Professionally Speaking, He Remains a Step Away

As the 10th-ranked amateur racquetball player in Southern California, a professional career has long been on the mind of Mark Silva. Toward that goal, he has trained with Steve Lerner and Marci Drexler, both ranked in the top 10 nationally among men’s and women’s professionals.

But for Mark Silva, the desire to turn professional and playing like one have been two different stories.

Silva, 21, has had little trouble with California Amateur Racquetball Assn. competition. Competing in 40 to 50 tournaments a year, Silva, who lives in Sherman Oaks, is ranked 15th in the state.

But against top professionals from the Racquetball Men’s Assn., including Corey Brysman, Brian Hawks and Ed Andrews, Silva has suffered defeat after defeat.

“There’s usually one tournament a month,” Silva said. “Every time I play against them I always get to the quarterfinals. Then I get beat.”

Because racquetball hasn’t impacted upon America the way tennis has, professional tournaments aren’t exactly lucrative. To earn extra prize money, professionals are permitted to compete in amateur tournaments, in which winnings are usually less than $1,000. This, of course, can make the climb difficult for up-and-coming players like Silva.

“Sometimes I get a little psyched out when I play against those guys,” Silva said. “Sometimes I think, ‘I’m going to lose so why even try?’ But most of the time I have a good attitude. And I always go all out.”

Silva, who abstained from tournaments for eight months to concentrate on improving his game, reached the quarterfinals of the Claremont Shootout last month before losing to Brysman. Two months earlier, Silva was beaten by Hawks in a tournament in Del Amo. Silva also lost to Andrews in a tournament within the past year.

“Always in the semis or quarterfinals,” Silva said. “They beat me consistently.”

So why keep coming back for more?

“It’s a challenge for me to beat one of these guys in one of these tournaments,” Silva said. “There’s going to be that one tournament that I’m going to win. Like Boris Becker at Wimbledon. He was ranked something like 24th and no one had ever heard of him. Then he played the best tennis of his life. That’s my dream.”

Silva, with about 200 amateurs, will compete in Stockton in September for the chance to earn a spot in the top 30 in the RMA’s national rankings.

“There’s a lot of players to beat,” Silva said. “But hopefully, I’ll be able to keep a low profile and appear in the final. Then people will be saying ‘Who is this kid?’ ”

And if he fails again?

“I’ll still play for fun,” Silva said. “But I’ll probably play a lot more golf.

“I’m going to give it two or three years. I just want to see if I can make it. Racquetball might be on TV someday and I’ll say to myself, ‘I could have done that.’ ”