Making noise

Published 12:01 am Tuesday, September 27, 2011

When Gergo Muller started playing his first tennis matches in the United States for the Stanwood High School boys team there was one difference he couldn’t get over.

It wasn’t the change from clay to hard court or the style of the American players. Nope, the Hungarian exchange student couldn’

t get over silence.

“Everybody is watching my watch and just sitting there being quiet,” Muller said. “I was like ‘C’mon guys cheer, make some noise. Encourage me, encourage me.”

So far there’s been plenty to cheer about. Muller, who has played tennis in his native Budapest since he was 10, is 6-0 as the Spartans No. 1 singles player, including a season-opening victory over Kamiak No. 1 and Wesco standout Andrew Lee.

Nobody was more surprised than Lee and his coach, Vic Alinen. “Trudi (Abrams) really kept him a secret,” Alinen jokingly said of the Stanwood head coach and her prized player.

In his first match stateside, Muller used a steady forehand to jump out to a first-set lead on Lee, prompting Alinen to advise his player to hammer away at the newcomer’s backhand. “The kid just exploded on them,” Alinen said of the shots to Muller’s backhand. “How was I to know the kid didn’t have any weaknesses.”

Stanwood assistant tennis coach Ron Shanander, who has coached tennis for more than 45 years, including 30 as the head coach at Sedro-Woolley, has been impressed with Muller’s complete game.

“He loves hitting the ball hard, but he can rally all day,” Shanander said. “He’s got a nice serve, forehand, backhand, volley, drop shots. He’s got all the shots he needs.”

But Shanander stressed that he doesn’t know if they’ve seen the best of Muller, citing a former exchange student from Barcelona he coached at Sedro-Woolley. The player lost his first two matches but eventually went on to win a state championship.

“I don’t think we know how good Gergo is,” Shanander said. “I don’t think he’s tapped all of his resources yet.”

Muller, who is ranked in the top-20 in Hungary and has played in more than a 100 tennis tournaments, comes from good tennis stock. His twin sister, Reka Muller, is ranked 166th in the world junior ranks and has played in 18 tournaments so far in 2011, most recently the Zentiva Czech Junior Open on Sept. 6 in Praha, Czech Republic. Gergo said his sister has traveled all over the world to play tennis, including South Africa, Florida and most of Europe. And though it seems Reka is on track to become a professional tennis player one day, Gergo said he doesn’t see that in his future.

“I don’t want to be a professional tennis player,” Muller said. “When I started I wanted to be, but I don’t want to spend my whole life on a tennis court. Training five hours a day just doesn’t appeal to me.”

This is a big week for Muller. After coasting through the Wesco North — Muller dropped just seven games in five matches against North opponents over the past two weeks — he takes on arguably the two toughest players in Wesco on Wednesday and Thursday. Muller is slated to play Jackson No. 1 singles player Mitch Williamson, who took fifth at state last year, on Wednesday and Edmonds-Woodway Younghan Kim the next day.

“As the date of the match gets closer I’m getting more and more nervous,” Muller said. “I’m worried, but I’ve been training hard this week. I hope I’ll be ready.”

Alinen said he’s looking forward to seeing how Muller does. “Mitch and Younghan are fantastic players and I’m excited to see how (Gergo) plays and how he matches up against them,” the Kamiak coach said.

Muller hasn’t had any trouble finding solid competition in Stanwood. Besides teammates like Jonathan Wolf, Riley Swenson and Eric Saekow, Muller has found a good rallying partner in Stanwood girls tennis player and Boise State recruit Megan LaLone.

“Megan is really good. I like hitting with her,” Muller said.

As for LaLone, she said she didn’t know what to expect from Gergo. “Somebody texted me that we had a Hungarian exchange student who played tennis and I was like ‘I gotta see this,’ LaLone said. “He’s a good player. It’s nice to have somebody to hit against that has a different style.”

A number of Stanwood players have hit Muller up for advice, asking him, among other things, how to hold the racket and how he gets so much top-spin on his shots. Maybe he should hold off giving them an answer until they finally start cheering for him.