October 16, 1998

By J. Fred Sidhu

It was February, 1996 when Mexico faced the United States in a first round Davis Cup match at the La Costa Resort & Spa in nearby Carlsbad.

The U.S. handed Mexico a decisive 5-0 defeat. The match marked the Davis Cup debut of Alejandro Hernandez, a native of Tijuana, who was a top-ranked junior player before turning pro in 1995.

The young Mexican was being touted as the next hope of the future for Mexican tennis.

After having lost both of his singles matches in straight sets in the loss to the U.S., Hernandez came back later that year and led Mexico back to the Davis Cup World Group as he won both singles and the doubles match in a 3-2 victory over Argentina in a relegation match.

The future looked bright for Hernandez as his ranking peaked at 125 in the world in February, 1997.

However, since then, Hernandez has struggled to breakthrough and his ranking has hovered in between 150 and 200 for the last year and a half.

"I've been in the top 200 for about the last 3 years which says good things," Hernandez says while discussing his ranking, "I've been in the top 200 for about the last three years which says good things, depending on which way you look at it."

Hernandez continued, "I've been staying there (around 200) for a while without moving into the top hundred. I was close, but I didn't breakthrough and at this point even though I'm still at pretty much the same ranking, I feel I'm ready to make the jump."

According to Hernandez, he's ready to push on and break into the top one hundred in the world. "I'm more ready now, than at any other time in the last three years and that helps my confidence," he said. "It's still tough, but I've been ready a long time and I think I can do some damage on the tour soon."

While playing on the tour, one of the biggest challenges for Hernandez has been trying to improve. "Improving everyday; it's the most important thing. As long as I don't stop learning and improving, it's a good thing. Even though I'm still around the same ranking, I'm well prepared to move up."

Angel Lopez, Director of Tennis at the San Diego Tennis and Racquet Club, who has helped the talented Mexican in the past, thinks Hernandez is not too far away from making a breakthrough.

"All he really needs is a couple of good results to breakthrough," Lopez said. "He's a smooth player with pretty good focus and balance. His forehand has improved a lot."

Another challenge for Hernandez has been playing Davis Cup for Mexico. It has not been easy. The Mexican Davis cup team has lost five consecutive ties dating back to 1997.

The losing streak began with a 4-1 loss to a strong Italian team in a first round World Group match in 1997. A 5-0 loss to Germany resulted in Mexico being relegated to the American Zone I.

The streak continued as Mexico dropped a 3-2 loss to Canada early this year, followed by a 3-2 upset at the hands of the Bahamas in Guadalahara.

Mexico was relegated to the American Zone II after losing 3-2 in Colombia. Mexico is scheduled to host Paraguay early next year.

"It's been real tough," Hernandez explained, "but I've have learned a lot."

Mexico's next step is to return to the American Zone I.

"We have to win three ties and we can do it. We have a good team and we need some experience, but we getting it. I think this team will be talked about a lot in the future."

His immediate plans include playing in several Challenger level events in Mexico this fall and playing in the $340,000 Abierto Mexicano de Tenis in Mexico City later this month.

Hernandez reached the quarterfinals of the $50,000 HealthSouth/USTA Challenger of San Diego earlier this week.

He defeated Scott Humphries of Alamo, Calif. in the first round, 6-2, 6-4. In the second round Hernandez slipped past Justin Bower of South Africa 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 to set up a quarterfinal match today against Cedric Kauffman of France.

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