Tennis : Scientific Bent Figures Into Equation for Tournament Winners
Mark Winters thinks some Volvo Tennis League tournament teams might do well to bone up on their physics.
Two teams from the Jet Propulsion Lab in La Canada (men’s 3.5-rating division and women’s 3.0) and one from Aerojet of San Gabriel Valley (men’s 2.5) won championships in their respective divisions last weekend.
Meanwhile, San Fernando Valley (men’s 3.5) and the Rackettes of San Fernando Valley (women’s 3.5), the only Valley entrants to reach championship rounds, both lost, 4-1.
Winters, director of publicity for the Southern California Tennis Assn., says that teams composed of scientists know their tennis--especially doubles--like they know their periodic tables.
“Engineers tend to be very exact,” he said. “They play very intelligent, not necessarily flamboyant games. They are precise, very analytical and play the percentages very well.
“You may have some players who aren’t as physically gifted but know how to play doubles. They keep their returns down low and don’t bang the heck out of it. They are also very aware of patterns.”
Angus McRonald, San Gabriel Valley area coordinator and a JPL scientist, said of Winters’ theory: “It might work just a little for doubles. It’s kind of a geometric thing. Cool and calculating.”
But Winters says it’s not only the scientists’ plotting that leaves other teams plodding.
“The players might be matched as far as skill but not experience-wise,” he said, adding that the San Gabriel Valley conducts several competitive winter leagues in which the JPL teams have consistently fared well. “I think that some of these people might be a little tougher mentally. In a match, your feet might be a little slower and you might yip a couple of balls because you’re tight. If you’ve been there before, it’s easier to play through than if it’s new to you.
“The JPL people have been winners from day one and you figure it’s a process of osmosis.”
Break out the slide rules, boys.
Add Volvo: The 4.0- and 4.5-division (as determined by the National Tennis Rating Program) championships will be played this weekend at the Los Angeles Tennis Center. Jesse Valente (4.0) and Phillip Kent (4.5) are captains representing the two Valley-area participants.
Passing shots: While at a party for former winners of the Volvo Pacific Southwest tennis championship, Allen Fox, who won the tournament in 1966, encountered longtime acquaintance Pancho Gonzalez.
Fox, 50, who lives in Calabasas, is entering his 13th season as men’s tennis coach at Pepperdine.
Gonzalez, 61, was recognized as the world’s top player from 1954-60 and is arguably one of the greatest players in history. He is married to Andre Agassi’s sister, Rita.
Gonzalez and Fox were discussing how quickly Gonzalez’ young son, Skyler, had taken to tennis. Fox mused, “He ought to be a good player--he’s got Agassi’s genes.”
The quip drew no reaction from Gonzalez.
“I think he got it,” Fox said. “Pancho is not a laugher. He’s pretty tough.”
Not a laugher ? Yeah, and John McEnroe’s not a Trappist monk. In his heyday, Gonzalez approached the game with a fervor that blazed a trail for other vocal players such as Ilie Nastase, Jimmy Connors and McEnroe.
Although Fox says he and Gonzalez are on good terms, their relationship has been strained at times. Once, while working as a line judge in a Hollywood tournament, Fox got a taste of Gonzalez’ temper. Fox, then 15, called a close Gonzalez shot out.
“The next thing I know, a ball comes whistling past my ear,” Fox said, laughing. “He wasn’t really hitting it at me, he was just sending a warning. He was glowering at me and said, ‘Next time, watch the . . . line better.’ ”
The aggressive strategy worked.
“Anything that was close after that went Pancho’s way,” Fox said.
Another time, Fox asked Gonzalez how he got the deep scar that runs down his cheek.
Answered a gruff Gonzalez: “I got it from asking too many questions.”
Youth is served: Alisha Portnoy is back in Newhall walking on air.
Portnoy, who graduated from Granada Hills High in June, reached the fourth round of the U. S. Tennis Assn. junior national girls’ 18-and-under division championships in Memphis, Tenn. last week, two rounds further than she advanced last year.
“I didn’t expect to get that far at all,” said Portnoy, who will play at North Carolina this season. “I went out at each match with a really positive attitude and I thought if I fought really hard and I competed well, that would carry me as far as I could go.”
She could not go far enough, however, to get a shot at 13-year-old Jennifer Capriati of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., the eventual champion.
“Her ground strokes are perfect,” Portnoy, 17, said of the phenom. “You have to see it to believe it.”
Apparently, quite a few did. Portnoy said that the stands were filled during each Capriati match.
Portnoy says she would like to have played Capriati, who plans to turn pro when she turns 14.
How does Portnoy think she would fare?
“Oh, God . . . if I got a couple of games I’d be happy,” she said.
Tournament time: The Sport Chalet Senior Satellite tournament will be held this weekend at Cal State Northridge and will be divided into 30-, 45-, and 60-and-under singles and doubles divisions. The winner of each division will participate in the masters’ championships Nov. 19-20 at UCLA.
Information: 818-892-3872.
