Jimmy Arias celebrates. P-J photo by Alex Shipherd

LAKEWOOD — Homemade signs lined a wall at the Lakewood YMCA on Saturday afternoon. Six of the seven declared support for the local tennis trio of Dusty Nelson Sr., Martin Hoch and Matt Johnson, an accomplished group in their own right.

“Martin Rocks,” read one.

“Game, Set, Matt,” exclaimed another.

“Drop Shot ‘Em, Dusty,” proclaimed yet another.

And then there was one more piece of artwork.

It read simply, “Go Jimmy.”

But in reality, former world No. 5 Jimmy Arias needed nothing fancy to announce his presence to the nice crowd that surrounded Court 1.

Even at 53 and more than three decades removed from his days near the top of the sport, the Grand Island native still has game. For the record, Arias, despite playing with a sore knee, won both his exhibition doubles matches. In the first one, he teamed with the 61-year-old Nelson to down Hoch and Johnson, 6-4, 6-4. In the second match, Arias and Johnson held off Nelson and Hoch by the same score.

It was very entertaining to watch.

Arias’ journey in the sport — as an 8-year-old he predicted he would be a world No. 1 — is every bit as entertaining.

Following are a few of his stories, which he told during a luncheon prior to the exhibitions.

¯ On his early goals: “I was 8 and I decided I was going to be a pro. That summer I literally played 10 hours a day for an entire summer. I played 10 sets a day. There were two 16-year-old kids who were on their high school team. I’d play one of them five sets in the morning, he would take me to lunch and then I’d play the other one five sets in the afternoon.”

¯ On his time with Nick Bollettieri and his now-famous tennis academy: “He was just the head pro at the Colony Beach and Tennis Resort in Sarasota, Florida (when I arrived at age 11). … I didn’t know who he was. The only reason I ever met him was because the Colony Beach was owned by a guy from Buffalo. A bunch of Buffalo guys took me with them to the Colony. I met Nick there. The Buffalo guys came up to him and said, ‘This is Jimmy Arias. He’s really good. Can you give him a good player to play with?’ He got me a 16-year-old kid that was fourth in the nation in 16s. I go out and start hitting and all of a sudden Nick, who blew me off when he first met me, comes running out on the court and kicks off the 16-year-old and starts giving me a lesson.”

¯ His greatest match, a quarterfinal victory over Yannick Noah in the U.S. Open: “I remember trying to swallow (ahead 6-5 in the fifth set) and I couldn’t swallow (because he was so nervous). I decided I’m going to aim right down the center and hit it as hard as I can to give myself the best chance. I ran around and hit it for an angle winner. I missed my spot, but it looked like I was so clutch and calm, because I did smash it. I won it, 7-5, in the fifth (set).”

¯ On his career after that win over Noah: “Because my goal before the tournament was to make the semifinals, I wasn’t really ready to play the semifinals. (I was thinking), ‘Why am I back on the court. I already won this thing,’ because it was the match I wanted so badly. … The funny thing about tennis and life is what you say, what you think and what you believe happens.”

¯ On if he thought he could have made it to No. 1 in the world: “I might have made it, but when I was 18 I got mononucleosis. I kept playing for two or three weeks. By the time I stopped, it had to be three months in bed. That’s not the bad part. The bad part was my thought process at that moment. I came home and my mom had a scrapbook of all my articles and I’m reading the articles and I had two thoughts. One was, ‘If I never do anything else in tennis I’ve already done well,’ and I was only 18. I never really did anything in tennis at the same level again. The other thought was I didn’t want to be No. 1 in the world anymore, because the No. 1 player in the world has to be too famous for my taste. … I didn’t want to deal with that.”

¯ On his relationships with Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe: “First of all, they’re both jerks. Connors is actually worse than McEnroe, which is shocking, but it’s true.”

¯ On the nicest player on the tennis tour: “The (top-ranked players), generally, are all jerks, and I guess you have to be. … The only No. 1 that was really a nice guy was Mats Wilander. He just played, didn’t say much and was a good guy.”

Based on his time at the Lakewood Y, the Grand Island native is a good guy, too.