Playing in the finals of a tennis match for prize money is a stressful event. Add in the element of having to beat your brother or sister, and you have a cauldron of complex emotions swirling in each sibling.
“You have to have a killer instinct to win a match, but it’s hard to do that with someone you love,” Clancy Shields said. “You want your own brother to do well, but you don’t want it to be at your own expense. It’s a tough thing.”
Clancy Shields, 22, played against his older brother, Luke, in the finals of the Denver City Open last year. Like the Williams sisters, Serena and Venus at Wimbledon, the Shields brothers played for money and a first-place trophy. The fact that the dollar amount ($1,000) was a lot less than what was on the line at Wimbledon didn’t make it any less competitive — or emotionally wrenching. So, the Shields brothers came up with a solution.
“We decided to split the money, no matter who won,” said Clancy, a Grand Junction native who played tennis at Boise State, along with Luke, 24.
Luke won but was happy to hand over $500 to his brother. Still, there were times when he felt some guilt toward the end of the match, he said.
“It is a weird thing, no question about it. We’d played each other a bunch of times before in tournaments, but never for money,” Luke Shields said.
Samantha Martinelli, 10, knows the feeling of playing against a sibling, as well. The Denver native, currently ranked 82nd in the nation in the 12-and-under age bracket, has played her 13-year-old sister, Alex, in tournaments.
“It was difficult to play her, because at that time I wasn’t as good as her,” Samantha Martinelli said. “But I didn’t feel like I had anything to prove to her. Like, in other matches, I really wanted to beat them, but it wasn’t that way with my sister.”
The sisters hugged at the net after their last match against one another, which delighted their mother, Danielle. It was a satisfying end to an otherwise difficult experience for her and her husband, Angelo.
“You feel torn the whole time you’re watching,” she said. “You feel great for one on a made point and bad for the other. I felt pride they were both playing each other in a match, but I didn’t like it all that much, and we tried to avoid situations where they would play each other after that.”
Danielle Martinelli was a good tennis player growing up, and so was her younger sister, Nicole. They played each other in a Colorado high school tournament, with the older sister prevailing.
“It was very tough,” Danielle said. “I wouldn’t want to go through it again. I was the big sister, beating my little sister in a tournament. I felt really guilty at the time.”
Andy Zodin, tennis director at Green Gables Country Club, has seen other sibling matchups over the years.
“It’s an interesting dynamic, but I think the sibling relationship trumps the sibling rivalry nine times out of 10, from what I’ve seen,” said Zodin, who also hosts a tennis show on 1510-AM. “I don’t think the killer instinct is there as much when siblings play. It’s just how it is. They’re your flesh and blood.”
If anything, the Shields brothers have more conflict when they’re playing doubles together.
“That’s when the bickering can really start,” said Luke, with a laugh.
Adrian Dater: 303-954-1360 or adater@denverpost.com
