San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
SOUTH BAY TEENS ARE PALS ON THE COURT — WELL, MOSTLY
Five or six days a week, for two to four hours, MJ Abarca and Matthew Garrido work on their tennis game at the Mountain View Tennis Club in National City.
That is, when they’re not playing as doubles partners in the United States Tennis.
Just don’t look for the 11th-graders to challenge for the section doubles title this spring. That’s because Garrido attends Bonita Vista High and Abarca is at Otay Ranch.
Yes, they already met in a Metro Conference singles showdown, with Abarca coming out on top 6-2.
“If we played 10 times,” said Garrido, “we’d split 5-5. That match felt like just any other day, and he was better than I was. I really felt if we played another set, I’d have won.
“I appreciate the fact I can do better. I learned to just relax and not think of the score.”
They both hope to win the conference title and will be pulling for the other, the same as it will be when they compete in the section playoffs, until they meet. If they square off again, all the better.
The friendship goes back four years, when Abarca moved to the South Bay from Hawaii. They met at a tournament where Garrido lost in the semifinals to the player Abarca beat in the championship.
They chatted about college and tennis, and a couple weeks later they were across the net from each other at Mountain View in what has become a daily routine.
But it’s more than that, especially when they’re playing doubles.
“We feed off each other; we have chemistry,” said Abarca, who is actually going for his second section title after making history a year ago.
With COVID moving the girls’ season to the spring, the same as the boys, the San Diego Section added a mixed doubles division. Abarca and Emely Valencia captured the championship, one that unless seasons are changed, will never be equaled.
It was a good feeling, winning the title, one that he and Matthew got to share recently when they were playing in a Level 4 USTA competition at Irvine.
“We were unseeded, clearly the underdog, but we were both on the top of our games and we beat the No. 2, 3 and 4 seeds in the 18-under division,” Abarca said. “It just showed what we can do. The thing is, both of us love tennis, and practicing daily like we do, we learn and get better.”
Garrido agreed. “That felt amazing,” he said of the Irvine win. “We’ve talked about what if we went to the same high school, but then I wouldn’t get to play against him like I do now. We have talked about heading off to college together, either here in California or even in Hawaii. That would be sensational.”
Academically they fit the bill with MJ posting a weighted 4.0 and Matthew a 3.8 GPA.
They both acknowledge the USTA is more competitive than high school, which they say makes them better players.
“The big difference is the desire to win,” Garrido said. “You see high school players get disappointed and just don’t play with as much passion as MJ and I do. We both share being in the moment.
“I’ve seen quite a few high school players who could be really good, but they don’t have that passion. For them, it’s a hobby but not for us.
The thing is both of our goals is to get a tennis scholarship, and you can get recognized if you have a great CIF tournament or do well in USTA play.”
Garrido is looking forward to his first section playoff. As a freshman, one day he was playing and suddenly, at midweek, COVID closed the season. Last year he wasn’t sure there really would be competition in the spring and never played when the abbreviated season started.
“When I was a freshman, we went to practice, and they told us we couldn’t play the next day,” said Garrido, who says his serve and forehand are his strengths. “So, I just focused on club tennis.”
That doesn’t appear to be a problem this year, and if something unforeseen happens, he and MJ can scramble onto the courts at Mountain View and work on their games together — as always