Redondo Nicoll Turned Back in Slims

Marita Redondo Nicoll, a Rancho Bernardo resident who grew up in National City and was one of the nation’s top junior players in the early 1970s, made a brief return to tennis Saturday, losing to England’s Joanne Moore, 6-2, 6-3, in a qualifying match for the $350,000 Virginia Slims of Los Angeles at the Manhattan Country Club in Manhattan Beach.

“It was just fun going in,” said Redondo Nicoll, 35, who left the tour after the 1981 U.S. Open, citing burnout. “I saw Peanut Louie Harper at the Mazda tournament in La Costa, and she encouraged me to try for a wild card here. I thought I’d try for it and see what happened, never thinking I would get it, but they called me Monday.”

Redondo Nicoll split the opening four games of the first set, but lost the next four. She trailed 5-0 in the second set, before winning three consecutive games. Moore held serve in the ninth game to close out the match.

The mother of three sons including eight-month old Gannon, Redondo Nicoll has been teaching tennis in the San Diego area for most of the past decade.

Redondo Nicoll, won the U.S. Lawn Tennis Assn. girls’ 14-and-under title in 1970 and the 16-and-under championship in 1972. As a professional, she was as high as ninth on the Virginia Slims rankings and had wins over Wimbledon champions Evonne Goolagong Cawley and Virginia Wade.