Seniors, Rookies Star For M. Tennis

Harvard men’s tennis co-captain David Lingman spent the offseason working on his fitness, trying to take his game up a notch. Many of his teammates think he has reached that next level after witnessing his 6-2, 6-2 pummeling of Brown’s Adil Shamasdin to win the top draw of this weekend’s Harvard Fall Invitational.

Lingman dominated play throughout the tournament and didn’t drop a single set on his way to the championship.

Harvard coach David Fish ’72 was impressed with the offseason conditioning of Lingman and senior Mark Riddell. He believes fitness allows a player to have more options and make better choices on the court.

“Fatigue makes cowards of us all,” Fish quipped.

During the offseason, Riddell practiced on clay courts to improve his movement. He believes fitness training is a critical step in the evolution of a player.

“I expected Lingman to win the final, because he has been playing really well throughout this whole tournament,” Riddell said after Lingman’s win over Shamasdin.

In the final, Shamasdin was unable to keep up with Lingman, who used great placement and played strong defense as Shamasdin committed numerous unforced errors. According to Lingman, Shamasdin played well in spurts, but was unable to maintain a high level of play throughout the match.

To some, the real final was on Saturday, when Lingman and Riddell—who often play as a doubles team and are hitting partners—squared off in a semifinal. Lingman prevailed 6-2, 6-3 in a match that was closer than the score indicates.

“Mark has improved a lot, and David put in a lot of time into his game over the offseason, all of which bodes well for us this season,” Fish said.

Lingman commented that it is unfortunate that he and Riddell always seem to end up on the same side of the draw.

Another major development for the Crimson was the encouraging performance of the team’s newest members.

Freshman Jack Li displayed both poise and toughness in winning the first-round consolation tournament, 6-4, 6-4 over Brown’s Kris Goddard.

After taking the first set, Li trailed 3-4 in the second before using his strong serve and backhand to win three straight games to close out the match.

Li admitted he was nervous playing in his first college tournament, but cited Fish and his teammates as having helped his focus.

“This is a team of great, talented guys who have helped me assimilate to collegiate tennis,” Li said.

Throughout the tournament, Li started slowly, but improved as he got deeper into matches. Li also admitted that he got a few lucky bounces that helped his confidence.

Li teamed with fellow rookie Gideon Valkin to march into the finals of the doubles draw. Li and Valkin ultimately lost to the top-seeded pair of Jamie Cerretani and Shamasdin of Brown 8-0, but showed tremendous potential in upsetting their fifth-seeded teammates, senior Chris Chiou and freshman Shantanu Dhaka, and third-seeded Nick Goldberg and Zack Pasanen from Brown. While Li and Valkin made several unforced errors in the uneven final, they produced a number of strong volleys and winners.

“This was a great opportunity to learn that there is no such thing as being humiliated when you make it to the finals of a competitive tournament,” Fish said.

Several players had praise for the freshman class, which adds depth to a team expecting to lose several seniors after this season.

“The freshman are on a steep learning curve, but they are doing a good job,” Riddell said.

Chiou won the second-round consolation final over Pasanen, 6-0, 6-2. Chiou’s aggressive approaches and volleys proved to be too much for all of his opponents, as he was dominant throughout the consolation tournament.

On Saturday, sophomore Caleb Gardner prevailed 6-3, 6-3 in the “B” flight singles final over Tufts’ Rifat Perahya.

According to Fish, the tournament was a productive warm-up event, allowing many players in his deep lineup to experience pressure situations.

Harvard will be in action this weekend in tournaments at Virginia and Brown.