UNLV tennis standout rallies back from hardships

By Rob Miech

Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Talking about his eight or so years on the ATP Tour, former UNLV tennis ace Luke Smith mentioned the down times in a nutshell.

“I had a lot of illnesses and injuries and broken necks,” he said, “stuff like that.”

Leave it to an Aussie to casually talk about a broken neck as if it were a hangnail.

In 1997, Smith became the first Aussie to win singles and doubles titles in the same NCAA tournament, and he was only the second player to pull off the feat in 23 years.

As soon as he hit the professional tour, Smith spiraled. Mononucleosis led to an 18-month stretch in which he was bedridden with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. In 2001, he struck a rock while diving in a lake in Spain.

Friday night, he became choked up and abbreviated his speech while being inducted into the UNLV Athletic Hall of Fame. He had returned mainly to see old friends.

“I can’t put into words what that meant,” Smith, 31, said Saturday before warming up for a charitable event at the Fertitta Tennis Complex on campus.

“It wasn’t until the ceremony that it hit me. It’s a pretty big deal. Yeah, I had to cut my speech short. I got a bit emotional. Being a part of the UNLV family forever is a great thing.”

At first, Smith didn’t want anything to do with American collegiate tennis, UNLV or coach Larry Easley. Smith had finished high school. He was through studying. He wanted to turn pro.

Tim Blenkiron, with whom Smith had played juniors tennis since they were 12, had left Australia for UNLV, which he picked over Notre Dame.

He told Easley about Smith. He had not told Smith that Easley would call, and Smith quickly shut Easley down. It took Blenkiron ringing Smith in Adelaide the next day, in 1994, to coax him into coming to the U.S.

Smith arrived in Las Vegas a month later.

“I was only interested in staying a year, getting bigger and stronger, and going out on tour,” Smith said. “I took longer than that, and it’s a good thing. Those three and a half years were probably the best times of my life.”

The Rebels traveled everywhere in white vans, playing bridge. They stayed with families, in homes, instead of hotels. Easley led tours of interesting places and regular sampling of different ethnic cuisines.

Of UNLV’s two Aussies, Blenkiron was the most gregarious. Smith was quiet but let his big serve speak for itself. The way they complemented each other, and knew each other, compelled them to ask Easley to pair them in doubles.

He complied, and the results landed UNLV in the national records. At UCLA in 1997, Smith became the first Aussie to win a singles and doubles title in an NCAA tournament.

In the past 34 years, he’s one of four to pull off the feat. In the history of NCAA men’s tennis, since 1883, 42 players have won NCAA singles and doubles crowns in the same tournament.

Smith, ranked 65th in the country, defeated George Bastl of USC for the singles title. He and Blenkiron beat Bastl and Kyle Spencer for the doubles championship. Smith didn’t lose a set in either run.

He went into the NCAAs hoping to win his first singles match.

“When I did that, all the pressure was off,” Smith said. “We had nothing to lose. It was probably the best week of my life, tennis-wise. We just had fun. We ripped it up that week. Everything clicked.

“Geez, I wish it clicked like that when I was playing professionally.”

He left UNLV and joined the Australian Davis Cup team, playing against the U.S., in Washington, D.C. He dined and talked tennis with Pete Sampras and Michael Chang.

He advanced to the third round of an ATP event in D.C.

He contracted mono, kept playing and got tired. “I got burned out,” Smith said.

He started sleeping 21 hours a day. That lasted a year and a half. He dropped from 188 pounds on his 6-foot-2 frame to 150.

“Now everyone knows about it,” Smith said. “Back in the day, nobody could tell me what’s wrong. All of a sudden, I’m exhausted and seeing doctors all over the world.

“I went back to Australia, went on natural therapies and changed my diet. I had no idea how food can impact the immune system. These days, they treat it much quicker.”

In 2001, at a tournament in Segovia, Spain, he took a morning swim in a lake. After playing, he returned with friends for a night swim.

He hit the rock. He was worried about the cut in his head. The next morning, he couldn’t move his head. The laid-back medical personnel at the nearest hospital told him not to worry.

Smith spent six months in a half-body cast to support his broken neck.

“Basically, that ended my career,” Smith said. “The neck was depressing, but I’d already gone through hell and back with the fatigue. I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy.

“I was a very pig-headed young guy, very fit and strong. I had extreme confidence in that. You want to push yourself as hard as you can, but at the end of the day you have to listen to your body.

By the time he was healthy enough to return to the tour, the rules had changed. Playing doubles depended on singles ratings, and Smith never was healthy enough to make it solo.

According to ATP records, his highest singles ranking was 363. In doubles, Smith hit 155. He made $84,208 in his career.

Now he helps train kids and adults from all over the world at his father Peter’s academy in Adelaide.

Smith married Shey Fair in February 2007, and they visited Las Vegas, New York and London for their delayed honeymoon a year ago.

UNLV associate athletic director Lisa Kelleher watched Smith weave his magic in 1997 and heard him choke up Friday night.

“Anybody would be down, with what he’s been through,” Kelleher said. “But he’s such a positive person. He persevered through it.”

Smith said others always ask him about his tragedies. He always tells them how blessed he’s been. He’s had some amazing experiences, he says, and those tragedies are just part of it.

“I don’t regret any of those,” Smith said. “I became so much stronger. I wouldn’t be the person I am today if I didn’t go through those tough times.”