It Was a Tennis Match He Chose to Let Slip Away

As a tennis fan, I look forward to the Southern Section boys’ individual tennis tournament every spring. Each year, the event gives Southern Californians a preview of the future of college and professional tennis.

A list of some of the past winners of the event reads like a who’s who of tennis: the world’s No. 1 player, Pete Sampras; former U.S. Open champion Stan Smith; the world’s top doubles player, Rick Leach, and Jon Leach and Brett Hansen, members of the NCAA champion USC Trojans.

This year’s tournament could have included Sunny Hills sophomore Kevin Kim, the top-ranked 16-year-old player in the nation. But Kim decided to skip the event in favor of practicing for an upcoming series of clay-court tournaments in Europe and the United States. Kim also missed last year’s tournament because of an injury.

Newport Harbor sophomore Geoff Abrams, ranked just below Kim in the national boys’ 16 rankings, said he couldn’t blame Kim for wanting to get some clay-court experience.

“I’ve played on clay before, Kevin hasn’t,” said Abrams, who is playing virtually the same clay-court events as Kim. “I’m playing the CIF because it’d be a nice thing to win.”

Abrams realizes that for tennis players growing up in Southern California, winning the section individual tournament is a bit like an American winning the U.S. Open.

If Kim never wins or never even plays in the section individual tournament, it would be no great catastrophe. He already has won more local and national tournaments than most players his age. And even without Kim, the tennis was excellent last weekend at the Seacliff Tennis Club in Huntington Beach.

But it is somewhat bothersome to hear of a young tennis player missing an event that is played by all of his peers.

Skipping the section individuals probably won’t mean anything to Kim in two years, but when he’s 30 or so, he might have wished he could have those four days of practice back.