Nine-year-old beats high schoolers to place second in tennis tournament

By Rhett Wilkinson
Sun Advocate Reporter

Things got unconventional for Lisa King as she sought to return hits at the Joe DiBenedetto International Days Tennis Tournament.
“Sometimes, I had to jump,” she said. “It was hard.”
That might have had something to do with her being nine years old and her playoff opponents being taller. Her mother said they are in high school.
Yet, Lisa took second.
At her age, Lisa was even still young enough to have participated in the children competition, one of three other playoffs in the tournament that started July 28.
Instead, she was the youngest player among both sexes in a junior singles draw, where the oldest competitor was 17, Pete Riggs said. And the youngest players besides Lisa were still three years older, her mom, Natalie King, noted.
Lisa was merely edged 9-7 in the final by Samantha Roberts.
The tournament also saw adult singles and open doubles draws, besides the kids playoff. Lisa’s team also took third in the open doubles draw, where only adults comprised at least one opposing team.
King takes Lisa to Lehi round-trip to compete a few times weekly within each month.
“It’s tiring,” King said.
She’s also taken Lisa to the Salt Lake area, where Lisa has won hardware.
“She’s pretty good,” said Riggs, the Carbon High boys tennis coach.
Mike Ault beat King 6-0, 6-1 in the adult singles title and the duo of Tracy Hoyt and Marie Mancina bested Riggs and Mersedez Clifford 6-1 in the open doubles final.