Rhodes halted

Chris Yemma

Braun finally overpowered brain in the boys 16s singles division of

the 16th annual War by the Shore junior tennis tournament.

Outsmarting his opponents’ every move all the way to the final,

Corona del Mar resident Parker Rhodes fell to the overbearing and

top-seeded Ryan Mayer of Yorba Linda, 6-2, 7-5, in the championship

match Friday at Balboa Bay Club Racquet Club.

Mayer’s blistering forehand and heated serve turned out to be too

much of a force for the soon-to-be Corona del Mar High freshman.

“He was overpowering,” said Rhodes, who had reached the final with

a 6-4, 6-0 victory over Los Alamitos’ Michael Ramsey in the semifinal

Thursday. “His forehands were pretty big and he never missed any of

them.”

Rhodes, the seventh seed, will play singles for the CdM boys

tennis team in the spring. CdM boys tennis coach Tim Mang was in

attendance during Thursday’s semifinal. His one critique of Rhodes --

among plenty of praise -- was his lack of power.

“Right now he will be one of my top guys on varsity,” Mang said

Thursday. “He just needs to get a little stronger. But he plays smart

and uses the court well.”

There was a noticeable difference in forehand power between Rhodes

and Ramsey in Thursday’s semifinal, but the 5-foot-7, 105-pound CdM

resident still managed to dispatch his opponent in two quick sets.

The deviation in Friday’s final was that Mayer’s fierce swings

landed in play nearly every time.

“The final was a little easier than I thought,” said Mayer, who

will be a junior at Esperanza in the fall. “[Rhodes] hit the ball

easier than some of the others.”

Rhodes, who hadn’t lost a set in the tournament prior to Friday,

fell quickly in the first set but put up a fight in the second.

Mayer took the first two games in the second set right off the

bat, but Rhodes won the third game in a rapid succession of points.

He triumphed in four of five points in the third game.

And trailing, 4-2, in the set, Rhodes pulled out two quick

victories to even the score at 4. Mayer earned the next game, but

Rhodes once against tied it -- 5 games apiece.

But Mayer, ranked No. 51 in Southern California in boys 16s by

United States Tennis Association, calmly took the next two games to

earn the tournament title.

“It was a pretty successful tournament,” Rhodes said. “I was

hoping to win, but it’s ok.”

Rhodes is hoping to follow in his brother’s footsteps at CdM.

Trenton Rhodes was an All-American tennis player at the school in the

early 1990s.

The younger Rhodes said Thursday he was confident he could

eventually measure up to his older sibling.

“I think I can be better than him,” he said.

Rhodes also said he will be more effective when he grows and gets

stronger.

“I’ll be a lot better,” he said after Friday’s loss. “My ground

strokes will be bigger and hopefully I’ll be able to overpower

people.”