Crossroads Alum Makes Quarterfinals in Tennis Tourney

He is only one year into his collegiate tennis career at UCLA, but Clay Thompson is a player to watch in the NCAA next season. 

At 6-foot-6, the 19-year-old graduate from looks more like a volleyball player. Nevertheless, Thompson trades groundstrokes with the best players in the land, as he showed Sunday when he advanced to the quarterfinals of the fourth-annual Shotgun 21 World Championships. Thompson did so at the Palisades Tennis Center in Pacific Palisades—on the very courts where he refined his game as a junior.

Thompson, 19, is no stranger to the unique unisex tournament where there is no overhand serving or lets, and games are played to 21 points, like in ping pong. Two years ago, coming off his junior year at Crossroads, Thompson had four match points in his semifinal match against ATP Tour veteran Vince Spadea before losing 21-20. Spadea went on to win the tournament over former pro Ramon Delgado.

Last year, Thompson again lost in the semifinals, 21-16, to eventual champion Alex Bogdanovic of Great Britain, also a veteran of the ATP Tour. On Sunday, Thompson reached the quarterfinals but then fell to 25-year-old ATP pro Phillip Simmonds, currently ranked 400th in the rankings. 

"I love the team [at UCLA] and I think we're going to be really strong next season," said Thompson, who was born in Santa Monica in 1992. "Shotgun 21 is great. It's a fast-paced format, and I've done pretty well here. I've never played him [Simmonds] before so I didn't know what to expect, but he's obviously very good."

Thompson tried to gain a wildcard entry into the Farmers Classic going on this week at UCLA's own Straus Stadium, but on Saturday he lost in the first round of qualifying, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, to fourth-seeded Yuichi Sugita of Japan.

"It was a tough match, and I had a few chances in the last two sets that I didn't take advantage of," Thompson said of his loss to Sugita. "I was hoping to get a spot and see what I could do against the pros. I would've had the crowd on my side, that's for sure."

Thompson's height is an advantage on the serve and that, coupled with a powerful forehand, makes him a tough opponent for anyone. 

He won the CIF Southern Section Individual Championship as a junior at Crossroads in 2009 and was ranked in the top 20 nationally in the 18-and-under division. Also, he was a member of Southern California's Junior Davis Cup squad.

Thompson's doubles partner, Daniel Kosakowski, also coming off a successful freshman year, defeated Denis Kudla, 6-4, 7-6 (4), on Monday to earn a wildcard into the Farmers Classic.

“I’m really happy for him, that's huge," Thompson said of his fellow Bruin and roommate. "We both came to UCLA trying to give it our all and to contribute right away. He's certainly done that." 

Thompson compiled a 6-3 record in singles for the Bruins in the fall, losing in the final round of pre-qualifying for the D'Novo/ITA All-American Championships in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and reaching the round of 16 at the USTA/ITA Regional Championships at UC Irvine. He also went 3-2 in doubles with Kosakowski and Warren Hardie.