LATA

Wrapping the PS interviews up, but look for more content soon!

Where are you from originally?

I was born and raised in Fullerton, Orange County.

How long have you been in LA? What brought you here?

I have lived in LA since 1987, as I came to work for an IT firm as a project manager. I wanted to live in LA, as I wanted a rich cultural experience. Orange County was too white. LOL…

How long have you been playing tennis? How did you get started?

I have been playing tennis consistently for the past 3 years. A friend invited me to play in a more social tournament 6 years ago, and I was very nervous. I didn’t play well, but have always been a tough competitor in other sports. I was a pitcher in little league baseball for 2 years and played 7 years of water polo in high school and college. As a pitcher in baseball and shooter in water polo, my hard serve was my first strength in tennis that came with no effort.

How long have you been in LATA? How did you find it? What were you rated when you first joined?

I joined LATA for sporadic play 6 years ago, but really got focused 3 years ago. I was ranked an F, and moved up the ranks to B over time.

How often do you play? Do you play leagues? Do you practice with any other LATAers? Have you played a lot of tournaments?

I currently play 2-3 times per week, and credit LATA for my being more consistent in tournaments. I played Cheviot Hills over the summer, and Burbank many seasons. I play doubles with a group of guys on Monday nights. This year I have played in Palm Springs Doubles, Long Beach Doubles (as an A and won 2 and lost 2 matches), LA Open (B Doubles semifinalist with Wil Contreras from San Diego), SD Open (won the B doubles title with Michael Vasquez), PAC Cup (won both my singles and doubles matches), Centre Court and just recently the Palm Springs Open (I made it to semis in B singles and then twisted my ankle and had to forfeit both singles and doubles matches).

I had great energy and felt alive at this tournament. It is one of my favorite tournaments, as I get to see old friends and make new ones. The tournament is run very well. My toughest match was the doubles match against Harold Boger and Richard Podolsky, as they were constantly jumping out to a huge lead over Russell Doe (my partner) and me. I really feel the thing that made a difference was to focus on each point of every match and not get ahead of myself. If I made a bad or good shot or got behind in points, I didn’t care. I always believe I can win (and want to win).  I probably played my best match against the #2 seed (Martin Abbott from Brisbane, Australia), where I won 4-6, 6-2, 6-0. I mixed the shots up like never before, and I felt like I was in a zone.

I was obviously disappointed when I rolled my ankle walking off the court after qualifying for the semi’s. But, I have to say, everyone was so helpful and supportive. That is the reason I play tennis. It is a great bonding experience.

Tennis is spiritual for me. You have to be in the moment, or you will lose the point.

Happy New Year! I took a break while everyone was on vacation, but I’m finishing publishing the Palm Springs interviews this week.

Where are you from originally?

I was originally from Vietnam, born in Pleiku. My mom was on a business trip.

How long have you been in LA? What brought you here?

I came to the USA since I was 4 years old and have been living in Southern California ever since. Now I am 38 years old. My mom took her kids and left Vietnam for a better life for her children which include freedom and education.

How long have you been playing tennis? How did you get started?

I’ve been playing for about a little over 13 years. Gosh, time sure does fly by. I got started with being bored of going out, and my ex and I had 2 tennis rackets. His was given by a friend that was never touched and I had an old metal racket that was given to me by my older sister. One day, we headed to the tennis court in West Hollywood and started playing. Since then, I fell IN LOVE with the game and never looked back. I have been playing ever since when I can with my friends (Dean Buth, Tatsuya Ogawa, Vy Hoang, Nick Truong, Lam Ly, Bryan Nguyen, Mark Love, Richard Podolski, Kevin Kim, Ray Cherry, Michael Sengmanigong, etc.). Each and every one of them has helped me tremendously, more than they ever know, and have inspired me to play even better and love the game even more.

How long have you been in LATA? How did you find it? What were you rated when you first joined?

I think I have been with LATA since 2001. We met some friends, and I think it was Marco Tarantino who mentioned that there was a gay tennis club and we should check it out. We did and signed up, then went to ranking day and met Eric Dodson and other great LATA members. During ranking day, I was rated as a C player. I was really nervous during the ranking process; my serve was terrible, my forehand was horrendous, but I was glad that my backhand was working that day. 😉

How often do you play? Do you play leagues? Do you practice with any other LATAers? Have you played a lot of tournaments?

I haven’t played league for about 9 years now. This is partly due to my work schedule—it’s hard to commit to a weekly schedule. Also, when I play tennis, I like to play for hours nonstop. That’s why recently, within the past 2+ years, I’ve just been hitting at Plummer Park with some of my very good friends (names above). As a matter of fact, some of them got started because they know how much I love tennis and kept raving how much fun it was and got them started too. I play tennis at least 2-3 times a week. For me, it’s a GREAT form of exercise and also therapeutic, almost yoga-like. Since my friends (Ian, Lam, Nick, and Bryan) are new to LATA and just started to play tournaments, they got me playing again too.

Tell me about the tournament. What was your toughest match? What was the difference?

Palm Springs Open 19 was SO MUCH FUN!… Not because I won, but because all of my AWESOME friends were there to support me and cheer me on. All of us play at Plummer Park for fun at nighttime, and I hit with Tatsuya sometimes on the weekend when I can, but it turns out that by playing with so many types of games and different levels, it has really helped me and has elevated my game. I think that’s probably why I did so well because I was able to adapt to my opponent’s game but still stay true to my game. Although every match was tough in its own way, overall, I think my toughest was the semifinal against Vince from San Diego. I got there at 7:40 AM and saw that Vince was already warming up on the court. I didn’t think anything of it because I will have my 5 minutes of warmup too, but when we started our match he was serving really well and mixing his game up with drop shots, slices, and heavy forehands. Next thing you know it, I lost the first set 6-3 within 20-25 minutes. I really think by playing with so many different types of games, although I lost the first set, I was determined and still believed that I can win this match. Truly, at one point of the match, I said to myself that if I can handle Tatsuya Ogawa backhand slices, his should not be a problem. Just stay really aggressive on the return, keep the ball deep, and keep attacking. That’s exactly what I did and luckily I was able to turn the match around with a 3-6, 6-0, 6-3 win. Even if I had lost that match, honestly, I would have been disappointed but OK with the results too, only because I knew that I really fought out there and gave it my all.

How was the tournament otherwise?

The last time I played Palm Springs Open, it was about 6 years ago. I am so glad that my friends (Ian, Lam, Bryan, Richard, etc.) wanted to play and made me registered too. I really wanted to thank Jim Kloes, Nabil Najjar, and all the great volunteers on putting such a phenomenal tournament together. It’s a lot of hard work, dedication, preparation, and time to have this caliber of a tournament to run so smoothly. It’s one of the best that I’ve been to and I have played quite a few in my tennis career. Personally, I am so grateful for Ian Huynh, my acoustic guitar player and my very best friend, all my awesome friends, and everyone at the banquet for making one of my wishes come true and accomplishing one of the items from my “bucket list.” It really means a lot to me to have everyone there to share the moment with me. This was really an AMAZING weekend for me. There were so many things to be grateful for and for all the wonderful memories with my BFFs. I got a text from a friend from San Francisco just before the tournament and it said to “Just try your very best, LIVE the MOMENT, and take it all in!” I sure did whether it was performing to Adele “Someone Like You” or playing my matches. The payoff has way exceeded ALL EXPECTATIONS and SO MUCH MORE!!!