I am occasionally asked what my baby brother was like as a tennis player. I recently came across a picture that captures the essence of his play. My brother was consistently nationally ranked as a junior player and he also played NCAA Division I college tennis. At the same time, I would characterize his game as a marginally controlled train wreck.
The picture ran in 1985 in the Ball State University Daily News. It also appeared in the Texas Tennis Coaches Association Yearbook that year. My brother, Steve Barley, is the blonde on the left. His doubles partner, Neil Brown, is on the right. Those two are still very good friends to this very day. They had a great partnership
In my recent review of the Rafa Biography, I noted that Uncle Toni taught Rafael Nadal to hit the ball hard first and worried about keeping the ball in later. Steve and Neil were the essence of that style of play. They served big and aggressively crashed the net. It is not surprising or unusual that the photographer was able to capture both of them in close proximity of a ball that was ripe for crushing.
The picture also captures how the guys wore their shorts back in the day. 1985 was maybe a couple of years removed from when the style was for the guys to wear boxers that hung down below the leg seats of the shorts. It was the epitome of cool.
Since this photo was in 1985, I can confidently assert that this was their final year in Boys 16s. I started college later that fall, so did not see them play much after that time. Some of their most epic matches were yet to come. There are a lot of great stories that come with those matches that will probably emerge at some point in the immediate future.
