Beating Abrams, 13, Is a Very Tall Order : Tennis: Newport Beach player, 6 feet 3 1/2 and barely a teen-ager, is ranked No. 1 in nation in his age group.

Like most 13-year-old tennis players, Geoff Abrams has to be driven to practice by his parents. Unlike most 13-year-old tennis players, Abrams has to duck to get into the car.

Abrams is 6 feet 3 1/2 and has been towering over the rest of the 14-and-under division this season. He’s 29-1 in matches this year, losing only three of 60 sets. And he has won the two most prestigious junior tournaments, the Easter Bowl in Miami and the Ojai Valley.

Staring across the net at a guy a foot taller has to be unnerving for Abrams’ opponents. And the minute the fuzz begins to fly, he starts making things even tougher for them. Abrams plays a pure serve-and-volley game, not seen often by the baseliners of the 14s circuit.

“I only think about one thing now, getting in to the net,” Abrams said. “A lot of these guys are smaller, so I just try to overpower them.”

Phil Dent, a former professional who is one of Abrams’ coaches, says big is not always better.

“Actually, his size can be good and it can be bad,” Dent said. “At that age, the muscles usually aren’t developed to the point where they can haul a frame that big around. At least not very efficiently.

“But Geoff knows that movement is the part of the game that he has to work the hardest on and he’s been doing that. If he doesn’t move well, he can’t get the opportunity to use his best shots.

“He’s coming along really well, though. And he’s not just more mature physically than most of the kids his age, he’s more mature emotionally, too.”

Indeed, Abrams’ perception and perspective belie his youth. He’s a 4.0 student who understands that this wonderful fling of success could turn into drudgery before he reaches the midway point of his high school career.

“Sometimes at night, if I don’t fall right to sleep, I think about that, about burnout, and it really scares me,” said Abrams, who will attend Newport Harbor High School next year. “I am a little worried about burning out.”

Abrams’ mother, Nancy, isn’t surprised her son harbors his share of doubts. She also believes that if any youngster is equipped to handle the pressures of junior tennis, it’s her son.

“Geoff’s a smart kid and he talks to us,” she said. “He tells me if he needs time off or if he’s tired. And he knows that you can’t keep up the same intensity every day forever.

“But he also knows what he wants . . . and what it will take to get it.”

His dialogue isn’t laced with “you know s “ and he doesn’t use “goes” in place of “says.” In an hour interview the other day, Abrams never once said that something was “rad.”

But there are times when it is evident that he’s still a couple weeks short of his 14th birthday.

“Eventually, my goal is to play on the pro tour,” he said. “If that doesn’t work out, I’d like to go to college, Stanford, if I can, and get my doctorate and then go to med school.

“Is a doctorate the degree you get before you go to med school?”

Considering his big serve, crisp volleys and sharp grade-point average, Abrams figures to have a shot at both goals. But despite his recent dominance in the 14s, predicting his future on the courts is difficult.

“You just never can tell,” said Dent, whose stepson is Brett Hansen-Dent, the No. 1 singles player at UC Irvine. “Some of Geoff’s physical advantages are going to disappear as he gets older and the other kids get bigger, but if he keeps improving slowly and doesn’t try to get too far ahead of himself, he’s certainly got a chance to be very good.”

Last year, Abrams was ranked No. 4 in the section and 12th in the country in the 14s division. This year, he’s No. 1 in the country.

He lost only six games en route to victory in the season’s first tournament, the San Diego Junior, in January. Later in the month he lost to nemesis Bob Bryan, of Camarillo, in the finals of the Whittier Mid-Winter Junior tourney.

In February, however, he beat Bob Bryan’s twin brother, Mike, in the semifinals and then defeated Bob in the finals to win the South Bay Junior title.

“Last year, I just didn’t go out on the court against those guys feeling I could win,” Abrams said. “But after I beat them both to win that tournament, my confidence level really went up.”

In March, Abrams beat Bob Bryan in the finals of the Long Beach Junior. Then he beat him again in the semifinals of the Easter Bowl tournament. At Ojai, he came back to beat Mike in the semis and Bob in the title match at Ojai.

It wasn’t always easy. It wasn’t always fun. And he didn’t always win.

Abrams, whose parents are recreational tennis players, played in his first tournament at age 9. It was an experience that might have soured him on tennis forever.

“I got just killed, just killed ,” Abrams said, managing a smile. “I lost, 6-0, 6-0, and I don’t think I won more than nine or 10 points in the whole match.

“I was really upset. I was used to succeeding at sports. I had never experienced anything like that before. But it made me work harder. I concentrated on making sure it didn’t happen again.”

Soon after that, Abrams quit his youth league swim team, soccer team and basketball team to spend more time working on his groundstrokes. When he was 11, he gave up Little League baseball, too.

“I was a pitcher in baseball and I liked that because you’re in control,” he said. “But the thing I love most about tennis is that it’s an individual sport. You don’t have to depend on any teammates.

“If you win, you did it on your own. And if you lose, there’s no one else to blame.”

Lately, Abrams hasn’t needed to place blame very often. But success hasn’t put a dent in his determination to improve. He trains with Dent twice a week at the John Wayne Tennis Club and twice a week with Sid Ball at the Newport Beach Tennis Club. He also works out with UC Irvine’s team whenever he gets the chance.

Abrams hopes to win another 14s title next month during the sectional tournament at Los Caballeros Racquet Club in Fountain Valley. Then, if Dent has his way, Abrams will start playing in the 16s division.

“I think it’s time for him to move up and have a look at what comes next,” Dent said.

One thing is for sure, playing with the big boys won’t be a big leap for Abrams.