five-Star Training Playground For Elite Pros

February 7, 2013 by Admin

By Randy Walker

@TennisPublisher

The historic Sea Island Resort, set along the beautiful marshland on the coast of Georgia, is well known as an eco-system for professional golf.

No less than 30 professional golfers call the Sea Island area home, including former PGA champion Davis Love, III, former Masters champion Zach Johnson and 2012 Players’ champion Matt Kuchar. Three highly-regarded golf courses grace the property, including the Seaside Course that hosts the annual McGladrey Classic PGA Tour event, and make for an ideal training environment. Even a golf sports management company, Crown Sports Management, that represents Love, 2012 Fed Ex Cup Champion Brandt Snedeker and major champions Stewart Cink and Lucas Glover among others, is based in the neighborhood.

Murphy Jensen, the 1993 French Open men’s doubles champion and newly appointed Director of Tennis at Sea Island, wants to create his own ”pro tennis subculture” within the environs of this Georgia low country paradise.

“The best golfers in the world are here why wouldn’t you have the best tennis players?“ said Jensen during the recent USA vs. Brazil Davis Cup matches in Jacksonville, located about 70 miles south of Sea Island.

Patrons of Sea Island participating in golf lessons or practice sessions at their highly-regarded training center will often find themselves working out next to actual touring pros. Nothing would please Jensen more than if he could do the same, to an extent, on Sea Island’s tennis courts. Jensen would love to see some of the top tennis pros in the world enjoy the luxurious and five-star environment at Sea Island and treat it as an off-season training site, just as Miami is for Andy Murray and Dubai is for Roger Federer.

“For example, after the Sony Open in Key Biscayne, players can come up and rip it up here at Sea Island,“ said Jensen. “Vika Azarenka and I have been texting. She wants to come here and train and work out. It’s a great place to train and take a bit of a vacation too. You can unwind for five days or a few weeks or so. You can have privacy and receive the five-star treatment that professionals at their level expect.”

The Sea Island Resort features 16 tennis courts – eight at the main Cloister facility and another eight down the road at the facility called The Retreat. All the courts are Har-tru clay, but Jensen envisions converting some of the courts at The Retreat to European red clay, similar to that of the French Open, and some to Deco-Turf II, similar to the hard courts of the US Open. A grass court, to give the resort all of the Grand Slam court surfaces, is also a long-term goal.

Outside of the tennis and golf, Sea Island provides the highest quality of service and hospitality, featuring four Forbes Five-Star offerings. Adjacent to the Cloister tennis center is the five-star rated spa and gym, that also features squash. The accommodations at the five-star Cloister has the look and feel of a English castle where one can almost expect the staff to address you as “My Lord” or “My Lady” to suit the regal accommodations and the level of service. Within the Cloister sits the five-star rated Georgian Room restaurant that offers the some of the finest dining in the world. The five-star rated Lodge at Sea Island Golf Club features rooms with your own private butler and famed Colt & Alison, considered one of the nation’s top steakhouses.

“It takes an extraordinary place to draw either a super star athlete or a famous entertainer or a Wall Street superstar,” said Jensen. “You have to be able to provide services that are extraordinary for those people that have everything and that’s what we have here at Sea Island.”

The main thrust of business for Jensen and his Sea Island Murphy Jensen Tennis Academy is to cater to amateurs, where their revolutionary teaching methods for the modern game is based on instinctual tennis philosophy with the new “eye coach” technology that teaches timing and the proper way to look at the ball with a stationary ball device. Along with his doubles partner brother Luke, who spends 150 days a year at Sea Island as the resort’s touring pro, Jensen will be building tennis programming tailored for doubles players, the skills and talents that thrust the Jensen brothers to be the talk of the tennis world for much of the 1990s. The Jensen brothers also envision bringing in top-notch former pros to conduct “Fantasy Weeks” with amateur players who are able to interact, teach and play with tennis legends.

“I want to be able to bring in players like Martina Hingis or Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg and other friends from my era of the game and we can have a Boris Becker weekend or a Stefan Edberg weekend,” said Jensen, also the coach of the Washington Kastles of World Team Tennis. “They can help you with your games and you can get their perspective on your game and have an amazing experience.”

For more information on Sea Island, go to www.SeaIsland.com