Ena Shibahara was a standout at Palos Verdes Peninsula High School before making a splash at UCLA, where she won 67 singles matches in her first two years with the Bruins. Along the way she tallied the team’s best winning percentage in doubles, and with teammate Jada Hart earned the US Open Junior doubles title…

Maybe it’s not too much of a stretch to call Sky Kim the Forrest Gump of Southern California tennis. The iconic movie character played by Tom Hanks is based on someone who had unrivaled experiences and had chance meetings and interactions by global icons. Kim is much the same. “You know, when you’re living that…

Damu Bobb is a man who wears many hats. He lives and breathes sports media as an Emmy-winning professional, plays the role of tennis dad on SoCal sidelines, and feels just as comfortable in a pair of Jordans as he does in Kenneth Coles – though he admits his special occasion footwear is the Nike…

The most successful player in University of San Diego tennis history, August Holmgren was looking for a way to extend his five-year stay in his adopted hometown following the upcoming completion of his final semester. With the addition of three USTA/ITF Pro Circuit $15,000 events in San Diego – the first leg of a new…

The consequences of the war in Ukraine extend into every corner of the world, including the world of tennis players here in Southern California. Players from Ukraine that might otherwise have journeyed back home this spring find themselves stranded in the United States, with their careers and livelihoods in tennis hanging in the balance. As…

The Director of Junior Excellence program at the First Break Academy in Carson, JR Sarmiento has been a staple on the courts in Carson since he was a child. “I’ve been playing tennis since five or six, at least as far as I can remember,” recalls Sarmiento. “There is a huge Filipino tennis community here…

Three of Southern California’s premier annual tournaments are on the horizon, each with its own storied history and roster of past winners that reads like a who’s who of American tennis. The most prolific of them all is Junior Sectionals (June 11-12, 17-19), returning for the 120th time in June. Players in age divisions 12-18…

Originally left on the sidelines as his dad and older brother practiced tennis together, seven-year-old Eric Hahn finally asked if he could tag along to practice one day and never looked back. That was when Hahn, now a graduating senior at UCLA, learned to love tennis. “My father was just taking my older brother out…