ATHLETE OF THE WEEK : Pleasant--Cool, Calm and Collecting Wins

Westlake tennis player Darin Pleasant may have defeated 30 of his 34 opponents this year, including all of his Marmonte League foes, but don’t get the idea that he is enjoying himself.

At least on the surface.

Pleasant, the No. 1 singles player for the Warriors, the No. 2-ranked team in the Southern Section 4-A Division, is nicknamed “Mr. Businessman” by his coach.

It seems that Pleasant prefers a most un-McEnroe-like attitude on the court, settling instead for a calm, cool game that quietly disposes of opposing players. He’s a silent-assassin type.

“He just goes out and plays tennis,” Coach Jaime Barajas said. “He doesn’t show a lot of emotion out there.”

So little emotion, in fact, that Pleasant gets teased by his friends for his near comatose demeanor.

“When my friends watch me hit, they say it looks like I’m not trying,” he said.

Pleasant, however, knows differently.

“I just don’t cause attention to myself,” he said. “It keeps me more focused. People say that you need to get all fired up to keep your attention, but being quiet helps me.”

The way he has been playing, Barajas probably would not care if Pleasant never said a word the rest of the year. Behind Pleasant, the Warriors are 12-2, 7-0 in league matches.

“Most players in high school can’t control themselves,” Barajas said. “You don’t see Darin’s attitude too often. He has a lot of maturity.”

While the Pleasant camp is awfully, er, pleasant these days, the senior insists that all has not always been quiet on the Westlake front.

“A couple of weeks ago I wasn’t happy with my game,” Pleasant said. “It was just one of those phases, though.”

Now Pleasant is in the phase of demolishing the Marmonte League. Last week he defeated his three Royal opponents, 6-0, 6-0, 6-1, and his three Channel Islands opponents, 6-0, 6-0, 6-0.

This week, however, the league will get a break, as Pleasant, No. 34 in California’s 18-and-under rankings, will travel to Ojai to play in the annual tennis tournament.

“I don’t know my draw yet,” Pleasant said. “But I’ve seen the list of players and they’re really tough.”

But Ojai could not have picked a better weekend to hold the tournament, as far as Pleasant is concerned. Right now, he is at the top of his game.

“I’m really confident with all of my strokes right now,” he said. “In the past, I’d favor one stroke over the other, but right now I’m not.”

So Pleasant will take his stone-faced act on the road. And to think, if Pleasant was to win it all, maybe, just maybe, he’ll break into a smile.