Defending league champ works around wrist cyst

The Portland Tribune, Mar 20, 2007, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Lincoln’s Peter Jones, who won the PIL singles title last year as an undefeated freshman, has decided against wrist surgery.

Jones has a ganglion cyst on top of his right wrist, “a fluid-filled packet.” Being left-handed, Jones can’t hit the two-handed backhand that has been key to his game.

“I could have surgery, but there’s still a good chance it would come back, and there’s a six-week recovery period, so I’d miss most of the high school season,” he says.

The cyst took him out of action for about a month last fall and got worse about a month ago.

To compensate, Jones is working on a one-handed backhand. “I can hit slices pretty well and get the one-handed shot in the court, but I’m not nearly as good as I was,” he says.

In the new PIL 6A league, Jones will have strong singles competition from Grant’s Joe Hagen, a 6-4 basketball post who made it to the PIL semifinals last year. An exchange student at Lincoln, senior Niklas Trimborn from Germany, could be in the district title mix.

Also, the Cardinals return senior Willy Bennetts and junior Will Stevens, who placed third in the PIL a year ago.

“Our team looks pretty good,” Jones says.

— Steve Brandon

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