Rancho Bernardo sophomore Luke Donar wasn’t planning to play tennis this season but his United States Tennis Association doubles partner, freshman Arnon Jittathai, had other thoughts.
“I wanted to go out for tennis to meet people,” said Jittathai. “I talked Luke into it by letting him know how much stronger we’d be as a team. He wasn’t that interested at first, but I ultimately convinced him it would be fun playing doubles and that we’d stand a good chance of doing well in the CIF championships.
“It was just a month ago that we teamed up and won a USTA Level 5 tournament. If we play like we did there, we should do well at Ojai (April 23-27) and in the section championships.”
Donar agreed.
“Arnon finally convinced me by telling me we already knew a lot of the on the tennis team,” he said. “I was close-minded about it at first. Others had tried to get me out, but Arnon stuck with it, telling me about things like going to tournaments, eating out together, being a team.
“High school tennis is a tremendous environment. Our personalities click and it’s fun to be around them. The last couple of weeks I’ve tried to be a better role model and I cheer for them.
“That never happened in USTA, but it prepares us for the way it’ll be in college. I’m definitely going to play for RB the next two years.”
The duo is expected to be one of, if not the, top seeded doubles teams when the section individual championships debut May 5 at the Balboa Tennis Club.
It’s not really that surprising for a sophomore and freshman to earn that respect after they’ve laid the groundwork in club tennis.
Arnon has a 9.5 Universal Tennis Rating and Luke is an 8.7. Anyone with a score better than 8 is considered an advanced player and a 10-plus is an elite athlete. Put them together and it’s easy to see how they’d be tough to beat.
“They complement each other very well,” said Broncos head coach Oscar Blando.
“Although Arnon is a freshman, he’s mentally very tough and mature. Plus, he’s a lefty. After we practice, he’ll go and practice another hour, hour and a half.
“Luke, who is right-handed, is a very hard worker. He’s more of a baseline player who stays back and tries to get the opponent to make a mistake. He can serve fast when he needs to, but he also likes to mix it up to force an error. He very rarely double faults.
“Neither one is a prototypical power player but they’re young and growing, so they’ll fill out.
“Like the former pro Bjorn Borg, they’re both even-tempered and when they make a mistake, they just move on and keep their composure.
“The two have energized a middle-of-the-road program. We’re ranked fifth in the county and without them we’d be sitting at 15th.”
Both have either been playing singles or doubles with other of the team this spring with great success.
“Arnon went into this week with a 39-3 record with two of the losses to Poway’s Sasha Kremliovsky, who has a 10+ UTR, and to University City’s Oskar Rouse, who is an 11,” said Blando. “Luke is 45-6 and again, those who beat him have a higher UTR.
“We will probably get a No. 5 seed in the Open team playoffs, where again they’ll play singles. Our No. 3 is also very good and the doubles players are improving, so we’re hoping for a first or second in the Open Division to advance to the SoCals.
“But the next week is individual play, where Luke and Arnon should excel.”
Before all that, the two will team up at the 123rd Annual Ojai Tournament, which is always a major indicator of how players will fare in their section and beyond.
“I think both of them are having the times of their life,” said Blando. “Tennis is usually an individual sport but there is team camaraderie in high school that you don’t get with club. They love it.”
Thanks, Arnon.
