He Didn’t Let Pressure Get to Him

If not for a sore hamstring, Philip Sheng of Thousand Oaks High might have become the first boys’ tennis player to win consecutive Southern Section singles championships since Tom Leonard of Arcadia did it in 1965 and ’66.

Sheng was forced to retire because of a cramping right leg while trailing K.C. Corkery of Mira Costa, 4-6, 6-4, 3-0, in the final.

But that was about the only accomplishment Sheng failed to achieve during a sterling junior season. He is a repeat selection as The Times’ regional player of the year.

“With trying to repeat [as Southern Section champion] and everything, I definitely felt some pressure,” Sheng said. “There’s a lot of expectations on me. Everybody expects me to win now, and if I lose, it’s like, ‘What happened?’ ”

That’s understandable. Sheng is 212-30 in sets in the last three years.

This season, he was 63-7 and won his third consecutive Marmonte League singles title. He dropped only one set--to Calabasas’ Nick Weiss--in round-robin matches, helping Thousand Oaks finish 14-6 and reach the Division II quarterfinals. Sheng defeated Weiss in the 1999 section final.

“He’s had a great year,” said Coach Dave Assorson of Thousand Oaks. “Just the fact that he reached the Southern Section final again was an accomplishment in itself, and I still think he would have won that match if he would have been able to play.”

The 6-foot-2, 185-pound Sheng wore down opponents, who had trouble returning his powerful serve and ferocious forehand.

“There were a few guys out there that were good, but Phil was clearly the best guy around,” Assorson said. “People would ask me about him, and I’d tell them you could probably make a 10-mile radius around where we are, and I can’t think of anybody that can beat him.”

Sheng is ranked No. 2 in Southern California behind Corkery and No. 18 nationally in the boys’ 18 division by the U.S. Tennis Assn.

He won the high school division championship at the 100th Ojai tournament in April, a year after losing in the semifinals.

“I think everybody kind of knew he was on a little higher level,” Assorson said. “You marveled at the talent that he had.”

Assorson probably will not get another chance to coach Sheng, who plans to graduate after the fall semester and either play in lower-level professional events or begin college early.

“I kind of feel like we’ve been fortunate to have had him for three years,” Assorson said. “I think other players in his position might not even have played high school tennis.”

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All-region boys’ tennis team. Page 20

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Tennis Top 10

Final rankings of boys’ teams from the region

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RK School (League) Rec. 1 Harvard-Westlake (Mission) 25-4-1 2 Westlake (Marmonte) 21-0 3 Burbank (Foothill) 19-3 4 Rio Mesa (Pacific View) 18-3 5 Crespi (Mission) 18-5 6 Thousand Oaks (Marmonte) 14-6 7 El Camino Real (West Valley) 15-1 8 Granada Hills (West Valley) 14-2 9 Camarillo (Pacific View) 15-6 10 Calabasas (Frontier) 16-6

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