Newport Beach resident gains tennis Triple Crown

No horse has won horse racing’s greatest honor, the Triple Crown, since Affirmed did it in 1978.

Newport Beach resident Joseph Di Giulio, however, can claim a far more recent Triple Crown victory.

The 12-year-old tennis player won the boys’ 12 doubles and mixed doubles titles at the 105th annual Southern California Junior Sectional doubles tournament on Nov. 11, at Los Caballeros Racquet and Sports Club in Fountain Valley.

Add those two titles to Di Giulio’s boys’ 12 singles win at the Junior Sectionals in June, and it’s the tennis equivalent of the Triple Crown. Di Giulio and doubles partner Alyssa Smith of Laguna Niguel, who also won this year’s Triple Crown on the girls’ side, became just the eighth and ninth players to do so in the 105-year history of the event.

“We did well,” said Di Giulio, ranked No. 1 in the nation in both boys’ 12 singles and doubles, of his pairing with Smith. “We had never played together, but we adapted pretty quickly.”

Di Giulio, who trains at the Woodbridge Tennis Club in Irvine with coaches Chris Lewis, Chuck Brymer and Bij Noroozi, has made progress even since attaining the No. 1 national ranking earlier this year.

“In the last couple of months, he’s definitely progressed,” Noroozi said. “He’s become more aggressive. He’s taking the initiative more instead of just keeping the ball in play. I expect him to do great things at the international level.”

Di Giulio competed in an international event in October, when he represented the United States at the Nike Junior Tournament International Masters tournament in Torino, Italy. Di Giulio, the U.S. representative in the boys’ 12s division, made it to the semifinals of the tournament before losing to South Africa’s Wayne Montgomery, 6-4, 0-6, 6-2.

“It was a lot of fun,” said Di Giulio, who is in an independent study program through the Irvine Unified School District. “During the tournament, we got to stay at the same place the people in the Winter Olympics last year stayed. It was a good experience meeting all the international players. I played a pretty good tournament.”

Di Giulio is now preparing for another international tournament, the Eddie Herr International Junior Tennis Championships, which begin Monday at the Bolletieri Tennis Academy in Bradenton, Fla. Di Giulio made it to the quarterfinals of the tournament last year in singles and is the defending boys’ 12 doubles champion.

In December, Di Giulio will also be in the Orange Bowl tournament in Miami, which he said will be his last tournament at the 12-and-under level. He will also be participating in tryouts to be one of four U.S. representatives at a European tour in January. All of the other candidates besides Di Giulio were born in 1994; Di Giulio was born in 1995.

The selected candidates will get to tour and play tournaments in England and France in January.

“I’ve enjoyed meeting all the different people,” Di Giulio said. “I enjoy the traveling. It’s been a great experience.”

— Matt Szabo