USTA Boys 12-and-Under Championship : Kloberdanz Beats Shimada in Final

These are the same courts where Little Mo (Maureen Connolly) made her name, and on Saturday, that seemed especially appropriate.

The string part of David (Krunch) Kloberdanz’s tennis racket seems to reach up to his knees. When the 4-foot 8-inch, 73-pound boy whops the ball, everything leaves the ground. Legs, body, the lot.

But of 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Kloberdanz, the third-smallest of 128 entrants, was the U.S. Tennis Assn. Boys National 12-and-under champion.

In the 2-hour, 32-minute final against long-legged Tommy Shimada at Balboa Park, Kloberdanz, of Oklahoma City, beat Shimada, of Gulph Hills, Pa., 7-6 (8-6), 2-6, 7-5.

Shimada, an opponent with a power backhand, already had won the USTA boys’ 12-and-under titles on clay and indoors this season.

But Kloberdanz has always been aggressive. His sister gave him his name on the day he was born; and his real name, David, never had a chance. Not with his personality.

At 6, he was beating his mother at tennis.

It was after his mom’s tennis class that 3-year-old Krunch had his first 30-minute lesson from his coach, Bill Rompf.

“Of all the kids I’ve trained,” Rompf said, “I’ve never known such a fighter. This kid never gives up till it’s over. He’s a giant-killer.”

At the break after the second set, Krunch said Rompf told him in very clear terms not to hit to Shimada’s backhand. Then Rompf fed him glucose.

“I always feed him sugar in the third set. Just like a racehorse,” the coach said.

Talk and sugar had their effect. Kloberdanz kept his shots long and down the middle. Shimada was starved of his opportunities for sharply angled winners. In the end, the match hung on what seemed to be an eternal deuce see-saw.

And when it was won and the young champion was giving out interviews to TV journalists, his father was close to tears and so was his coach. It was that kind of a day.