Feb 19, 2004

Top-ranked 10-year-old plays Siebel Open
Almaden’s Eric Johnson follows Andre Agassi onto court

By Julie Davis Berry
Executive Editor

Every little boy who plays tennis in the Bay Area dreams of someday playing at the Siebel Open. The Siebel Open is the second oldest tennis tournament in the United States, following only the US Open in New York. Tennis ‘stars’ such as Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Michael Chang, and Andy Roddick have all graced these courts at one time or another and on Feb. 10 at the HP Pavilion, local rising tennis star Eric Johnson, 10, fulfilled his lifelong dream, following in their footsteps.

Eric currently holds the No. 1 ranking for USTA Boys 10 singles for Northern California and was asked to perform an exhibition match at the recent Siebel Open. To highlight the talent of today’s youngest and best, the USTA (United States Tennis Association) arranged for the top 2 ranked 10-year-old boys and girls to put on an exhibition mixed doubles match in front of the same 10,000 fans in attendance who had come to see tennis great Andre Agassi play.

During the Agassi match, Eric and his fellow players were led to the player area to warm up for
their big match. As Agassi made his way off the court after his victory, Eric came on to the court, being introduced as the “Future of Bay Area Tennis” by NBC sportscaster Raj Mathai.

As they warmed up, Mathai provided the audience with Eric’s bio, which included his ranking, that Eric started playing at age 4 and the long list of open tournaments Eric won in the last year.

With a close-up of Eric on the Jumbotron, he served the first of four games, which included everything you expect to see in mixed doubles. Fast moving net play, overheads, drop shots and lots of smiles from the players and the tennis fans in the audience. Many of Eric’s friends, teachers and his extended tennis family were at the Pavilion that night.

“There were a lot of people there and when we were warming up I could hear people calling my name,” said Eric. “But once I started playing I didn’t really notice the people anymore, I was just having fun.”

Tennis fan and family friend Brad Rocca came just to see Eric play. "He was having a great time out there throwing on top-spin and slamming overheads,” said Rocca.

At the end, the score was even, but they had all just won the biggest match so far of their young lives. Eric’s mom was trying to take it all in while capturing it on video.

“This is as big and as special as it gets,” said Allison Johnson. “What a thrill listening to them introduce him, watching him serve the first game, and play as comfortable as he plays on our court at home with his dad and brother. He was smiling the entire time.”

At the end of the evening, as they were walking through the Pavilion, other young boys were stopping their parents and pointing at Eric saying "Dad, Dad, there's that boy, the No. 1 ten that played, there's Eric Johnson." But Eric didn’t notice all the attention he was getting. Carrying his tennis backpack and wearing his Siebel Open sweatshirt, he was just enjoying the walk after playing his biggest match ever.

“I could have played out there all night,” said Eric. “I could definitely do that again.”

And the way that he’s going, he probably will.