Freshman Li Playing As a Veteran

You might not take Jack Li for an athlete the first time you meet him. Polite and soft-spoken from behind his glasses, Li is, by all accounts, as unassuming as can be. But his forehand, as it sails screaming down the line and very nearly kisses the baseline, tells a different tale altogether.

Indeed, the Hong Kong native’s blistering groundstrokes—coupled with a mental approach maturing by each match—have earned Li a starting spot on the lineup of the Harvard men’s tennis team. He is, by the way, the only freshman to claim such an honor.

And as his results indicate, the first year has settled into life as a varsity athlete. Having almost completed a full year for the Crimson (9-3), Li has amassed impressive records of 21-6 and 15-8 in singles and doubles play, respectively.

So though he may not look the part of a big bad athlete, Jack Li is, according to his teammate and sometime-doubles partner, senior Chris Chiou, “as good as they come.”

GAME ON

As the only freshman who regularly travels, Li—who moved to sunny California at the age of ten and only then began to pursue tennis seriously—has had to adjust to long hours away from his desk.

“I think the hardest thing to adjust to is the training schedule,” he admitted. “I’m practicing a lot more—way more than I used to in high school.”

And he is also spending a lot more time on the road. The Crimson has already traveled to five states this spring season, with three more to come, and oftentimes the roadtrips will last three or four days.

Moreover, the tennis seasons are long. Really long. In fact, December is the only month of the academic year during which the players have blank calendars.

“I just have to focus on either tennis or work,” Li said. “Tennis or work.”

Thus far, though, he’s done quite well, and Harvard coach David Fish ’72 isn’t the least bit surprised.

“Jack has that level of personal organization,” Fish said. “It was pretty clear when I was recruiting him that he knew how to handle himself.”

The same can be said for Li on the court. The rookie earned his first dual match victory in early October, dropping only three games. The very next day, he lost only one.

And just a month ago, Li earned himself a singles title at the February Men’s Open at the Murr. Since then, he has won six of seven singles matches, needing a third set to clinch victory only twice in that time span.

For the freshman who says he emulates the likes of Pete Sampras and Roger Federer, this success has come from careful adjustment.

DISTILLING THE GOODS

“My strength in the game is probably my forehand,” Li said, smiling. “I really love to stay on the baseline and out-hit my opponent and move him around.”

Indeed, Li’s deep and powerful baseline game, when coupled with an impressive serve, allow him to dictate play against opponents who are oftentimes much larger than he is.

“Jack had a lot of talent coming in,” co-captain David Lingman said, “and a lot of us saw that. It was pretty evident.”

But, said Fish, “everybody’s going to have talent.”

“It’s like the Boston Celtics,” the coach explained. “[They] won 10 world championships, and they ran it with seven plays. They didn’t let everybody do whatever they felt like just because they were so talented.”

Fish added that, “the people who really [succeed are those who] learn to focus their game the way you would focus light through a lens.

“It gets more penetrating—it gets like a laser. And that’s what high performance is at the college or the pro level.”

And it seems Li is learning to concentrate his efforts. Fish spoke of the freshman’s commitment to fitness, adding, “Jack can do just about anything with the ball.

“[The goal is to] get him to distill what are the best things that he can do with the ball, rather than doing them all.”

Li echoed these thoughts, saying that he prides himself “on playing a smart game.”

WHICH PART OF ACHILLES?

In today’s world of violent and fast-paced sports, tennis is often viewed as a country-club hobby. Anyone who has set foot on a competitive tennis court knows, however, that this is not the case. The game is a battle, both mental and physical, and even the nicest of players must shed his geniality before stepping in between the lines.

“The personality of our team is, for the most part, just nice guys,” said Fish said. “When someone wants to come out on the court and rip your heart out, it’s a little shocking to them at first.”

And so, Fish explains to his players, they have a choice.

“That’s really the Achilles heel of the team” he said, “and we have to decide whether we’re going to be defined as Achilles eventually was—as a great warrior—or as his heel. And the choice is up to you.”

Li found the answer an easy one.

“I don’t find it hard to push aside any nice feelings,” he said. “I am very competitive.”

But pushing aside fuzzy feelings is one thing—being harsh is another altogether.

“He’s had to change his attitude to go after college players,” Lingman said. “[He’s had] to be a little bit meaner than he really is, because he’s one of the nicest guys.

“So [he had to] try to put that aside and really compete hard, and I think he’s done a really good job so far.”

A BALANCING ACT

We’ve all seen John McEnroe throwing tantrums on the courts and an aged Jimmy Connors screaming at the chair umpire. Sometimes, a little aggression can go a long way.

But this doesn’t always work. Case in point is the classic underachiever Marat Safin. Sometimes, a player’s frustration is his own undoing.

Competing at the collegiate level—which is a big step up from the high school circuit—Li has had to find his own balance.

“Jack’s biggest problems this year have been rooted in his mental game,” explained Chiou.

“I always ask Jack before we play a doubles match, ‘Jack, where are you right now?’ In our first few matches, he would always say, ‘I am reaaalllly fired up to go.’ I would always tell him that he should calm himself [down].

“He is so fired up to play that it aversely affects his game.”

Li has now learned to translate that internal energy into something more productive, both for his teammates and himself: outward intensity.

“I had some reservations about being loud on the court,” he admitted, “because I don’t like to show a lot of emotions. I also felt like that a very in-your-face thing to do.”

However, he noted, “emotions can be a catalyst for our team…I look at it as a way to pump [up] my teammates.”

And the freshman, who trails only Lingman in singles victories, has done just that.