Lukoil Open Battle of the Samuels: Years Are Against Me Despite My Indirect Wins Over Pete Sampras, McEnroe and Bjorn Borg
The draw is up for the Lukoil Open, and the years and statistics are against me. I play Samuel Sherrill from Southborough, Mass., a recent number one player for Roanoke College in Salem, Va., in the first round at 3 p.m. Friday. So I’m giving away about twenty years, but will give it a shot. He could always get stuck in traffic, or get lost on the way to the Green Valley Tennis Club. I know how to find my home courts with ease.
I also play against him in doubles. He’s teamed with Franklin Sherrill, whom I assume is his brother, who has played on the Futures tour. Franklin Sherrill last year was part of a team that won the USTA National Open Grass Court championship, so my buddy Jim Lewis and I might be in some trouble.
However, the Sherrills probably don’t know that Jim and I have some claim to fame that happened long before they were born. Jim and his mother reached the semifinals of the Charleston (W.Va.) Public Courts Mixed Doubles Championships circa 1977 despite Jim playing with a cast on an arm he broke while goofing around in the parking lot during a rain delay, a feat worthy of the front-page newspaper coverage he received.
That very same summer I beat Al Parker in a doubles match in Savannah, Ga., when he was eight and I was ten. Parker went on to win 25 junior national championships in singles and doubles, a record that will never be touched. Eight years after my win over him he beat none other than Pete Sampras in straight sets, giving me an indirect win over Sampras. Sampras beat McEnroe in the 1990 U.S. Open, giving me indirect wins over Borg, and just about any player in history if I chart it out far enough. So look out, Sammy Sherrill.
Check back Friday night to see if I was able to win any games or not, and you can follow the results on the tournament page.
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Aug 6th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
I am Jim Lewis’s mom. When I read your blog I rally got a chuckle.
Good luck this weekend. I won’t be there in body but I will be there in spirit. I have to tell you another story on Jim. He was about 8 or 9. His tennis pro had told him not to let anything distract you while playing a match. Just stop until the distraction stops. While playing a match also at Public Courts in Charleston, WV with bleachers loaded with fans and family, a freight train goes by behind the courts. You guessed it.
Jim stopped and let the train go by (all 80 or so cars) before he served the next ball.
Aug 7th, 2009 at 11:15 am
On this indirect win theme — with George Loesch’s win over a 15-year old John McEnroe in the 70s, and since I think we have all won at least once in a doubles match against George, we now have indirect wins over McEnroe, Connors, Borg, Lendl, and Wilander. That should give us confidence against these feeble “Futures” players today!!!