Globe-trotting tennis player and Bethesda resident Fred Drilling recently saw former world No. 2 Andrea Yaeger inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, R.I.
He is flying to Germany Sunday to play on a team in Berlin captained by Steffi Graf’s former coach.
He was the top-ranked U.S. singles player in the 65-and-over age group in 2007, and as of April 1, was ranked 10th in the International Tennis Federation’s over-65 division.
But where he really wants to go is back to the White House.
In the 1980s, that’s where he played with President George H.W. Bush and Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen.
“I got to know him quite well,” he said of Bush. Drilling also supplied the president with tennis rackets and restrung them, and gave Bentsen lessons.
But now he wants to get to know the Obamas.
“I’m still working on it,” he says. “I know I read one place where the president has played some tennis, which I didn’t know. I think he knows he can’t play basketball for the rest of his life.” And he can’t play basketball with his family the same way he can with tennis, Drilling said.
“I would imagine that he would take to tennis very easily — plus the fact that he’s a pretty damn good athlete,” he continued. “Everyone in the tennis community is still looking for them to help out with Washington tennis and national tennis, but I guess they’re too busy.”
So for now, Drilling will have to be content with seeing his first French Open.
During the tournament in Germany, he will head to Paris to get a look at the year’s second major tournament. And so the real question becomes: Federer or Nadal?
“I’m still a huge fan of Federer, just because of the talent he has,” Drilling said. Nadal is a grinder … he can be great if he can stay healthy, [but] it’s a lot more difficult to stay healthy for his style and game.”
