TENNIS : A String of Bad Breaks Cost Camarillo’s Ellis

Mark Ellis of Camarillo stared in astonishment at the bundle of frayed catgut that dangled from his fingertips.

The strings to his tennis racket had snapped like his patience in the 100-degree heat.

Ellis’ booming forehand has been known to snap the strings of as many as three rackets in a single match. But this was the fifth time--in a single match--that the strings could not hold one of Ellis’ blasts.

“I could not believe it was happening,” Ellis said.

Ellis, a June graduate of Camarillo High, was beginning to wonder if he would be able to finish the championship match against Encino’s Dean Steinbeck in the 18-year-old boys’ singles division of the Warner Center junior tennis tournament in Woodland Hills on Saturday.

Ellis first broke brand-new strings in the second game of the second set. Then the strings gave way on the remaining two rackets he brought to the tournament.

He borrowed a demonstration racket from the pro shop, but it lasted just three shots. He again borrowed a racket from the pro shop, and it exploded after just one shot.

“I was desperate,” Ellis said. “I told (Steinbeck) I was out of rackets. Luckily, he’s a nice guy and let me borrow one of his.”

Apparently, nice guys don’t finish last.

On July 27, Ellis had beaten Steinbeck in straight sets in the 18 singles final in the 21st Junior Open at Thousand Oaks Racquet Club. But that loss didn’t temper Steinbeck’s generosity.

After splitting the first two sets, 6-4, 5-7, Steinbeck held a 5-2 lead in the decisive third set and had double-match point when he loaned Ellis a racket.

Ellis rallied with his opponent’s racket, pushing the set into a tiebreaker that Steinbeck won, 7-5.

“It was one of those days,” Ellis said.

Ellis said he was satisfied just to finish the match.

“I couldn’t hit the ball hard because I was afraid I would break another string,” he said. “It forced me to play defensive tennis. It just wasn’t my day.”

Ruling in: The Southern California Tennis Assn. ruled Thursday that Oxnard Tennis Center’s girls’ 12-year-old team used an ineligible player in its playoff victory over Cabrillo Racquet Club last month.

The SCTA upheld a protest by Cabrillo Racquet Club, which will take Oxnard Tennis Center’s place in the Gar Glenney Cup next Saturday and Sunday in Fresno. The Gar Glenney Cup pits Southern California’s six team age-group champions against Northern California’s six champions.

The SCTA ruled that Oxnard Tennis Center, the fall league champion, used an ineligible player during its 3-1 playoff win over Cabrillo Racquet Club, the spring league champion. Oxnard Tennis Center Coach Mark McCampbell said Thursday he was unaware of the rules when he used a player that was not part of the team’s fall league roster. “It’s very disappointing,” McCampbell said. “They got us on a ticky-tacky rule that I didn’t know.”

Ventura County championships: Former Buena High standout Ken Pedroza will lead a strong open men’s singles bracket in the 27th Ventura County championships that begin Saturday.

The tournament will be played at Camino Real Park in Ventura and at Ventura College Saturday and Sunday. The semifinals and finals will be held Aug. 24-25 at Pierpont Racquet Club in Ventura.

Pedroza, who will be a sophomore at Stanford in the fall, is the top-seeded player. Ventura’s Kendall Osbourne, Ventura’s Darren Potkey and Westlake Village’s Tony Cohen follow, providing the tournament with one of its deepest open singles brackets, according to tournament director Terry Lynch.

In the women’s division, defending champion Loesja Guizar of Santa Paula is the top-seeded player in open singles.

Eliminated: Roger Vig of Chatsworth lost in the second round Tuesday of the U.S. National Amateur championships in Kiamesha Lake, N.Y. Vig fell to Greg Prudhomme of Phoenix, 6-0, 6-1.