USTA: THACHER LEADS SOCAL.Byline: ERIK BOAL Special to the Daily News The competition no longer includes Davis Cup Davis Cup: see tennis. Davis Cup Trophy awarded to the winning team of an international tennis tournament for men. It was donated in 1900 by Dwight F. in the title, but Ryan Thacher is well aware of the history associated with the USTA USTA United States Tennis Association USTA United States Telecom Association USTA United States Trotting Association USTA United States Telephone Association USTA United States Twirling Association USTA United States Trademark Association 18-under Boys' National Team Championships. ``It's renowned,'' the Harvard-Westlake of Studio City junior said. ``People hear about this and they know what it's all about.'' Although he's only 16, Thacher will be making his debut for Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, when the 17-team tournament -- formerly known as the Junior Davis Cup -- begins today at University of Illinois University of Illinois may refer to:
In doing so, he'll be following recent area standouts Sam Querrey Sam Querrey (born October 7, 1987 in San Francisco, California, United States) is a pro American tennis player from Thousand Oaks, California. Many tennis experts have touted Querrey as America's next great talent, including Davis Cup Captain Patrick McEnroe. (Thousand Oaks Thousand Oaks, residential city (1990 pop. 104,352), Ventura co., S Calif., in a farm area; inc. 1964. Avocados, citrus, vegetables, strawberries, and nursery products are grown. ), Gary Sacks (Calabasas) and Nima Roshan (Granada Hills), who have led Southern California to three consecutive finals and back-to- back championships. Southern California, which is expected to be seeded first or second in the four-day event, recorded 6-1 victories over Texas to capture titles the past two years. Those performances helped ease the pain of a 5-2 loss to the Southern representative in the 2003 final. Thacher, who helped Southern California's 16-under team win the Intersectional Team Championships on July 13 in Shreveport, La., is seeking a similar result in the more prestigious 18-under event. ``Because it's the 18s, it makes it a little more special,'' said Thacher, who, along with Orange High's Steve Johnson Steve Johnson is the name of:
``Hopefully we can match the performance of the 16s.'' Johnson and Torrey Pines Torrey Pines can refer to:
Ojai's Bozhidar Katsarov, West Torrance's Jason Jung, Country Day of La Jolla's Greg Hirshman, Tesoro of Las Flores' Nicolas Meister and Thacher were selected to fill the five remaining spots on the roster, giving Southern California a strong chance to three-peat. ``We have an extremely deep team,'' said Thacher, who will be relied on to compete in singles and doubles in the college-style format, which features six singles matches and three doubles pro-sets. ``We've all played each other recently and anyone can beat anyone. Whenever you have that kind of depth one through seven, you have an opportunity to be successful. Even at the top, I think we can do well. Our depth just adds security.'' erik.boal@dailynews.com (818) 713-3607 CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Ryan Thacher will play for SoCal in the USTA 18-under Boys' National Team Championships. Evan Yee/Staff Photographer |
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