Camaraderie, Fun Mark Open

Jack Li and the “Chu-Chiu” train (or was it the “Chu-Chiu-Chiou” train?) rolled right over the competition at the Murr Center this weekend. As the Harvard men’s tennis team (3-2, 0-0 Ivy) hosted the USTA Men’s Open Championships on the heels of two hard-earned Valentine’s victories, the squad relaxed and let its momentum carry them through an enjoyable weekend.

Li, a freshman, took the singles finals from his teammate and doubles partner Chris Chiou 7-6 (4), 6-3, and the top-seeded doubles duo of sophomore Brandon Chiu and Jonathan Chu won its final 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

As the weekend’s competition was not a dual-meet, however, the results had no bearing on the Crimson’s record. As a result, Harvard coach David Fish said, “It [was] a wonderful learning opportunity where a lot of people [were] having fun.”

Fish was right on two counts. First, the players were having a lot of fun. Mocking strains of “Let’s go, HBS! Let’s go, HBS!” echoed through the courts as the competitors (from different schools, of different ages and even enrolled in different branches of Harvard) teased each other.

Second, the emphasis was on learning, all right. Five of the Harvard players in the singles draw were freshmen, and only one of the youngsters, Li, has had any significant singles experience this season.

In fact, it was Li who stole the show in Saturday’s quarterfinals when he downed Chris Drake, the second-seed and former Brown captain. In his collegiate days, Drake had enjoyed success over the Crimson and specifically second-seeded junior Jonathan Chu.

“I knew it was going to be a really tough match,” Li said after felling the former Bear. “I’ve heard a bunch about [Drake] from the guys on the team. He beat [Chu] last year in the dual-matches, and I knew I was going to have my hands full today.”

With the most glaring of his matches behind him, Li cruised through the semifinals with a 6-3, 6-3 win before facing Chiou in the finals.

While Li clearly held the upper hand over his partner-turned-opponent, the freshman continued a pattern of first-set hiccups. Having secured a 4-1 lead, Li dropped his serve twice and allowed Chiou to take a 5-4 lead.

“It felt kind of weird playing my doubles partner because I always play with him,” Li said after his finals victory. “This time…I had to block all my thoughts out.

“When I was down 4-5 serving,” he added, “I felt like I had to step it up to another level, and I just had to be a little more intense. I was intense the whole time, but I had to be a little more committed with my shots and penetrate and come in and take his strength away.”

Indeed, first-set glitch aside, Li was dominant when he rushed the net, and his deep, powerful groundstrokes set up such approaches quite effectively. It was only when Li became hesitant—as he did when the score drew even—that he lost this aggressiveness.

“Jack’s interesting because he’s extremely talented,” Fish said, “and he’s faced with the same challenge that any junior player has when he gets into college: how to organize his game so as to make the most efficient use of his tools.”

Today’s victory was certainly a big step in the right direction, as the freshman seemed to be making smarter and smarter shots as the matches progressed. He began drawing his opponents wider and wider on the baseline, he tossed in a variety of angles and volleys, and his consistency under such pressure was marked.

“It’s always tough to play a good friend,” Chiou said after his defeat, “[but] he just played better today.”

Li’s strong showing was one of many put forth by the Crimson this weekend. Harvard won six of its first-round matches, three in the round of 16, two in the quarterfinals, both of the semifinals, and, of course, the finals.

In the doubles draw, Harvard entered three pairs. The sophomore-freshman duo of Caleb Gardener and Scott Denenberg won its first match but then lost to Drake and his doubles partner in the second round. Another Crimson pairing, that of freshmen Shantanu Dhaka and Gideon Valkin, lost 4-6, 4-6 in the first round.

It was the “Chu-Chiu” train which won the doubles title, despite the fact the Chu normally plays with captain David Lingman and Chiu with senior Mark Riddell. The match took three hours, but the Harvard tandem came out on top in three long sets.

With such a depth of talent in both draws, it seemed almost inevitable that the tournament would have its share of Crimson-Crimson singles matches, and, in fact, there were three.

Chiou had the distinction of playing in all of them, each time competing against a freshman teammate. He defeated Valkin 6-2, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (1) in the Round of 16 and Denenberg 7-5, 6-1 in the quarterfinals before losing to Li.

It was Chiou’s semifinal match against top-seeded Trevor Spracklin, who has tasted moderate success on the pro-circuit, in which he proved his mettle.

Chiou displayed excellent movement as he tracked down every angle and denied many would-be winners. He put the ball back in play over and over again, and it was ultimately Spracklin who lost his cool, dropped his racket, screamed in frustration and crumbled.

Unlike Spracklin, Chiou’s Harvard opponents seemed to enjoy the matches. The players called encouragement and praise back and forth during the matches, complimenting winners and clapping their hands against their rackets in approval.

Often, the two Harvard players would pause mid-game and watch a teammate’s point several courts down, calling out words of support.

The teammate-versus-teammate occurrences were enjoyable for the coaches as well. The cheer “C’mon, Harvard,” took on a new meaning.

The squad kept the energy flowing in a constant stream, no matter who was up and who was down.

“That’s been the whole point,” Fish said of his team’s camaraderie. “If you can’t appreciate excellence, you’re missing something.”

Chiou agreed, adding, “that’s been a theme for our team, this energy and support.”