This was a publicity photo for the National Boys’ 18-and-under Indoor Tennis Championships, held in in Dallas in November of 1979.
I think they took it because I was a homegrown participant in the event, and might generate some media attention.
Which might have happened at I won the tournament instead of losing in the Round Of 16.
Anyway, my serve was always my best shot, and so I do notice a few things in the photo that simply don’t exist anymore:
- A wooden tennis racket (Wilson Jack Kramer Autograph!).
- A scissor kick motion on the serve (right leg kicking into the court so I could advance to the net quickly).
- Excess blond hair.
- Really short, brown tennis shorts. Yes. You can’t fully appreciate in a black & white photo, but I was in an unfortunate sartorial phase where I thought brown looked good. So I wore a tan shirt with brown accents and then brown shorts with tan accents.
- In other words, with fashion choices like that, no wonder I lost in the Round Of 16.