Crimson Players Compete Against Legends

The Harvard men’s tennis team hardly had a chance to take a breath.

In the weeks following the final game of its turnaround 2006-07 season, the squad was lavished with honors, both on the courts and off.

On the courts, the members of the team got the chance to engage in some friendly competition against some of tennis’ all-time greats from their respective countries; sophomore Chris Clayton played a set with American great John McEnroe, outgoing co-captain senior Gideon Valkin hit with one-time world No. 6 Wayne Ferreira, and freshman Michael Hayes played with Australia’s Pat Cash and Todd Martin. Hayes won at Wimbledon in 1987 and Martin was once ranked as high as fourth in the world. [PLEASE SEE CORRECTION BELOW.] The tennis stars were in Boston for an benefit tournament and banquet in early May.

Off the courts, Valkin was Harvard’s one nominee from among 41 Crimson varsity sports for the prestigious NCAA Sportsmanship Award, which will be announced in July. Valkin looks to add the accolade to an already long list, including a complete sweep of all three of Harvard’s team awards. His teammates chose him both as the Most Valuable Player and the Most Improved Player, while his coaches gave him the “Above and Beyond” award.

“There are plenty of guys who are good sports,” Crimson coach Dave Fish ’72 said, “but Gideon plays with élan. He’s a real sportsman. He always plays with passion, but without the ugly side.”

Valkin, who ended the season on an 11 game singles winning streak, cited a robust work-ethic as the reason for his success this season.

“I’ve put in a lot of effort into the team this year,” Valkin said. “I spent the whole year working toward having a good personal season, and toward getting the team as good a season as possible. This is just one of those things—an external award—it feels like I’ve been rewarded for whole bunch of hard work I would have done anyway.”

The honors may have eased the pain of having his personal win-streak snapped at the hands of Ferreira, who beat Valkin in a baseline rallying contest that the Harvard senior took to match point.

“Ferreira’s got one of the best groundstroke games ever,” Valkin said. “We played a baseline game that lasted 10 minutes, but I felt like I played a three-set match. At the end of the day, he could hit a forehand winner from pretty much wherever he wanted.”

Like Valkin, Clayton elevated his game against one of his tennis heroes. The two played on serve for ten games, calling the match at five apiece because McEnroe had to attend a banquet.

“When McEnroe hits the ball it is still a work of art,” Fish said. “To watch the ball come off his racket on volleys is a remarkable visual cocktail.”

The tennis greats gave Harvard’s players an unusual chance to learn from the highest authorities, and they capitalized. Hayes spent nearly half an hour under the instruction of both Cash and Martin.

“The guys couldn’t have been more gracious,” Fish said.

Harvard also began setting the foundations for next year, Clayton and junior Dan Nguyen as the team’s co-captains for next season. The two bring contrasting styles to the position: Nguyen is a more quiet leader compared to Clayton’s highly vocal style.

“I’m looking forward to being captain and showing the same sort of competitiveness and the same sort of class that Gideon and [outgoing co-captain] Scott [Denenberg] have shown as competitors,” Clayton said. “We have big shoes to fill as far as rapport with the guys.”

—Staff writer Jonathan B. Steinman can be reached at steinman@fas.harvard.edu.

CORRECTION

The above article incorrectly stated that Harvard freshman Michael Hayes won at Wimbledon in 1987. In fact, it was Australia's Pat Cash, whom Hayes played with, who won at Wimbledon in 1987. The Crimson regrets the error.