Boys' tennis: Neither Thacher nor Johnson will win titles this year

In a perfect world, the championship match of next week's Southern Section-Toyota boys' individual tennis championships at Seal Beach would be a rematch of the 2006 final. This world is far from perfect, though, and Harvard-Westlake's Ryan Thacher, the No. 1-ranked player in the nation in the under-18 division, is not going to play two-time defending champion Steve Johnson of Orange Lutheran again. Not in high school tennis, at least.

Johnson, having accepted a scholarship to USC, decided not to play high school tennis during this, his senior season and Thacher, who is headed to Stanford, only played in team competitions.

Their decision to not participate in Friday's Southern Section individual regionals opens the door for the entire field, especially Arroyo Grande's Andre Dome, Thousand Oaks' Kyle McMorrow, Brentwood's Walker Kehrer and Corona Del Mar's Fabian Matthews -- the top-seeded players at each of the four regionals.

Thacher's decision came as a bit of a surprise to most coaches at the Costa Mesa Tennis Center, site of one of the four regionals. But Harvard-Westlake Coach Chris Simpson said that was the plan all along -- Thacher never intended to play in individuals.

"There's a standard [at the high school tennis level], there are some very good tennis players, but he was playing at this level when he was a sophomore," Simpson said.

Corona Del Mar Coach Tim Mang, who recently announced he is retiring at the end of the season, was surprised to hear about Thacher's decision, but he was far from being upset. His player, Matthews, the No. 1-seeded player in this region, could be the one that ends up benefiting the most.

"There was Thacher and everybody else. Now there's a group of about three that can win it," Mang said.

The three players Mang was alluding to are Matthews, a senior who has won two Southern Section doubles titles; McMorrow, who won Ojai earlier this year; and Dome, who beat Thacher at Ojai two years ago.

"It's going to be exciting," Mang said.

-- Jaime Cardenas