AFTER picking up the game only 15 months ago, Shane Stone is already ranked No. 2 in the United States in padel.
The racquet sport, which first surfaced in Mexico in 1968, is a doubles game on an enclosed court 25 per cent smaller than a tennis court, but with the same scoring system and using tennis balls with a little less pressure.
Not to be mistaken for the sport known as paddle tennis in Canada and the United States, padel also bears similarities to squash as shots can be played off the walls.
Former national tennis player Stone was introduced to the game while he was still playing tennis tournaments in the United States in April last year.
The former Caribbean junior champion was selected three weeks ago to represent the United States in two major international padel tournaments in the next few months.
First up on the agenda will be the Pan American Team Championship in Mexico from Saturday.
However this will just be an appetiser as the main course is definitely the XV World Padel Championship in Doha, Qatar, in the middle of November.
Stone, a medical doctor with a practice in Texas for over a decade, is eligible to play for the US as he is married to an American.
However the 44-year-old wishes that the sport was played here and he could represent Trinidad and Tobago again.
Stone proudly flew the red, white and black flag in the Davis Cup on a record nine occasions until 2006.
It all started in 1993 when at age 15, he became the fourth youngest player at that time to compete in the world’s premier team tennis competition.
Stone won 24 of his combined 60 singles and doubles matches, but none was more important when he took the court injured in Jamaica and defeated former Caribbean Championship gold-medallist Chad Valdez of Panama for T&T to avoid relegation in 2001.
Two years later, the former top 500 ranked junior in the world represented the country in the Pan American Games, and after cruising through his opening match 6-0, 6-0, he was beaten 6-2, 6-2 by former world No. 1 Marcelo Rios of Chile in Dominican Republic.
Stone, who has been based in the United States since age 16, was already on the professional circuit at this time, but because of a lack of funds he was only able to play a few tournaments and was forced to throw in the towel not long after.
The former student of Rice University (Texas) managed to reach a career-high ranking of #1,043 in singles and #808 in doubles 20 years ago.
Stone, who is already ranked #399 in the world in padel, is playing in a tournament in California, USA, this weekend in preparation for the Pan Am assignment.
