Top-Ranked Doubles Player Has Single-Minded Determination to Win

Jim Pugh, the world’s top-ranked doubles player, sat in the living room of his parents’ Palos Verdes Estate home. He constantly glanced at the tennis court in the back yard, the one he practices on when he’s in town.

Lately though, he’s been globe-trotting, winning big tennis titles and big money. And now he’s relaxing after winning a mixed doubles title at Wimbledon and a singles championship in Rhode Island.

For those who knew Pugh as an adolescent, his success may be somewhat surprising, because he wasn’t a star at Palos Verdes High or even at UCLA. He left UCLA after two mediocre seasons for a professional career that was a initially struggle.

But Pugh, 25, did show flashes of stardom early in his career. When he was 13 he defeated Jimmy Arias in the finals of the prestigious Orange Bowl Tournament, and was one of the nation’s top-ranked juniors.

“That year he lost only one set and that was to Arias,” said John Hillebrand, who coached Pugh from the time he was 10 until he was 23. “When I met him he was a champion 10-year old, hitting flat-top spin and slice. When he played in the 12s, no one could handle his topspin and he was very consistent. He really dominated that year.”

But Pugh’s successful junior career took a dive after that. At Palos Verdes and at UCLA he was a gangly, 6-foot-4 kid with a nagging shoulder injury and a lot of developing to do.

“There were times,” Pugh said, “when I really wondered if I would still be good. I wondered if I still had it.”

Tendinitis in his right shoulder forced him to play his senior year at Palos Verdes left handed. The injury affected his performance at UCLA where he was excluded from the singles lineup as a freshman but played No. 3 doubles.

As a sophomore in 1984, he reached the finals of the Pacific-10 tournament in Ojai and earned the No. 3 singles spot late in the season. UCLA won the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. title that year, but Pugh contributed little because he pulled a stomach muscle shortly before the Georgia tournament.

“He was real solid and he had very solid ground strokes,” said UCLA tennis Coach Glenn Bassett, who has led the Bruins to seven NCAA titles in 24 years. “But when he was here he was a little bit like a giraffe. He was real thin. Now he’s filled out and he’s a lot stronger.”

So is Pugh’s game, which is considered unorthodox because he uses a two-handed forehand as well as a two-handed backhand. As a youth he says several coaches attempted to correct it, but he refused.

“I could have changed it when I was younger,” Pugh said, “but it works. I’ve always been pretty coordinated with both hands. I guess it started when I was 4 and my dad first took me out to play. The racket was pretty heavy, so I had to hold it with both hands.”

The unusual style of play has proven successful for Pugh who’s ranked 59th in the world in singles. It’s helped him win four mixed doubles grand slam titles and a singles championship.

Earlier this month at Wimbledon he and Czechoslovakian partner Jana Novotna won the mixed doubles title by defeating Australians Jenny Byrne and Mark Kratzmann in three sets. Pugh and Novotna also won this year’s Australian Open title and last year they won both the Australian and U.S. Open mixed doubles titles.

“At the 1988 Australian Open,” Pugh said, “I didn’t have a mixed doubles partner and I just went up to the women’s association desk and they referred me to (Novotna). So far so good.”

Things have also gone well with Rick Leach, a former USC standout, who teamed up with Pugh in January of last year. The former college rivals reached the men’s doubles finals at Wimbledon. With the exception of a quarterfinal, five-set match, they cruised through all their rounds in straight sets. In the finals they lost to Australian John Fitzgerald and Swede Anders Jarryd.

“I really don’t know what happened,” Pugh said shaking his head. “We had won most of our matches fairly comfortably, but we just couldn’t pull that one out. It was still great to make it that far.”

His doubles victories were exciting, but Pugh says the highlight of his trip to England was beating John McEnroe at the Wirral Invitational right before Wimbledon. He defeated the world’s fifth-ranked player in two tie-breaker sets and received congratulatory fan mail at Wimbledon for his accomplishment. “It was kind of nice to get mail from people I didn’t even know,” Pugh said. It’s just that in England they love to hate McEnroe. I’d say that was my best singles win ever.”

McEnroe got even at Wimbledon, defeating Pugh in the third round and proceeding to the semifinals where he lost to Stefan Edberg.

“He was very determined,” Pugh said. “He really wanted to beat me. But when I beat him I played out of my head. I couldn’t miss.”

And that’s what Pugh did in his next tournament, less than a day after his Wimbledon mixed doubles triumph. He headed for Newport, R.I., and won his first professional singles title.

Though exhausted because of the time change and lengthy plane ride, Pugh beat sixth-seeded Peter Lundgren in the final of the Volvo-Hall of Fame Championships as an unseeded player.

He’s still surprised at his performance in Newport. In fact, he thought he might not make it to his first-round match because Wimbledon mixed doubles ran a day late because of a rain delay.

“I still don’t know if it’s sunk in yet,” Pugh said of the victory. “I didn’t get there until 4 a.m. because I had to play mixed on Monday and I was jet-lagged out. I thought I’d probably lose in the first round.”

That sounds a lot like the Jim Pugh who doubted his ability 10 years ago. Only now he has the physique and refined skills to prove that he does. That’s why he’s taking a break and kicking back in Hawaii this week instead of worrying about the U.S. Open next month.