Rick Fried-#1 in U.S.!

After playing a Grand Slam like series of four national tennis tournaments this summer, Rick Fried earns the top spot in the United States as the number 1 player in the men’s 80 year old division. 

Rick started the 2021 tennis tour by winning the National Indoor singles in Boise, Idaho in June. He then played the National Grass Courts in Providence, Rhode Island with a third place finish in singles and doubles. The third leg of the tour was the National Hardcourts in Laguna Woods, California where he won the singles championship. The last leg of the tour was the Clay Court Nationals in Virginia Beach, Virginia where Fried finished third in singles and first place in doubles with partner Arlie Eddins. 

There are 136 players ranked in the 80 men’s division and Rick finished with a personal all time high of 8,811 points compared with the number 2 player with 7,947 points.

Rick has played tennis his entire life and he got hooked on tennis the moment he whiffed his first overhead at age 10, fell into the net and broke it. 

He was the captain of the University of Arizona men’s tennis team and one of his collegiate highlights was playing Arthur Ashe from UCLA and losing in two deuce sets. 

After getting drafted, Rick was stationed at Hickam Air Force Base and in 1968 he decided to stay in Hawaii for a successful professional law career specializing in personal injury litigation. He quickly distinguished himself by finding more ways to win in both tennis and the court of law.

Over the years, Rick has acquired several gold, silver and bronze tennis balls as a result of his wins at national age group tournaments. 

The big secret according to Rick is “as we get older is to stay injury free and you have to be willing to work hard and put in the time”.

In order to prepare for the four national championships, Rick worked with a personal trainer 3 times a week, used the “assault bike” 3 times a week and practiced 3 to 4 times a week with former college players who are 20 years or younger than him. Occasionally he would use the ball machine to “groove” his strokes. 

Rick is also a champion off court and as the Chairman of the Hawaii Tourism Authority, he was responsible for bringing a Federation Cup with the USA versus Poland to Kona in 2016, a Federation Cup with the USA versus Germany to Maui in 2017 and a Davis Cup with the USA versus Uzbekistan to Honolulu in 2020. 

What’s in the future for Rick Fried? It looks like he will be invited to represent the United States and compete in the World Championships!

Best of luck Rick!