Rehe Trying to Show She Once Again Has Stomach to Succeed

It was only a few minutes before 2 p.m. But for Stephanie Rehe, teen-age tennis player and ambassador for her sport, it already had been an arduous day.

All morning during a recent appearance here, she talked with one reporter after another, spreading the word about this week’s Virginia Slims of San Diego tournament. She also spread the word about herself: a No. 25 world ranking thanks to a big comeback from a stomach injury that sidelined her for most of 1987.

In 1988, things have been pretty good for Stephanie Rehe. But on this day, they weren’t so good.

Rehe, 18, is seeded second in this week’s tournament at the San Diego Tennis and Racquet Club. She’s 5-feet 11-inches tall, so she stands out on the tour.

When a long day is beginning to wear on her, it stands out, too. Playing tennis beats talking about tennis any day.

Nevertheless, a new reporter replaced a previous one, and the questions began again.

“Can you tell us about something you haven’t talked about yet today?”

“Impossible,” Rehe said. Then she laughed.

The tournament publicist interrupted. “I’m sorry, but Stephanie’s going to have to cut this short.”

Her sixth interview of the day was to be her shortest. At 2:30, she was due in Tijuana. A white limousine was outside the club.

A seventh interview awaited.

“This is hard work,” she said.

But she has been through harder.

“You’re right,” she said. “This is fun compared to what I had to go through.”

So is playing tennis. That’s most fun of all.

Her No. 2 seeding for the San Diego tournament--she beat Ronni Reis of Miami, 6-2, 7-5, Tuesday in her opening match--is noteworthy because last year at this time, it was up in the air whether she would ever play again.

After the French Open in May, 1987, she decided to sit out the rest of the summer because of recurring problems with her stomach muscles. Many teen-aged girls enjoy a summer vacation, but Rehe didn’t have that in mind.

“I didn’t have a choice, though,” she said. “I was hurting, and I couldn’t play. Everybody told me to be patient, and it would get better. But it wasn’t getting better.”

So Rehe waited and waited. It was something she wasn’t used to.

Ever since she started playing at age 6, Rehe had been a star. When she was 12, she was the country’s top-ranked player in the 13-14 age bracket. By the time she turned 14, she was tops in the 15-16 group.

When she was 16, she shared the No. 1 junior ranking with Melissa Gurney. Then she and Gurney met in the final of the Virginia Slims of San Diego.

Rehe played badly. Gurney won in straight sets. Still, both players were projected for greatness.

Of the two, Rehe splashed on the scene quicker. By the fall of 1986, she had worked her way up to a No. 13 world ranking. The top 10 wasn’t far off.

“Everybody was saying I would make it (the top 10), and I was convinced of it, too,” Rehe said. “It was right there. But things don’t always work out.”

At the 1987 French Open, she reached the fourth round before losing to Manuela Maleeva, 7-6, 6-1. It was the last she would play until October; her stomach muscles, which had been bothering her for some time, finally made it impossible for her to play.

Since she first picked up a racket in Highland, Calif., near Riverside, Rehe had never taken so much time off. She squirmed and squirmed. Then she may have come back too quickly.

In October, she played in the Puerto Rico Open. Her stomach was feeling better, and her game was smooth rather than rusty. She rolled into the final with four consecutive wins and then knocked off Camille Benjamin, 7-5, 7-6, for the championship.

“I thought I was back,” Rehe said.

But she wasn’t. She had aggravated her stomach again. It was time to do something about it for good.

Rehe heard about a rehabilitation club in Aspen, Colo., from some of the other players on the tour. She went there in November. Aspen is usually a great place to be in November.

“Unless you’re not skiing,” Rehe said.

For four weeks, she worked on only one thing. Getting her stomach back in shape.

Tennis magazine published an article about Rehe’s road to recovery. They showed pictures of Rehe, smiling, lifting weights and working her way back.

She has done some modeling before; in fact, she posed for the women’s tennis tour calendar last year. Smiling during the rehabilitation workouts in Aspen was also a modeling job.

“It was a lot of hard work,” Rehe said. “But the entire experience taught me that there was another level of fitness I could ascend to. I had always worked hard, but being in Aspen taught me that I could work harder.”

During her first two weeks in Aspen, Rehe worked with weights and did stretching exercises. During the last two weeks, she was working out eight hours a day, with a one-hour pause to play some tennis.

All systems apparently were go for 1988. But there was a new problem.

All of a sudden, Rehe couldn’t win. She lost to Barbara Potter in the second round of the Virginia Slims of Dallas tournament in February and wouldn’t win another match for more than a month.

Losses in the first round of four consecutive tournaments was not becoming of a player ticketed for a top 10 ranking.

“I must admit, it was getting frustrating for me,” Rehe said. “I had never really lost like that. I was playing some good players, and I wasn’t playing well.”

All Rehe could do was keep going until she broke through. It had been the same a year earlier with her stomach problem.

“I learned to be patient,” she said.

In mid-March at the Lipton International tournament in Florida, Rehe put everything together. She won five matches, the last a three-set semifinal victory over Potter. She lost to Steffi Graf in the final, 6-3, 6-1, but who doesn’t lose to Graf these days?

In her next tournament, the Japan Open in April, Rehe reached the final again, this time losing to Patty Fendick, 6-3, 7-5. (Fendick, the No. 1-seeded player in this week’s San Diego tournament, withdrew Tuesday because of a pulled calf muscle.)

“Looking back on the struggles I’ve had, maybe it’s all been for the best,” Rehe said. “I’ve learned what hard work is all about, and I’ve learned to appreciate the abilities I have. Tennis has always been fun for me, but maybe sitting out and struggling has made me realize that even more.”