Southern Section Boys’ Tennis : Briggs--All Smiles--Advances to Semifinals

Corona del Mar High School’s top tennis player, Mike Briggs, played his first two rounds of the Southern Section individual championships Friday as any gentleman would: full of smiles and civility.

After all, he has a little honor to defend. Briggs took the section singles championship last year, though he entered this year’s draw seeded second behind Jeff Tarango of Mira Costa.

That’s no reason to get ruffled. It’s only proper for a guest to get top billing. This year’s tournament is in Briggs’ home territory, the Newport Beach Tennis Club.

But that doesn’t mean players can push him around, either. Briggs defeated Alex Reichel of Los Altos in Friday’s first-round match, 6-1, 6-3, and Mark Hansen of Miraleste in the quarterfinals, 6-3, 6-4, just to let everyone know who’s boss.

They probably knew it beforehand.

Briggs is a two-time Sea View League singles champion and is ranked second in Southern California by the United States Tennis Assn. He was also selected as an alternate for the 1986 Junior Davis Cup team.

Still, modesty becomes him.

After the Ojai Invitational tournament this month, Corona del Mar Coach Dave Heffern received a call from the CIF office commending Briggs’ demeanor. They called him “a class act.”

Briggs took second at Ojai, losing to rival Tarango, who is ranked No. 1 in Southern California in singles and No. 2 in the nation in doubles by the USTA. Tarango was also selected for the Junior Davis Cup team and has been named Adidas’ tennis player of the month.

Sort of a noble challenge.

But Briggs can adjust to the competition, both mentally and physically. He’s so flexible, he’s ambidextrous and can serve and hit overheads with both hands.

And his amiability is sometimes what perplexes his opponents the most.

“I’m sorry,” he said to Hansen as he pounded a successful overhead in the ninth game of the first set. Briggs took a 5-3 (30-love) lead with that shot.

Two points later, he complimented Hansen on a “great lob,” which barely slipped by him as he jaunted to the net. This was on a triple-set point.

Not exactly the John McEnroe approach, but it works for him. Briggs immediately served an ace.

So, it was a bit of a shock when Hansen called Briggs’ oh-so-close serve wide in the second game of the second set.

“What?” Briggs screeched before regaining composure.

Then in a calmer but more strained voice he said: “Can you please tell me where that hit? I saw that right on the line.”

Briggs then asked Hansen to point out the spot where the ball had bounced. Briggs lost the argument but won the next point.

He almost lost his temper when he led, 5-3 (30-30), and was fooled by Hansen’s delicate cross-court volley that landed just over the net.

But he maintained his smile, even when Hansen took the game with a similar volley, this one deeper and more powerful.

“You’re amazing,” Briggs said as he watched the ball fly past him.

All of a sudden, there was no more fooling around, and Briggs took the last game without giving up a point.

It was all smiles and handshakes from there.

Briggs will face Steve Wiere of Calabasas today at 11 in the semifinals.