DIFFERENT STROKES : Michael Chang’s Older Brother Carl Plays His Own Game of Tennis at Cal

As a kid, Carl Chang played tennis in the back yard with his brother. Actually, it wasn’t real tennis, but dink ‘em--a game of drop shots and light taps.

On a miniature court, drawn on the patio with red bricks, they held their own, private, Grand Slam tournaments. They’d play for hours, pretending to be various stars on the professional tennis circuit.

“We’d play all the big tournaments almost every day, but no one ever won the Grand Slam,” Chang said. “Michael did win the French Open a lot.”

Chang laughs about this. Probably because his little brother, Michael Chang, still has success at the French Open, only last time for real. He won it in June and, at 17, is already considered one of the top players in the world.

And Carl? These days he’s taking an interest in Political Economy in an Industrial Society.

Heady stuff for a tennis junkie. But then, Carl Chang follows a different path than his brother--by destiny and design.

Chang, 20, is a junior at Cal, a school where the phrase student-athlete means student and athlete.

This season, he will be one of the top two players on the Bears’ tennis team, which reached the quarterfinals of the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. tournament in 1989. Yet, Chang’s concerns at the moment are about his school work.

In January, he will find out if he has been accepted into the Political Economy in an Industrial Society program, which includes healthy doses of business administration, economy and political science.

It’s a tough major and only a small percentage of applicants are accepted.

“If you don’t have a 3.3 grade-point average, forget it,” Chang said. “They won’t even consider you. Still, it’s better than business administration. You need a 3.8 for that.”

In many ways, Carl Chang has advantages over his younger brother. Both play tennis with a passion and both are good at it. Yet, for Carl, there are options.

At times, Chang thinks he’ll end up on the professional circuit, although he knows he’ll suffer endless comparisons to his brother. At other times, he envisions himself a successful businessman, or a business lawyer.

Chang might even become his brother’s agent.

Yes, the future has Chang torn. But there is also time enough for decisions.

“Michael has a career, he’s accepted that,” Chang said. “He has no options right now. He has to be more focused at tennis. The pressure is not as extreme on me.”

Carl Chang didn’t even consider turning pro after graduating from San Dieguito High School in Encinitas. He knew he wasn’t ready.

“I didn’t make the leap in ability that Michael did during high school,” he said. “It was just meant for him to go out on the tour before he went to college.”

Yet, even if Carl had been ready, it’s likely he would have decided to go to college anyway.

“It’s important for me to learn to be independent,” Chang said. “It’s important for me to grow up. In a couple years, I’m going to have to be supporting myself.”

Said Joe Chang, his father: “Carl’s priorities were different than Michael’s. He wanted to get an education.”

As to what college to attend, Carl had plenty to choose from. All the top programs were lining up to sign him.

He was, after all, considered one of the top young players in the country.

Chang narrowed his list to USC, UCLA, Pepperdine, Stanford and California. He visited all five, but only California appealed to him.

“It was the only one where I felt at home,” he said. “It’s a very exciting school. A lot of political things going on.”

Chang has developed a strong interest in politics. He attends lectures and debates whenever possible. He is eager to get all points of view--conservative or liberal; Democrat or Republican.

He said he even went to watch some of the recent demonstrations in Berkeley--from a distance--and reached the conclusion that Berkeley, “is a very nutty place.”

He has tried to absorb the culture at the university. He takes Asian-American studies, which he said has made him more aware of his heritage.

“I was one of only three Asian students in high school,” Chang said. “It was quite a culture shock for me when I got here. There were so many minorities. I’ve learned a lot about how Asian families have adjusted. Michael and I were sheltered from a lot.”

Chang also tries to socialize as much as time will allow. He goes to movies and parties, trying to meet new people and exchange ideas.

But it has had a price. As a freshman, Chang struggled some on the tennis court.

“The most difficult task was to find a way to organize my time where I could play tennis, study and socialize a little bit,” he said “I mean, you can’t stay locked up forever.”

Last season, Chang refocused his priorities. He returned to the form that made him a top recruit.

When injuries forced some of the Bears’ top players to sit out, Chang stepped in and helped carry the team. He finished 20-9, spending most of the season as the team’s No. 2 singles player.

The Bears won the NCAA indoor championship and were ranked No. 1 in the nation most of the season. They were the third-seeded team entering the outdoor tournament, but lost to South Carolina in the semifinals.

“Carl is what we call a rock,” California Coach Scott McGain said. “He plays no matter what. There were a couple times this year where I had to make him sit out a match because of some nagging injuries. He’s the ultimate team player.”

Chang’s strengths are his serve, which is 90-100 miles an hour, and his competitive nature. He just doesn’t like to lose, no matter what.

Against Pepperdine last season, the Bears had a comfortable 4-1 lead after five singles matches. Chang trailed in his match, 5-2, in the third set.

