THE Net Set : Bryan Twins, Nurtured by Parents From Infancy, Court Junior Tennis Fame

Wayne Bryan has heard the whispers and taunts from parents who would suggest that his obsession with tennis has placed a load of overbearing pressure on his pair of 13-year-old sons.

But he has never stopped to listen.

And that might be why Bryan and his wife Kathy, who own the Cabrillo Racquet Club in Camarillo, are the parents of a 160-pound set of identical twins who last year were considered to be among the finest 12-year-old tennis players in the nation.

“You know, people ask me all the time how old my sons were when they began playing,” Wayne Bryan said. “Basically, they’ve never not been around tennis, and that’s the way we wanted it to be.”

The result is a pair of talented boys who have excelled in national tournaments--both in singles play and in doubles--the past two years and have teamed to become the top-ranked doubles team in their age group in Southern California during three of the past four years. They are more suited to preside over a court than a judge.

Last weekend, Bob and Mike won the 14-and-under boys’ doubles title in the 89th Southern California Junior sectional championships at Los Caballeros Sports Village in Fountain Valley. In five matches, the top-seeded twins dropped only 18 games and did not lose a set.

Their feat astonished few.

In 14 singles last year, the right-handed Mike was ranked 55th in the nation and Bob, a left-hander, was ranked 65th--even though they were 12-year-olds competing with boys two years older.

Bob won the boys’ 12 singles at the 1990 Fiesta Bowl in Florida, in part because Mike defaulted to his younger brother in the championship match. Mike honored a family agreement in which the pair will not play each other in tournaments, essentially taking turns defaulting.

To some, that is a troubling, almost cruel, approach to the nurturing process.

To Wayne Bryan, it is simply part of the philosophy he has employed in a learn-at-all-costs effort to play the role of both coach and father.

“People say we’re tennis, tennis, tennis. That we’re one dimensional and it will cost us,” Wayne said. “Sure, we’re tennis, tennis, tennis. But we have a lot of fun with what we do.”

Bryan, 44, said he never was satisfied with his own level of performance as a player and that he is driven to ensure that his sons excel. He said he played No. 1 singles at UC Santa Barbara in 1969 but “didn’t do too much.”

Kathy, however, won a national junior championship in 1964 and once reached the semifinals of the mixed doubles competition at Wimbledon, she said. But, initially, she wasn’t in favor of pushing her sons toward a tennis court.

“I wasn’t too thrilled with going over the same steps,” she said. “My life had been so heavily involved with the sport that I thought it would be more interesting for them to go into another line of activity. I had a great experience with the travel, the people, and the competition, but I thought it would be interesting for them to see another world.”

But Mike and Bob soon were perched inside ball baskets, handing tennis balls during lessons conducted by their parents. Yet Wayne and Kathy were careful to balance their roles as parent and coach.

“There is no question that we’ve always wanted our boys to be good tennis players,” Wayne said. “But it’s a very delicate situation. How do you get a 2 1/2-year-old to love tennis? Because that really is the key. If you love anything, you’ll be good at it.”

Wayne Bryan conferred with USC Coach Dick Leach, who had encountered a similar situation with sons Rick and Jonathon. How does one instill a competitive interest in the game without creating noisome pressure?

“The key is to push them, but to be tricky about it,” Wayne said. “Never let them know that you want it for them. Instead, delude them into thinking they want it for themselves.”

Bryan said many parents err when they push their kids from the outset.

“If you’re hitting the ball around, and your 2-year-old wants to hit, you tell him you don’t have time that day,” Bryan said. “The next day, you also tell him no. On the third day, you tell him he can hit, but just one. And you build up from there, emphasizing that you need to be successful at one level before you move to the next.”

Mike and Bob practice three to four hours a day, six days a week, but their parents spend even more time focusing on their sons’ lives off the court.

“We try to have a lot of fun with it,” Wayne said. “Instead of just traveling to the tournaments, we try to see the places that we go. We try to do as many things as we can to keep it all in perspective.”

Mike and Bob will depart, parents in tow, to West Palm Beach, Fla., on Friday and will represent one of 14 teams that will compete in the National Zonal championships (14 years and under) this weekend. Tarzana’s Jason Weiss and Canoga Park’s Jeremy Testwuide are also part of the team.

The family also will journey to national tournaments in Florida and Texas this summer. Both boys say they enjoy the travel.

“It’s the part I like the most,” Bob said. “I’ve always liked it.”

Each also enjoys the competitive challenge that his twin provides.

“We are real competitive with each other,” Mike said. “We argue a lot, and it’s real intense on the court. But it’s nice because you always have somebody to hit with.”

And jam with. Mike plays the drums, and Bob plays the keyboard, and both have made an appearance with Wayne’s band, The Inside Group, which plays throughout Southern California.

“We have fun, but we have also tried to create a world that is totally tennis,” Wayne said. “We attend matches, watch it on television, and all their heroes are tennis players. People say it’s brainwashing, but we don’t agree.”

“It’s really no different than emphasizing good grades,” he added. “If you don’t, they probably won’t excel.”

Wayne said the key has been knowing when to let up.

“You teach them the basic fundamentals and let them play the way they want to,” he said. “A lot of parents make the mistake of critiquing a kid right after a match. With us, it’s like ‘you want a Coke or a 7-Up?’ ”

Kathy and Wayne said they have benefited greatly from their experiences as players and want as much for their sons.

“I think the key is to realize that the thing you remember is the people and places, not the matches,” Kathy said. “It was a great lifestyle for us, and we want it to be a great lifestyle for them too.”

Mike and Bob have few complaints.

“We love it,” Mike said. “Our parents have really helped us.”

And Wayne said he will never doubt his approach.

“If they fall short and don’t make it as players for whatever reason, then they can always fall back on the education they’ll earn with a college scholarship some day,” Wayne said. “We feel they’ll be able to attend any school in the country, that it’s pretty much a slam-dunker on that.”

Or, perhaps more appropriately, an overhead smash.