Player Profiles: Jerry Albrikes and Johan du Randt

Jerry Albrikes
Age: 40
Hobbies: Fitness, running, tennis and the Minnesota Vikings
Family: Married to Beth; Children: Olivia 15, Liza 14 and William 3
Residence: Mystic, CT
Tennis Highlights: Former #1 in New England in Men’s Open, Doubles and Mixed
Occupation: Head Professional at Mystic Indoor Tennis for 10 years to present
Platform Tennis Beginnings: Peter Harvey introduced me to the game six years ago. I played tournaments for four years with Lennart Jonason and this year with Johan. Currently plays out of Essex Platform Tennis Club in Essex, CT, once a week and tournaments on weekends.”

Johan du Randt
Age: 32
Hobbies: Golf, Squash,teaching my dog tricks and playing poker
Family: I have a girlfriend named Neely and a Stafforshire Bull Terrier named Bliksem. He was our mascot at the Nationals.
Born: Somerset East, South Africa
Residence: Newton MA
Tennis Highlights: Ranked #331 ATP in the world in tennis; and #222 in doubles. Won the Futures.
Occupation: Tennis pro at Bosse Sports in Sudbury, MA.
Platform Tennis Beginnings: Started playing about three years ago with Paul Fairchild and Karl Levanat and was hooked ever since. Currently plays league for Cape Ann play seldomly, but with a great group of guys.

Without a doubt the new hottest team in the country, Albrikes and du Randt won the 2010 National Championships while playing together for only one season.

Du Randt has recently come off the ATP tour with a world ranking at 331. His athleticism and strength propelled the team to wins in Boston and the Nationals in Philadelphia. Many players were saying that he displayed one of the greatest platform tennis exhibitions ever seen before.

Albrikes compliments du Randt’s aggressive style with extreme consistency, mixed with frequent explosive shot-making.

Albrikes said, “Johan and I both needed a partner for the year and we both wanted to find someone who would commit for the whole year. We agreed to give it a go.”

Du Randt recalled, “Well I knew Jerry was a Pitt bull and I just wanted someone that was gonna give it all they got so I asked him! He was on the fence for about five minutes as he supposedly had another partner before he decided that I would crack the nod.”

“Jerry is consistent, positive and never yells. I’m inconsistent, I play crazy (increasingly less crazy)and I yell. I guess opposites attract. He does not realize that putting up with me for a season and beeing mentally tough is a huge talent.”

He added, ‘We both try to be consistent. Me, with hitting it in and him with hitting it hard. It seemed to work out for us at the Nationals. Johan is the most talented player I’ve been around or have seen. That doesn’t always lead to victories but it did in Philly Nationals.”

Albrikes said, “Winning the Nationals in Philly was the most exciting thing in sports I’ve ever done. In tennis, when I won some tournaments, there were always some people who weren’t there that could beat me. While at the Nationals in Philly, it’s hard to say we weren’t the best team in the nation that weekend.” He added, “One of the big things I coach my students in tennis is to believe they can win. I felt like a hypocrite in not believing we could win, but we did.

Each match I felt we could win I just wasn’t sure I believed it until the final point of the finals.”

Du Randt conferred, “The Nationals win was completely unexpected. As the tournament progressed, I gained confidence and felt we could beat anybody, but there was still the ‘LEGEND’ factor to deal with against Goodspeed and Mansager in the finals.” “During the Nationals, for the first time, I felt like I `got’ the game. Now, the question is if I should retire on a high (just kidding Mr. Bancila) or keep it together,” du Randt said.

During the course of the Nationals, du Randt smashed countless short overheads into the bodies of his opponents at the baseline. The shot is very rare and extremely hard to hit, but du Randt seemed to master it and used it nearly at will.

Du Randt said, “To anybody I intentionally hit with an overhead… apparently I never really apologized. The reason for this is I just tried to hit you and it is a legitimate shot, so I think a lift of the racquet is fair. For the two guys I nearly hit on the fly, it definitely was not intentional. That is why I apologized so much after that.”

He concluded, “You gotta feel the game and focus less on yourself but see the bigger picture and just keep it simple. These are my tips for whoever thinks I am worth listening to.”

Later this year, Jerry Albrikes is moving to Charleston, SC, to be Head Professional at a tennis club. He is hopeful to be able to build a platform tennis program there.

The 2010-11 tournament schedule is unclear for the pair, but one thing is for sure, they’ll be getting lots of calls from prospective partners.

Source: Platform Tennis Magazine, Vol. 11, Issue 5, April, 2010