Punahou's Jobe back ruling tennis courts

Advertiser Staff

He had to spend four months away from home and his family, and a year away from the tennis teammates he likes so much, but Ikaika Jobe admits that it is already paying off in an opportunity-filled future.

Punahou senior Ikaika Jobe hopes to regain his state tennis title after making a difficult decision to spend last spring in Hilton Head, S.C. Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser

But the price has been high for Jobe. "I still don't know if I regret it," he said last night.

"It was a big decision not to play on the (Punahou School) varsity a year ago," he said. "I really wanted to play. I wanted to defend my state title (he won the high school singles championship in 1999 as a sophomore) and I enjoy playing on the team, the team environment. I had friends on the team who were seniors last year.

"But I came to the conclusion (agreeing with his father and his coach) that it would be best to concentrate on national tournaments on the Mainland last spring."

That led to leaving Hawai'i in September to spend the fall semester at Van der Meer tennis academy at Hilton Head, S.C., where he practiced with top teenage prospects from around the world and learned from professional players and coaches from around the globe.

"There were kids from Japan, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Switzerland and the United States," Jobe said. Some of the pros he practiced with were Wesley Whitehouse, a former Junior Wimbledon champion and former No. 1 junior in the world; Grant Stafford, a 2000 Australian Open finalist; and ATP tour player Marcus Andruske.

"I gained a lot of experience from playing with those three guys," Jobe said. "I found out how good you really have to be to compete in the pros. It's much harder than I thought. They hit so hard and don't miss. . . . It showed me what I needed to make it on the ATP Tour."

The academy wasn't all tennis. He attended a school of about 40 students and scored a 4.0 grade point average. He also scored a date to the prom with the daughter of former U.S. Davis Cup captain Stan Smith.

Jobe showed what he had learned on the Van Der Meer courts, and his natural gifts, at several major junior tournaments.

At the United States Tennis Association Interscholastic Championships last summer, he reached the singles finals and won the doubles with Brad Lum-Tucker of Kaua'i, who had won the state high school singles title in Jobe's absence last year.

Jobe won the doubles title at the St. Louis Junior Clay championships. Saint Louis coach Derek Mills, a former BYUH assistant, saw him there.

In the Dallas International Tennis Federation junior tournament in November, he reached the quarterfinals in singles and finals in doubles despite pain from tendinitis in his right shoulder.

While the condition still persists to this day, he has not lost a set and been behind in a set only once. His last high school loss was in a state semifinal in his freshman year (1998) when he finished third.

Back among his friends and familiar surroundings, his college education assured, and his shoulder slowly healing, Jobe will be the No. 1 seed in the state high school championships on Kaua'i May 18-19 and on his home-court at Punahou May 21.

"I guess it really was worth it," he said.