My Hero
by
Ross Evans
My hero is Jeff Morrison. Let
me tell you a little bit about him.
In 1997 Jeff enrolled at The University of Florida. He had a partial
scholarship to play tennis for the Gators. As a freshman, Jeff made
No. 4 singles and did fine.
As a sophomore, Jeff had a superior year. He trained hard and made
No. 1 singles. Jeff played nearly flawless tennis the whole year. Going
into the NCAA Division 1 Championships he was the No. 2 collegiate player
in the nation. Jeff cruised all the way to the finals where he faced
the No. 1 seed James Blake. Jeff played unbelievable to win the first
set 7-6. James picked up his game to win the second set 6-2. Jeff
battled his way to win the deciding set 6-4!
Jeff was the No. 1 college player his junior year at Florida. He got
to the NCAA tournament semifinals as the No. 1 seed. He was defeated
by Carlos Drada. Jeff turned pro after that and worked his way into
the top 100. Jeff won a Challenger Event in London to put him at No.
95. Jeff failed to qualify at Wimbledon, but became a "Lucky Loser"
when one of the players dropped out. In the first round Jeff defeated
Noam Okun in straight sets. His second round opponent was not such
an easy task. He had to play eight ranked baseliner Juan Carlos "The
Mosquitoe" Ferraro on tennis' most prestigious court. Jeff could have
beat any player in the universe that day. He spanked "The Mosquitoe"
6-3, 7-5, 7-6. On the day Jeff played Sjeng Shalken, he was the only
American left in the men's singles draw. Even though Jeff lost in straight
sets, it was closer than the scoreboard read.
Jeff is now ranked 104th in the world, and is not only a great tennis player,
but a great guy too.