After blasting a blistering down-the-line forehand for a winner in the Bay Shore Athletic League single’s finals, Bernardo Saraiva received a quick “nice shot” from his opponent. Without looking up from adjusting his strings, Saraiva quietly replied, “Thanks.”
It is with this reserved and unassuming manner that Bernardo Saraiva walks the checkered floor halls of Albany High School, yet it is with a merciless intensity with which he beats down his opponents on the tennis court. Formerly the third ranked junior tennis player in Portugal, Bernardo Saraiva left his life and friends in his hometown of Lisbon to accompany his father, a visiting scholar at UC Berkeley.
Saraiva has rather seamlessly adapted to life in the United States and tennis had a lot to do with it. “The level of tennis in the United States is very high so it was not difficult to adapt. In Portugal, I mainly focused on school and tennis. Here it is the same. My life is not that different.”
Though he admitted that he would still rather raise his own family in Portugal because he knows the country better and prefers the weather there, he likes a lot of things about the United States, from the cheaper gasoline and clothes to the more organized schools. But the main difference he likes is that, “In Portugal, everyone is Portuguese, well not everyone but almost everyone is the same and I prefer the diversity of the Bay Area.”
But more than anything, he loves to play tennis. Saraiva started playing tennis at the age of six with his father and enjoyed it immensely. After making it to the semifinals of a tournament at the age of nine, he decided that he was going to take tennis seriously. Nowadays, as he practices cross-court forehands with his coach, he admonishes himself for missing shots, not accepting anything less than his absolute best on the court. When he suffered his only defeat of the season at the hands of Piedmont High School’s Jon Wang, he was yelling Portuguese words that cannot be reproduced in this publication.
This left many members of the tennis team wondering what he was saying, “Basically,” he explained, “I say F**k you! But it’s to myself not to anybody else.”
Saraiva admitted that playing tennis is the only thing that can get him this fired up, “Outside of tennis I’m relaxed but when I play tennis I get passionate.”
Although Saraiva made it onto the starting varsity soccer team even though soccer is a secondary sport to him, he does not have the typical pronounced “swagger” of a two-sport star. He does not ask people if they saw any of his spectacular winners, and nobody has ever said, “Bernardo is not as good as he says he is.”
“Bernardo is supportive and friendly during tennis matches, he’s a real teammate,” said tennis team captain Simon Chen.
Mohammad El-Saied added, “Unlike many people I know, Bernardo is well-mannered and calm which makes me respect him.”
When everybody on the tennis team was picking nicknames, Saraiva did not know what nickname he wanted. Many players suggested the nickname God recognizing how unbelievable his tennis is, but never once did he accept the nickname, always insisting that, “There are many players much better than me.”
He may not know what his desired nickname is, but he is rarely uncertain about things.
“Portuguese girls are hotter,” he replied confidently when asked a potentially controversial question.
When asked about his interests outside of tennis, he says, “I like to go to the cinema and I like soccer a lot. I like to watch soccer more than tennis on TV.”
The back of Bernardo Saraiva’ tennis team sweater reads B. SARAIVA, a name that should show up on a Division I tennis team roster.
Standing in the blistering sun eating a banana on April 27, 2011, newly crowned BSAL Champion Bernardo Saraiva was laid back and reserved.
Except that one girl, Gloria, she’s hella fine.