There's more to Grant Bakke than meets the eye.

Packed into the 5-foot-11, 150-pound frame of the St.Mary's junior is the mental toughness of an NFLlinebacker.

Bakke, a co-op tennis player for BismarckHigh, won the state singles championship last fall as a sophomore.

Today he returns to the state tournament on his home turf as a junior, but only after clearing an enormous hurdle.

Grant Bakke, 2008, has had to learn tennis from the bottom up as a lefty after winning the 2007 singles title as a right-hander.

"Ihave a stress fracture in my right shoulder … so it was either switch to left-handed or not play," Bakke said.

Bakke said the trouble first surfaced about three months ago.

"In late June I was playing in a tournament, and in one of my matches I felt a progressive pain in my right shoulder," he recalled.

About a week later he sought medical help and the stress fracture, an overuse injury, came to light.

"I was just striking the ball the same way so much," Bakke said.

So over the summer Bakke, who does absolutely nothing else left-handed, forced himself to become a tennis lefty.

"I've never tried to do anything left-handed before," he said. "The first couple of weeks were kind of hard and frustrating, but once I got the basic strokes down, it got easier. It's still not great, but I'm good enough to play."

Indeed, Bakke may well be the first defending state singles champion to be seeded fifth in the regional tournament the next year.

He enters the state tournament as the No. 3 seed from the West after playing second singles for BHSmost of the season.

Looking back at those first days of playing lefty, Bakke is amazed at how competitive he's become.

"In the beginning I really didn't know about it, but I'm happy with where I am now for sure," he said. "… I definitely had to play my best to take third (in the region), especially the way the draw came out."

This is Bakke's fifth trip to the state tournament. He first qualified in 2004 when he was a seventh grader at Cathedral School.

Bakke said he didn't have the luxury of a long self-pity party after learning that his right shoulder needed a long rest.

"Obviously Iwas disappointed, but it could have been worse,"he said. "Icould have been out longer or it could have been a permanent injury."

As it now stands, he could be hitting right-handed again in about a month.

"The doctor said it's a matter of whenever I feel I can get back into it, so hopefully it will be another month and I can get back into it right-handed."

He said he's already testing his right shoulder to see how the healing process is coming along.

"I try it for a few minutes here and there and hit more and more every day. I'm trying to rebuild some strength in the shoulder," he said.

While the injury definitely put a crimp in Bakke's hopes of a second straight state singles title, he said he suffered an even greater setback in terms of national rankings. When he was forced to miss the summer U.S.Tennis Association tournaments he basically ceased to exist in terms of rankings.

"It's important to have a high ranking in USTAtournaments for sure," he said. "I'm not sure how far I dropped but it was quite a bit. … I was probably ranked in the 200s in the nation and now I'm in the 300s if not the 400s."

When he's able to play normally again, Bakke said he definitely plans to dive back into the summer and winter USTAtournaments, most of which are played inMinnesota.

"It takes awhile to regain that ground after you've lost it, but after a year or so I should be back where I was (in the rankings),"he said.

In the short term, Bakke plans to do the best he can playing tennis backwards. Before seeking his fortune in singles, he'll be playing for BHSin the team event, which begins today.

Bismarck qualified as the No. 3 team in last week's West Region tournament in Minot. The Demons are making their first state tournament appearance since 2001.

BHSsquares off against Fargo South, No. 2 from the East Region, in a 2 p.m. quarterfinal match at Sertoma Park.

"Team-wise our first-round match is very difficult," Bakke said. "… I think a consolation championship would be a good goal for our team."

"Individually a third again would be good. Anywhere in the top five or six would be pretty realistic," he added.

Bismarck coachJustin Zainhofsky said breaking the state tournament drought was a major step forward for Demon tennis.

"Hopefully it's a jumpstart for our program. … I hope this instills in the kids the idea that we can do it," Zainhofsky said.

BOYSTENNIS

STATETOURNAMENT

AT BISMARCK-MANDAN

TEAMTOURNAMENT

Thursday, Oct. 2

Quarterfinals

Match 1:#1W Minot (11-1) vs. #4E Grand Forks Central (4-6), Sertoma, 2 p.m.

Match 2:#2E Fargo South (10-2) vs. #3W Bismarck (6-7), Tom O'Leary, 2 p.m.

Match3:#2W Williston (6-7)vs. #3EFargoShanley (7-4), Mandan, 2 p.m.

Match 4:#1EGrand ForksRed River (10-0)vs. #4W Dickinson (4-7), Capital Racquet, 2 p.m.

Consolation semifinals

Match 5:Losers Matches 1 and 2, Tom O'Leary, 4 p.m.

Match 6:Losers Matches 3 and 4, Mandan, 4 p.m.

Semifinals

Match 7:Winners Matches 3 and 4, Tom O'Leary, 4 p.m.

Match 8: Winners Matches 3 and 4, Capital Racquet, 4 p.m.

Friday, Oct. 3

Fifth place

Match 9:Winners Matches 5 and 6, Mandan, 9 a.m.

Third place

Match 10:Losers Matches 7 and 8, Tom O'Leary, 9 a.m.

Championship

Match 11: Winners Matches 7 and 8, Capital Racquet, 9 a.m.

INDIVIDUALTOURNAMENT

Friday, Oct. 3

Singles

First round

#1W JoshOothoudt, Minot vs. #8E Tanner Bommersbach,G.F.Red River. #4E Joe Lee, G.F. Red River vs. #5W SeanCleary,Bismarck. #3W Grant Bakke, Bismarck vs. #6E Rodrigo Otero,Fargo Shanley. #2E Parker Lawley,Fargo South vs. #7W Kyle Bangen, Minot.

#2W Kyle Rummel, Dickinson vs. #7E BrianOlson,West Fargo. #3E Erik Johnson,G.F. Red River vs. #6W JordanBoehm, Mandan. #4W Loren Anderson,Century vs. #5E RyanMcGuigan, Fargo South. #1E Matt Fuka,G.F Central vs. #8W Eric Watne, Jamestown.

Doubles

First round

#1W Heath Glenn-Jordan Nelson, Williston vs. #8E NickMoe-Lucas Olson, G.F.Central. #4E Peter Frei-Tom Schwandt,Fargo Shanley vs. #5W NathanFix-Reid Monson, Jamestown. #3W ZachHolmen-BradySpooner, Century vs. #6E AaronSchuldt-AnthonySommerfield, ValleyCity. #2E Luke Brodeur-Adam Gustad,Fargo South vs. #7W Jesse Kist-CarsonKunz, Mandan.

#2W Hunter Oothoudt-Matt Polsfut, Minot vs. #7E Eric Christianson-Scot Kompelien, Wahpeton. #3E DhilhanMarasinghe-PhilYunker, G.F. Red River vs. #6W Jacob Wanner-JonWanner,Mandan. #4W Luke Van Ells-Shawn Senescall,Dickinson vs. #5E Bryce Johnson-Jake Labemik,Fargo North. #1E Tyler Davis-Jake LaDouceur, G.F.Red River vs. #8W Rory Guenther-BrookMcFarlin,Williston.

n NOTE:First-round matches of the individual tournament start at 1 p.m. Friday with quarterfinals and consolation starting at 3 p.m. Saturday's schedule starts with consolation matches at 9 a.m., semifinals at 10 a.m. and championships at 2:30 p.m.