McGain figured the team could wrap up the victory in the doubles sets. Instead, Chang batted back and won the third set, 7-5, to clinch the team’s victory.

“It would have been easy for Carl just to give up, because we would have won it in doubles,” McGain said. “But he had it in his mind to end the thing right there.”

Chang, like his brother, learned tennis from his father.

Joe Chang, a research chemist for Unocal, fell in love with the game in 1974, when the family lived in St. Paul, Minn. He introduced the sport to his sons in 1978 and they quickly developed their father’s passion for the game.

“After a couple months, Carl was playing in his first junior tournament and lost in the first round, 6-0, 6-0,” Joe Chang said. “He came home and cried for two hours. I told him, ‘If you want to play, play, if you don’t, don’t.’ It was up to him.”

The next year, Chang reached the semifinals of the same tournament. In the quarterfinals he won, 6-0, 6-0, against the same player who had eliminated him the previous year.

It was the first time Carl Chang had shown his competitive drive. But not the last.

Chang developed a reputation as a tough competitor on the youth circuit and at San Dieguito High in Encinitas.

“Carl was an animal,” said Larry Mulvania, Chang’s coach at San Dieguito. “He had a way of looking when he got competitive. It’s hard to describe, but the guy on the other side of the net would dissolve. Carl really scared some players.”

In 1979, Joe Chang moved the family to La Costa, where they could play year-round. Both sons quickly developed into good junior players, with their father as coach.

They were constantly on the go, playing against each other during the week and in tournaments on the weekends. And there were so many tournaments, they are just a blur to Chang.

Although they had the same coach, the Changs developed different styles. Michael relied on his quickness while Carl, who is bigger and stronger, played the power game.

“Michael’s weapons are his reaction to the ball and his ability as a player not to be attacked,” McGain said. “Carl is almost the opposite. He would rather be more aggressive and go for his shots. Carl uses power to win points.”

Carl rose quickly in the junior ranks. He was consistently ranked in the top 10 of his age-group.

When Chang entered San Dieguito, it was obvious from the start that he was far above his competition.

“There was one day, when Carl was a freshman, that he forgot we had a match,” Mulvania said. “We got him out of class just before the bus was to leave. He didn’t even have time to change. He went out to play in double-knit pants, a dress shirt and loafers. He looked like he just came from church. He still won his sets, 6-0, 6-0, 6-0.”

In his last two years in high school, the only two losses for Chang were against his brother. He lost to Michael in the 1986 San Diego Section final and in the 1987 league final.

But Chang capped off his high school career by beating Michael in the 1987 section championship.

“They were incredible players,” Mulvania said. “We’ll never see anything like them around here again. I think some day you may see them both in the final at Wimbledon.”

Carl Chang is not so sure that he and Michael will someday meet at centre court. He has seen the pro circuit up close and knows how difficult it will be.

“Michael has opened my eyes to my own future in tennis,” he said. “It’s all pending. If I could find the desire and the discipline that Michael has, I will do it. But just watching Michael, I know I would have to get a lot tougher mentally.”

In June, Chang went to Paris for the last three rounds of the French Open. It turned out to be a hectic few days.

The media had become more and more a presence in the Chang camp. And when Michael beat Stefan Edberg in the final, the family had absolutely no time to be alone.

“We went to dinner at 2 a.m. and 50 reporters followed us,” Carl Chang said. “Michael and I tried to go see the Eiffel Tower, but that was an impossibility. We wouldn’t have gotten out alive.”

The media crunch has even overlapped into Carl’s life at school. He is constantly approached by reporters who want to talk about Michael and what it’s like to be his brother.

Chang talks to them all and never takes offense.

“I know a lot of reporters are looking for some sort of tension between Michael and I,” he said. “Sure I envy Michael, but I’m proud of his accomplishments. If there’s tension, some one better find it and let me know. I’m proud of Michael’s accomplishments.”

Chang spent last summer playing in some of the smaller tournaments as an amateur, but is still debating whether to turn pro after college.

Besides his concerns about playing on the tour, he is still thinking about attending graduate school to get his MBA. Either way, he said that knows he’ll receive the full support of his family.

“Carl has a very creative mind,” Joe Chang said. “He could be a very good businessman.”

IN THE SUNDAY TIMES MAGAZINE

Seventeen-year-old Michael Chang of Placentia stunned the tennis world last spring when he upset Ivan Lendl and Stefan Edberg to win the French Open. The “born-again” boy wonder’s first Grand Slam title catapulted him to sixth in the rankings, but then came Wimbledon, where he lost to Tim Mayotte in the fourth round. Now coaches, players and fans await next week’s U.S. Open for signs of whether Chang has what it takes to be the American tennis hero.