Clipperton v. Reat — the first meaningless victory

pivotal · UNDATED (~B.S., age 16), Hartford Jr. Open, first round

• When: ~B.S. 2000-01, at sixteen and unseeded; the Hartford Jr. Open, first round
• What: Struck's signature story: at 1-4 down in the second set against Ross Reat of Maddox OH and the just-opened Enfield Tennis Academy (fifteen, third seed, one of Incandenza's fair-haired boys, with the Satellite Tour so clearly in his future he was already taking cholera shots), Clipperton sat down at the changeover, drew the Glock, climbed the umpire's chair to announce his suicidal intention over the mike, and played the remaining eleven games with the gun at his left temple. Reat, alone and uncoached, let the serves go by and quit trying. Reat became the first and last junior ever to shake Clipperton's free hand at the net — the moment caught in a Hartford Courant photo an E.T.A. wiseacre glued to Struck's door — and "was never quite exactly the same ever again," per Schtitt and deLint.