CHAMPAIGN — Almost a decade later, Jared Hiltzik stills remembers the feeling.
First, of anger. Then, of embarrassment.
“I was 12 and at one of the biggest national clay court events,” the current Illinois senior men’s tennis player said. “And then I got pulled off the court by my mother.”
Arlyn Stern didn’t like the behavior her son was sporting. Nor the constant tossing of his racket, which garnered him numerous point penalties and ultimately a suspension by the United States Tennis Association.
Fellow Illini senior Brian Page has known Hiltzik since the two were youths playing tennis in the greater Chicagoland area.