AROUND THIS TIME EVERY YEAR IN Santa Monica tennis seems to become more popular. In part it may be due to the men’s pro tour event, the Countrywide Classic Tennis Tournament at UCLA.
In it’s 82nd year, the tournament starts on Monday and runs through the week. In the field are such stars as Andy Roddick, Mardy Fish, Marat Safin, and Tommy Haas. Also, John McEnroe and Jim Courier will play at least once, and if they win, will play each other. I wonder if McEnroe yells as much these days?
Twenty years ago I saw Andre Agassi at this tournament. Until then I had always thought tennis was rather boring. It’s embarrassing to admit but I missed most of the Borg-McEnroe-Connors era. But I didn’t miss Agassi. After watching his rock ‘n roll style, I was hooked.
Due to injuries, and the realization that I stunk, I gracefully “retired” from tennis about five years ago (Sampras did as well but somehow his retirement got all the coverage). But, right after the amazing Wimbledon Championship between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, I decided to give it a try again. They say you never forget how to have sex or ride a bike. Apparently, playing tennis isn’t part of that list. But at least I ran into some old friends at the courts.
I’ve known Lionel Burt since I started playing at the Ocean View Courts by the beach in Ocean Park.
He was hard to miss since he was using a racquet with two handles! From a distance I couldn’t tell if he was playing tennis or divining for water (I’m not sure he ever liked that joke).
Lionel has led a remarkably colorful life with stints as a ski-instructor, a TV comedy writer (for Red Skelton) and an avocado picker in Australia.
A bit of a “mad-scientist,”he invented the two-handled racquet because of his belief that tennis is easier and healthier when a player uses both sides of his body equally. Everyone laughed but, then again, they laughed at Galileo (or, so I’m told).
“Jump serve” — With lionel’s racquet, the battistones can hit forehands with either hand or use two hands on either side. Using his volleyball brian hits serves at 135 mph, which is about double my best and perhaps part of why I retired
Over the years Lionel’s racquet has gone through at least six different versions — almost as many as Microsoft Word.
In the interim, he crossed paths with Dann and Brian Battistone, tennis pros from Palm Desert with a doubles ranking as high as 175 in the world.
After entering into a partnership with Lionel, the brothers took his racquet on the “Futures,” “Challengers” and ATP tours.
They were often laughed at, that is, until they won their matches. And then suddenly other pros were interested.
With Lionel’s racquet, the Battistones can hit forehands with either hand or use two hands on either side. Using his volleyball “jump serve” Brian hits serves at 135 mph, which is about double my best and perhaps part of why I retired.
While Lionel seeks to get other pros to use his racquet, and a manufacturer to produce and market them, he spends most of his time teaching kids.
Through the city of Santa Monica he’s got a group he calls “The Ambies” for ambidextrous. It’s at Santa Monica High School on Saturdays at 10 a.m., with kids ages 9 to 14 and the lessons are free. At the end of the six-week program each kid will get a free rac-quet.
If you’re ever at the Ocean View Courts and see a gregarious, older man who’s using a two-handled racket, it’s probably Lionel. Feel free to ask him about the racquet as he enjoys giving demonstrations about its unique features. Just don’t joke that it looks like he’s divining for water.
LIONEL BURT at:, while Jack can still be reached at
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 1, 2008. Read the original PDF.