Wright Earns Final Victory in Boys’ 12 National Tennis

Matthew Wright and Justin Gimelstob looked to the skies. Wright was elated, Gimelstob deflated.

And when they shook hands at the net after Wright’s 7-5, 6-3 victory in the final of the Boys’ 12 U.S. Tennis Assn. National Championships at Morely Field Sunday, neither probably recognized the significance of the match.

Wright’s victory made him the last person to win the 28-year-old tournament. The USTA will stop holding individual national championship tournaments for the 12-year-old division after this year.

“The USTA felt there was just too much pressure on the youngsters,” said Jim Hillman, director of the Southern California Tennis Assn. junior development program. The boys’ 12 tournament, which has been in San Diego since 1980, has had some well-known winners. Dick Stockton, Brian Gottfried, Gene Meyer, Jimmy Arias and Michael Chang have won the tournament and Jimmy Connors and Aaron Krickstein have won doubles titles.

Wright, of Wichita, Kan., started slowly, trailing, 4-2, in the first set before he broke Gimelstob and then held serve to pull even. With Gimelstob serving, 40-0, in the ninth game, Wright rallied with several crisp forehand winners to take the game and a 5-4 lead.

“That got me going a little bit,” Wright said.

The day wasn’t a total loss for Gimelstob, of Eastern Falls, N.J., who got a measure of revenge on Wright by teaming with John Michael Gambill of Spokane, Wash., to win the doubles championship. They defeated Wright and Lake McMeans, of Knoxville, Tenn., 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.