For nearly 20 years, Vesa Ponkka has surrounded himself with some of the nation's premier youth tennis players. So Ponkka, the long-time coach and current director of the United States Tennis Association's (USTA) Junior Tennis Championship Center in College Park, Md., says he knows talent when he sees it, and he sees it with Phillip Simmonds.
Two years ago, Simmonds was a freshman at South Lakes High School. Today, the 16-year-old Reston resident is the top-ranked amateur juniors doubles player in the world.
"It took me all of about 2.5 seconds to know that I was watching one of the most talented players I have ever seen in all my years of coaching," Ponkka said. "And in my two decades of watching and coaching junior tennis, I have seen them all."
Ponkka still remembers their first meeting like it was yesterday. Simmonds, at the time, was a lanky 12-year-old with "raw" talent and loads of potential. "He was extremely lazy and undisciplined," Ponkka recalled. "But there was no denying the talent."
In January, the soft-spoken 6 foot, 4 inch 170 pound rising tennis star made history when he became part of the first American team to win the boys' doubles title at the Australian Open Tennis Championships.
Along with his partner, Scott Oudsema of Kalamazoo, Mich., Simmonds defeated a team from Romania, the then number one ranked junior doubles team in the world. With their victory in Melbourne, Simmonds and Oudsema became the world's top junior tennis tandem.
"It's exciting," Simmonds said. "It's history and that's pretty cool."
<b>AFTER HIS FRESHMAN YEAR</b>, in which he played shooting guard on the Seahawk's freshman basketball team, Simmonds decided he needed to devote more time and attention to his passion, tennis. After careful deliberation with his family and his team of three coaches, Simmonds decided to leave South Lakes. "It was a tough decision, no doubt," Simmonds said. "But I want to be the best, and I know this is what I have to do."
Because of his extensive travel schedule, the high school junior needs the flexibility that home schooling provides.
So for six days out of the week, Simmonds finds himself hitting balls and working out at the center in College Park. When he is not in Maryland or on the road playing in a tournament, Simmonds is at a Herndon office park where he is home schooled by tutors for about three hours a day.
Simmonds, a Stony Brook, N.Y. native, moved with his family to Reston when he was 10 years old. It was on Long Island, however, that Simmonds got his first taste of the hard courts. At the age of four, Simmonds' dad, Denzil, who works for the FAA and teaches tennis part-time, put a racket in his young son's hands. He hasn't been the same since. "I am very proud of Phillip and what he has accomplished," his dad said. "He will always be the first — 1,000 years from now he will still be the first. He knows that no one can take that away from his legacy."
Relaxed and polite off the court, Simmonds has a flamboyant streak on the court. "Phillip is so high risk when he is out on the court," his mom, Maureen, said. "I tell him, 'he's like the Knicks,' because he is always taking me to the edge. He'll be down and then all of a sudden he will make this crazy unbelievable shot. I think that is why people love to watch him. It's his raw natural talent and that is stuff that can't be taught."
While they enjoy watching their son play, his extensive travel schedule doesn't allow the two working parents to accompany their son as often as they would like. Simmonds travels with his coach when he is on the road. "His lifestyle now forces him to mature quickly. Figuring out how to do laundry in some strange hotel, traveling all over the world, making sure he has his passport, money and tickets," his mom said. "I am very proud of how he has developed."
Simmonds' parents were not able to make it to Australia, so when their son made it to the finals of the grand slam juniors final, they were excited and anxious. Unlike the pros, the juniors tournament is not televised. Sitting in front of their computer, Denzil and Maureen Simmonds could only watch the score of their son's history-making match, point by "excruciating" point, change in real time.
His coach, Ponkka, said Simmonds, at 16, is already one of the best 18 and under players in the world. "I have never liked the word 'potential.' I think it is a dangerous word," Ponkka said. "But, Phillip has it and he could be as great as any player out there. I have no question that he can go as high as he wants."
Ponkka credits Simmonds' parents for keeping their son grounded. "Even if he doesn't make millions, he knows what a great opportunity he has already had," Ponkka said. "He is definitely not one of those 'tennis air-heads' who knows nothing but tennis. If all he knew was tennis 24/7, Phillip wouldn't make it."
<b>LIKE MANY</b> teenagers, Simmonds says he still likes to watch cartoons, hang out with his friends, and "go hunting" for girls. "I don't look back, but I guess I wish I could have gone to prom or homecoming."
Like many young tennis prodigies before him, Phillip Simmonds is well aware of the "b" word: burnout. But he isn't worried. After he returned from Australia, his coach wanted him to rest and put the racket down. "It was hard," he said. "After a few days, I was going crazy. I can't just stay in the house. I wanted to play."
Having seen more than his share of burnout victims, Simmonds' coach keeps a close eye on Simmonds. "Some kids can grind it out day in and day out, that's not Phillip," Ponkka said. "He likes it short and sweet."
Tennis has taken Simmonds to six continents, but Ponkka wanted to test Simmonds "mental toughness" a little more. In December and January, Simmonds was on the road for eight straight weeks. With three weeks in Florida, one week in Mexico, one in Costa Rica and three in Australia, Ponkka wanted to show Simmonds what he had to look forward to when, and if, he turns professional. "He handled it like a pro," said Ponkka.
Despite the occasional bout of homesickness, Simmonds said he loves the traveling "How many kids get to do this?" he asked. "I know I am lucky."
Garrett Gray has known Phillip Simmonds for four years, and played with him on the Seahawks freshman team. "He always contacts all of his friends when he gets back into town," Gray said.
His friend's success hasn't changed him as a person, Gray said. "He's still a laid back guy, definitely," he said, of Simmonds. "He's just one of the most honorable and respectable kids I know."