Chang’s Game Is Classical : Young Tennis Star Fights to Remain Relaxed on Court

When Larry Mulvania, San Dieguito High School’s tennis coach, compares freshman Michael Chang to others, he doesn’t mention such tennis stars as Boris Becker or Ivan Lendl.

Instead, Mulvania places Chang, the only player ever to win a San Diego Section high school tennis title as an eighth-grader, in the company of Mozart and Beethoven.

Mulvania’s comparison of Chang, 14, to the classical composers is based on the tennis player’s amazing talent at such an early age.

But he is different from most prodigies. How many other players would consider playing in the section tennis finals to be fun and relaxing? Or would rather talk to classmates about girls and ignore tennis almost entirely?

But such behavior helps Chang elude tennis burnout, which afflicts many young players. When talking with friends and classmates, Chang says, he avoids the topic of tennis.

“In school, I like to keep tennis as low-profile as possible,” said Chang, who has a 3.6 grade-point average. “Whenever anyone brings up tennis, I won’t want to talk about it. I just don’t like talking about tennis around my friends.”

The threat of burnout is sometimes a side effect of achieving success at an early age, according to Arnold Beisser, a sports psychologist and professor in the UCLA department of psychiatry.

Beisser, author of “Madness in Sports,” a book that discusses athletes and the problems they face, said avoiding burnout begins with the young athlete weighing the importance of the sport against the normal aspects of childhood.

“It depends on how the person views the activity,” Beisser said. “Some young people view it in a very positive light. Others may view it as a painful, punishing experience. Much depends on the individual’s degree of maturation and social environment.”

Joe Chang, Michael’s father and coach, said he is aware of the potential for burnout.

“It is difficult to say what the reason is for burning out,” said Joe Chang, a chemist. “It’s a question, and it depends on how we handle the situation. That’s why we try to play as few tournaments as possible.”

Chang has managed to do well without the aid of a big-name coach. His accomplishments include:

--Winning the 18-and-under Fiesta Bowl national championship in 1986.

--Winning several major Southern California junior tournaments during the past five years, usually playing in higher age groups.

--Back-to-back victories (for 12- and 14-year-olds) at the Goofy Games, a world championship sponsored by Disneyland.

--Becoming the only player of Chinese descent to win the 18-and-under Taipei Junior National championships in Taiwan.

Chang said tennis can become overbearing at times. He practices a couple of hours nearly every weekday and plays in tournaments on weekends.

Andrea Jaeger can attest to the difficulty of burnout among young tennis players. Jaeger, who achieved professional stardom at 14, took a rest from the sport after suffering shoulder and neck injuries in early 1985.

In a telephone interview from Largo, Fla., she said she also was approaching tennis burnout at the same time. She said that a player of Chang’s caliber faces added stress with each step up success’ ladder.

Jaeger’s older sister Suzy helped her to develop her game much the way Chang’s brother Carl, 18, his teammate and doubles partner, does. Jaeger said dealing with stress sometimes means forgetting about tennis for a while.

“Tennis is an individual sport, and the ups and downs are individual,” said Jaeger, who is still battling a shoulder injury. “When I was in high school, I tried to do everything, playing soccer and baseball, and not just tennis. Otherwise, you’ll look back and say, ‘Geez, all I did was play tennis,’ and you really don’t have any cool memories.”

Chang agrees that time away from tennis is important.

“That’s what’s good about our schedule,” he said. “See, when we (he and Carl) are burnt out, we can take off for a while and it won’t matter. We can just miss a week of practice and not say anything.

“Usually I recover after that. I just relax at home and watch TV and talk to girls and stuff like that.”

He prefers to be known by his classmates for more than just as a kid who plays tennis.

But high school tennis is also a way for Chang to escape the pressure of the big tournaments. He was able to join the San Dieguito varsity team last year while still in eighth grade at Oakcrest Junior High because he was enrolled in an algebra class at San Dieguito.

Carl urged his brother to play high school tennis because it would give the two more time to play together. It would also allow them to relax with their tennis.

“The caliber of high school tennis is low,” Carl said. “I found high school tennis to be relaxing and fun.”

Said Michael Chang: “It’s always nice to be on the same team as your brother. We have fun and he’s great. He’ll be going off to college (California on a tennis scholarship) next year.

