Great Scott! Getting to Know Hometown Hero Scott Lipsky By Gerard Fitzgerald
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“If you’re not enjoying it, and not having fun, then it’s not worth it, especially when you’re a kid. It’s a lot of hard work, and you need to be dedicated.”
Photo credit: Marcia Frost, AmericanDoublesBook.net
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Long Island Tennis Magazine • January/February 2009
roudly representing the Association of Tennis Professionals, Merrick, N.Y.-native Scott Lipsky recently took a break from giving opponents service ace-induced whiplash and enlightened Long Island Tennis Magazine on the man behind the racket. Scott began his journey towards the dual worlds of professional tennis and Long Island celebrity status … at the tender age of six. While most of his post-toddler peers spent their time either unproductively glued to a television set or wreaking household havoc, Lipsky had discovered a more vocational approach to his childhood fun. “Well, my parents had some rackets sitting around, and one day, I just picked one up and started hitting balls against the back of my house,” recalled Lipsky. “I just kind of got going from there. It wasn’t too long after that when I eventually asked my parents if I could take some tennis lessons.” Currently strictly a doubles player on the ATP tour, Scott received his first formal instruction at the Mid-Island Indoor Tennis Courts in Westbury, N.Y. When asked to bring up his first tennis memory that didn’t involve leaving tennis ball imprints on the facade of his house, Lipsky is quick to cite one of his earlier competitions. He was forced to learn the hard way that only his racket (or the ground) is supposed to touch a ball in play. “I remember playing a match, and [my opponent] hit a ball that was going out, and I caught it in the air and I thought it was my point,” states Lipsky. “The guy then told me that it wasn’t my point, and I was confused because I had never really played any matches before. I didn’t know you couldn’t catch the ball, and you had to let the ball drop before the point is over.” Scott had no intentions of letting that particular rule comprehension distract him from