Team’s Not Only Thing for Nelson : Former Mount Carmel Player Aims to Improve His Rank

Todd Nelson was envious when the first World Team Tennis squad began playing in San Diego in 1975.

Nelson, a freshman at Mount Carmel High School at the time, watched Rod Laver, Ross Case and Vijay Amritraj play for the San Diego Friars. He wished he could play, but such professionals were above his level.

Ten years later, there are probably some high school freshmen who will be envious of Todd Nelson.

Nelson now plays well enough to have pushed Pat Cash to five sets at Wimbledon two weeks ago and well enough to have lost only 7-6, 7-5 to Wimbledon champion Boris Becker at Queens Club last month.

The next step is to beat such players, and Nelson’s next chance to gain some experience will be playing singles for the Buds, San Diego’s current team tennis franchise. The Buds open Wednesday night against Miami Beach at the San Diego Sports Arena.

“A lot of people in San Diego have seen me progress over the years,” Nelson said. “It’s important for people to know that it’s not a fluke that I’m here. I’ve worked hard to get in this position.”

Much of Nelson’s success can be attributed to his coach, Larry Willens, who also coached the 1975 Friars and is coaching the Buds.

Willens first saw Nelson play seven years ago in a junior tournament at Morley Field.

“I wasn’t so impressed with his tennis skills, but I noticed immediately that he was a tremendous athlete,” Willens said. “That’s something we’re not used to in tennis. There are a lot of outstanding tennis players out there, but not many outstanding athletes. I knew, with that kind of talent, he could become an outstanding player.”

For now, Nelson is attempting to improve on a world ranking (No. 106) on the Assn. of Tennis Professionals computer in 1984.

The highest ranked player in the TeamTennis league is Terry Moor, who finished 34th on the computer last season.

“This (TeamTennis) is going to be an outstanding opportunity for Todd,” said Willens. “He’ll get a lot of good competition, and this will be a great place for him to learn how to win.”

Willens started teaching Nelson about winning after seeing him play in 1978. The result has been Nelson’s steady improvement. From a No. 800 ranking in 1981, Nelson cut his ranking in half each of the next three seasons.

Willens became Nelson’s coach during his last year at Mount Carmel and worked with him for two years when Nelson played at Grossmont College.

“He really worked me hard,” Nelson said. “We worked on learning to control my ground strokes and mental strategies. He taught me a lot of things to remember about executing my shots.”

Nelson won the Southern California junior college championship in 1980 and received a scholarship to play at Arizona State. In 1982, he reached the third round of the NCAA singles tournament.

In 1983, Nelson qualified for his first U.S. Open, losing to Ricardo Acuna in the first round. In 1984, Nelson reached the third round of the Open before losing to Cash in three sets.

“Ever since I started working with Larry I wanted to play TeamTennis in San Diego,” Nelson said. “The idea of playing here is great. I’m home and the fact that my friends and family can come see me play is very important.”

The 24-year-old Nelson, who is 6-foot 1-inches, goes after his opponents with a powerful serve-and-volley game. It is consistency for which he is striving.

Nelson’s game was on in the first set of his Wimbledon match with Cash. Nelson won, 6-2, and Cash later said Nelson “played like Superman” in the set.

But after the third game of the second set, rain delayed the match for two days. When they resumed, Cash rallied for a 2-6, 6-2, 7-5, 6-7, 6-3 victory.

Said Willens: “(Nelson’s) very fast so he can get to a lot of balls, and he’s very quick so that he can put them away. From a selfish standpoint, we’re going to work a lot on Todd’s mental game this season. The difference between a player like Cash and him is experience and the mental part of the game. Had Todd 100% believed that he could have beaten Cash at Wimbledon, he would have.”

Said Nelson: “I’m sure Pat Cash isn’t worried about playing a guy like me, but he had to play awfully well to beat me. To beat him I have to believe in myself and that might have been the difference. I was worried about what he’d do with some of shots rather that just hitting them.”

Nelson’s immediate goal is a ranking in the top 50. After competing in the month-long TeamTennis season, Nelson will play in the Canadian Open and his third U.S. Open.

“My ambition is to some day be ranked in the top 10,” he said. “Playing Cash at Wimbledon is one step and making the third round of the Open is one step. TeamTennis is another.

“Most importantly though, I want to enjoy myself. As long as I’m a good sportsman and I play well, I’ll be happy.”