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Friday, March 3, 2000

King duo to pair up with stars
Perez, Petros get chance to play with Courier, Moya
By Matt Young
Caller-Times

Michelle Christenson/Caller-Times

King tennis players D.J. Petros (left) and Randy Perez earned the right to participate in a doubles match with professional tennis stars Jim Courier and Carlos Moya as part of the Omni Living Legends Benefit Challenge.

Randy Perez and D.J. Petros play tennis against each other pretty much every day after school. Usually, it's no big deal.
   Saturday, the two will face each other again. But this time, it will be a very big deal.
   When Perez and Petros stare at each other from across the net Saturday, they will be by two of the world's best players in front of thousands of people.
   The King High School teammates will play each other in a doubles match as partners with Jim Courier and Carlos Moya at the Third Annual Omni Living Legends Benefit Challenge at the H.E.B. Tennis Center.
   The doubles match will be played following the Courier-Moya singles exhibition.
   "I'm already nervous," said Perez, who won the District 28-5A singles title last year as a sophomore. "I'm not that nervous yet about playing with Moya and Courier, but I've heard there's going to be like 7,000 people there. Now that makes me nervous."
   Perez and Petros can't even turn to their high school coach for advice on how to handle the pressure.
   "I know they're nervous, and I'm probably just making them more nervous," King coach Tami Bruce-Romero said. "I'll be there cheering them on because they're like my children. Once they hit a few shots, I'm sure they'll calm down."
   Both players were calm enough two weeks agot o earn the right to play with the two stars by advancing to the finals of the Chance of a Lifetime Tournament. The tournament, which was open to all players under the age of 16, was designed to pick the two players to play with Courier and Moya.
   In a long line of matches between the two, Petros beat Perez four games to three in a best-of-7 match in the finals of the qualifying tournament.
   In their only other official match, Petros knocked off Perez in the Tuloso-Midway tournament earlier this year.
   Despite those two losses, Perez is King's No. 1 player, because he has managed to keep Petros at bay in the two players' numerous challenge matches in practice.
   "We're teammates, but there's still a little bit of a rivalry there," said Petros, a freshman. "We always play each other, so there can't help but be a rivalry between us, but I think it's a healthy one."
   The two players' matches are usually pretty intense, but Saturday's exhibition is supposed to be just for fun, right?
   "Well, I think the best way to say it is that it will probably be intensely fun," Petros said. "It will be fun playing with the pros, but you still want to win. It definitely won't be intense with a lot of trash talking, but it will still be intense because we both want to win."
   Because Petros won the Chance of a Lifetime Tournament, he got first pick of his partner and chose Courier.
   "I want to win, so I had to go with the Davis Cup hero," Petros said.
   Perez and Petros' coach and most of their teammates will be on hand to watch them play each other as they have so many times, but they all know this one will be special.
   "It's going to be fun for them, but real interesting, too, because neither one likes to lose," Bruce-Romero said. "They're my No. 1 and No. 2 players, and they always battle back and forth. I know they both want to win, but hopefully they can have a lot of fun, too."



Staff writer Matt Young can be reached at 886-4304 or by e-mail at youngm@caller.com

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