Palisadian Josh Lederman and his partner, Scott Hohenstein of Orange County, finished the year No. 6 in the nation in the USTA’s Boys 18 doubles division. A senior at Harvard-Westlake High, Lederman is also ranked 51st in the nation in Boys 18 singles and was one of 40 male prep players to earn All-American honors from the National High School Tennis All All-American Foundation. Lederman was the Wolverines’ No. 1 player throughout an undefeated season that culminated with Harvard-Westlake’s first CIF Southern Section Division I championship. Along the way, Lederman was named Mission League most valuable player. Lederman, who will attend Yale in September, began 2004 by reaching the finals of the Boys 18 doubles USTA National Open in Hawaii along with Ben Steensland of Westlake Village. Lederman and Hohenstein then teamed up for the USTA National Championships in Kalamazoo, Michigan, where they lost in the round of 16 to the eventual champions. They rebounded to win both the 19th J.R. Yamasaki Memorial Jr. Tournament last October in Orange and the USTA National Open in Costa Mesa in November. Lederman’s accomplishments are all the more meaningful given that he was out of tennis for a year beginning in June 2002 with Guillian-Barre Syndrome, a rare disease in which the body’s immune system attacks its nervous system’often rendering the body partially or totally numb. As a result of his affliction, Lederman lacked the strength to hold a racket or even walk. Even today he has limited feeling in either of his feet, though one would not know it by his play.
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