From Grenada Sandlot to UCI Tennis Court : Bruce Man Son Hing’s Career Took an Unusual Route on Way to Irvine

Bruce Man Son Hing’s journey to the upper levels of collegiate tennis has been different than most. From the time he first picked up a racket on the West Indies island of Grenada--long before that place became a hangout for large numbers of U.S. troops--Man Son Hing’s career has been, well, unconventional.

“I’ve never really thought about it,” he said. “I guess it is a little different from the usual.”

A little? While many of today’s top-ranked college tennis players were perfecting their backhands and serves on the courts of posh tennis clubs, under the scrutiny of a club pro, Man Son Hing was learning the basics from his father, who owned a chicken farm on Grenada. When other players of his caliber were taking private lessons, Man Son Hing was playing at a public park. “Just hitting balls with friends,” he said. “Like going to play football or something.”

Sandlot tennis. Isn’t that how Ivan Lendl got started?

From Grenada, the Man Son Hing family moved to Southern California, eventually settling in Glendale. There, Bruce began playing in a few juniors tournaments, and proving you don’t need be a product of country club tennis to become a good tennis player.

Now, in his senior season at UC Irvine, Man Son Hing is still serving up proof. UCI Coach Greg Patton said Man Son Hing is the reason the Anteaters have won the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. the past three seasons and have been ranked among the top 20 teams in the nation each year. And Patton doesn’t stop there.

“If I had to ask for any guy to play for my life, it would be Bruce,” he said. “If Lucifer was sitting there and he said, ‘OK, Patton, this is your chance to escape the fires of hell . . . to go to the Pearly Gates Tennis Club. Who’s going to play for you?’ It would be Bruce Man Son Hing.”

Let it be known here that when they were passing out enthusiasm, Patton cheated to the front of the line. At least twice. But there is plenty of justification for Patton’s faith in his top singles player. Man Son Hing is 27-9 in singles play this season and is ranked 18th in the country in the most recent Intercollegiate Tennis Coaches Assn. poll. His career record at Irvine is 117-48, 84-41 in doubles play. UCI is 94-40 since Man Son Hing’s arrival more than three years ago. Last season, the Anteaters were 27-11 and won their fourth PCAA championship in the last five seasons. Man Son Hing was 28-14 and was named the conference’s player of the year.

All of this from a guy Patton admits is “not the most incredibly talented kid in the country.” There’s nothing particularly flashy about the way Man Son Hing wins tennis matches. He’s a practical sedan amid turbo Z’s, but he’s tough to beat for mileage and dependability.

“He’s the kind of guy who nicks you with a pen knife and you bleed to death,” Patton said. “He’s the kind of guy nobody likes to play.”

Man Son Hing would rather lob and rally than serve and volley. It may sound like a contradiction, but he forces unforced errors. He beats opponents by returning their every shot and frustrating them into making mistakes.

And he’s doing it against some of the best players in college tennis. As the No. 1 singles player on a team that hasn’t exactly shied away from stiff competition, Man Son Hing has had few easy matches this season. Of his nine losses, five have come to players ranked in the top 20. “It’s like he keeps getting thrown into the Colosseum to fight the lions,” Patton said. “I mean, there are no pussycats.”

Man Son Hing is hoping this level of competition will prepare him for the next step in his tennis career, an attempt to break onto the professional circuit. Once the NCAA championships are over next month, Man Son Hing will begin entering satellite tournaments in search of ATP points and a chance to qualify for a major tournament. No more of the ol’ college spirit.

“I’m definitely going to miss it,” he said. “In the juniors, it was all individual. Then, I came to college and it was the team concept--play as a team, win as a team. But from now on, I’m just going to be fending for myself.

“(The pro circuit) is just a battleground. There are no friends out there. You don’t have your team cheering for you or anything like that.”

Man Son Hing may need to work a little on his demeanor if he’s going to survive. If he has a weakness, Patton said, it’s that he is basically a nice guy.

“Bruce is such a nice kid on the court--he’s so composed, so poised--that guys think they can intimidate him,” Patton said. “They think they can yell at him.

“He’s the fairest kid in the world. He gives away calls all the time. Earlier this season, I had to go up to him and say, ‘Bruce, be sure about your calls because you’re hurting yourself. You’re playing too many out balls.’ If a ball’s even close to being good, he’ll play it.”

But even nice guys have to draw the line somewhere. Patton recalled an incident earlier this season in which Man Son Hing hit an overhead directly at an opponent, who responded with a loud, finger-pointing outburst directed at Man Son Hing. “It was a good shot, but Bruce said he was sorry,” Patton said. “The guy kept yelling, so Bruce said he was sorry again. He still kept yelling.

“You look at Bruce’s eyes and you can see he’s mad,” Patton recalled. “He said he was sorry three times. What does he have to do? Well, Bruce is the kind of guy who lets his racket do the talking.” Man Son Hing had lost the first set and was trailing in the second. He won the match, 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.

“He went out there and just spanked him,” Patton said. “He took him over his knee, spanked him a few times and sent him on his way.

“The worst guy for Bruce to play is a nice guy. Bruce needs to have a need. You always like it when guys start being jerks to him on the court.”

Funny how things turn out. Years after the humble beginning to his tennis career, Man Son Hing is the one giving the lessons to tennis brats.