“There is really no pressure in high school tennis. The high school tennis is really more for enjoyment, but there are a couple of good players in high school. I feel like I should win, and the coach usually expects me to win. When I get going, though, I’m usually enjoying it, and it becomes a good relaxing time.”

Mulvania said the level of play improves among all players when the Changs are around.

“Some high school coaches can go through their whole career for 30 years and never get players like this, as far as tennis goes,” Mulvania said. “It’s like going to Vegas and knowing who’s going to win. It’s guaranteed points. If (Michael is) playing singles, you know he’s going to win four points (the most possible) for you.

“What makes them so unusual is that they are like assistant coaches to me. They’re always helping the other guys out, telling them what they are doing wrong, drilling them, kicking them when they have to, screaming at them. They really make my job so much easier.”

Eduardo Simon, a senior on the San Dieguito team, said he doesn’t mind taking orders from a freshman.

“A problem taking orders? Not from Michael Chang,” Simon said with a laugh. “You can learn a lot. It’s great. They help you, they teach you . . . they know a lot about the sport.”

Joe Chang said there are pros and cons in his sons playing at the high school level, but he supports their choice.

“Every time he plays a high school match, we have to work with him an extra hour because he’ll go out there and goof around,” Joe Chang said. “I want him to have the social part of the high school tennis. In terms of tennis, though, I don’t think he gets anything out of it.”

Michael Chang, who has yet to lose a set in high school tennis, is outgoing with his teammates and is known for his sense of humor. But when he is playing in a match, he shows no emotion. When he narrowly defeated Carl last year to win the San Diego Section title, Michael rarely revealed his feelings, though Carl often tried kidding with him between sets.

“Usually, when (Michael) plays his brother, he is more relaxed,” Joe Chang said. “When he plays other people, he is tough to read.”

Although the brothers play each other often, they are best friends and far from rivals.

“I think they push each other,” Joe Chang said. “You can see it in the way they practice. Carl will beat Michael for a few weeks, then Michael will beat Carl for a few weeks, and they kind of alternate, and you can see that is the way they push each other.

“They are lucky to have each other, even though there is a three-year difference. Both of them play different styles. I think Michael did get the better end of the deal, though, because he gets an older boy to practice with and also somebody that hits as hard as Carl.”

That constant experience of playing against an older, physically stronger player has prepared Michael Chang for play in higher age classes. It also has eased him into professional play.

In February, he competed as an amateur in his first professional tournament, the Pilot Pen in Indian Wells.

In his first-round match, Chang defeated Alex Volkov of the Soviet Union. In the second round, he beat Bruno Oresar of Yugoslavia, who was then ranked No. 121 in the world by the Assn. of Tennis Professionals. Chang was defeated in the third round by South African Dan Vissar, then No. 91 in the ATP rankings.

“You have to feel the atmosphere of playing in a professional tournament,” Chang said. “It’s hard to compete against these players. . . . They have had all of the experience. It’s harder to go out there and play your best because you are always thinking that you are actually playing a pro.

“But once you get going, it’s just like playing any other person.”

If nothing else, the professional tournament was a great learning experience. Joe Chang said he could better judge his younger son’s ability to play with professionals and helped him to establish goals.

“I think mentally he’s ready (to turn professional); physically maybe he’s not,” Joe Chang said. “I noticed in the Pilot Pen, he had to earn every point, and that was really hard work. Not like in juniors, where he can get some easy points.

“That particular day, he had to play two tough matches, and by the second day, he was just too tired. So physically he is still just too young and not strong enough to compete with the other big guys out there who practice four or five hours a day.”

Chang is planning to turn pro by age 17. College is also a possibility, but he said he hopes to turn professional before graduating from high school.

Chang has had a taste of the professional life style, at least in terms of travel. He has played in tournaments in France, Japan, Taiwan and Canada. Joe Chang said it costs about $25,000 a year for Michael to travel to the various tournaments. Because of that, he has begun playing in tournaments closer to home.

Joe Chang moved his family from St. Paul, Minn., to Southern California eight years ago.

“One thing nice about Southern California is that almost every weekend there is a tournament, if you want to play,” Joe Chang said. “That’s what makes Southern California so tough. That’s also why we moved down here from St. Paul.”

Michael Chang won the first tournament he played in San Diego. He was 7. He started playing at 6.

His interest in tennis was aroused after watching his father and brother.

“I would say to Michael that you’re too young, you stay at home,” his father said. “And he got really upset. So for some reason, that made him even more hungry for it.”