This Teen-Ager Doesn’t Run With the Mall Crowd : Tennis: El Modena freshman Brandi Freudenberg spends summer days developing into one of the nation’s top junior players.

As usual, the malls will be filled with shopping-crazed, teen-aged girls this summer.

And, as usual, Brandi Freudenberg won’t be with them.

The hours that Freudenberg, one of Southern California’s top junior tennis players, puts in on the court don’t allow her much time to hunt for clothes and accessories.

Although many teen-agers would be crushed by any restraints on South Coast Plaza patrol time, Freudenberg’s avoidance of summer sales is self-imposed.

“Tennis is more fun than shopping,” Freudenberg said. “Some of my friends used to wonder why I’d go practice when they were going to the malls, but I just love the game.”

Freudenberg, who turns 15 Friday, doesn’t need to explain to friends why she usually chooses tennis over more popular high school activities. With a week to go in her freshman year at El Modena High School, Freudenberg already has a list of tennis accomplishments that do the talking for her.

Ranked No. 2 in the Southern California Tennis Assn. 16-and-under division, Freudenberg was the Century League’s most valuable player and a Southern Section semifinalist last fall. In the spring, she won the 16s division championship at the prestigious Ojai Invitational, her third consecutive singles title this year after junior tournament victories in Long Beach and Arcadia.

Last week, Freudenberg represented the SCTA in the Maze Cup, an annual Northern California-Southern California team match, held this year in Portola Valley. Freudenberg lost only one game in her singles match and also won her mixed doubles match to help lead the Southern California 16s team to a 15-5 victory.

Southern California teams had won 18 of the previous 29 Maze Cup matches, a fact that motivated Freudenberg and her teammates.

“We wanted to keep the Southern California tradition alive,” she said. “I loved the team aspect, because I got to play with a lot of girls who I usually have to play against, and we were all playing together for the same goal.”

Freudenberg will have another opportunity to represent Southern California in a team setting next month when she plays No. 1 singles and doubles for the SCTA’s 16s team at the Intersectional Team Championships in Richmond, Va. The tournament features the nation’s top three girls’ and boys’ players in the 16 and 18 divisions from the 17 USTA junior sections.

The Intersectionals are only one stop on a busy summer tennis schedule for Freudenberg, but it’s a schedule she’s used to. She began playing in junior tournaments at age 7 after taking up the game when she was 5.

“In my first match when I was 7, I only won one game, but I was still really happy,” Freudenberg said. “I knew from that first match I was hooked, and I just wanted to keep playing and getting better.”

Her improvement was rapid, and a year later, Freudenberg won her first junior tournament. Her dedication--and her success--hasn’t wavered since.

“I wasn’t ever pushed into playing,” Freudenberg said. “When I first started, I played every day for about three hours because I wanted to. I still feel that way now.”

Before Brandi was old enough to pick up a racket, Jerry Freudenberg, her father, built a tennis court in the back yard of the family’s home in Orange because of his interest in the game. Jerry Freudenberg coached basketball at Norwalk Excelsior High School and took over the tennis team one season, and that led to a new-found devotion to the sport and construction of the home court.

“I was 2 years old when he built it, but when I was old enough, I started hitting at home with him,” Brandi Freudenberg said. “It’s nice to have the court here, but I would have gone anywhere to play. I probably spent more time at the public courts taking lessons than I did playing at home when I was younger.”

Freudenberg uses an all-court game and is currently working on a one-handed, backhand slice to help prepare for the Intersectional Team tournament, which will be played on clay. She doesn’t claim to have a favorite stroke, such as a Steffi Graf-like forehand.

Instead, Freudenberg prefers to mix a variety of strokes into her attack-oriented style. Opponents won’t find her waiting on the baseline to hit another looping, top-spin return.

“I get very impatient with 50-ball rallies,” she said. “I understand why some people think girls’ tennis is boring because some of the players just want to sit back and lob back and forth all day. The object is to win points, not set records for the longest match.”

In doubles, Freudenberg teams with Megan Miller of Florida, and the duo is one of the nation’s dominant teams in the 16s. Freudenberg and Miller won the USTA clay-court title in Florida last summer and won the USTA indoor championship in St. Louis in November. Their only loss as a team came by default in the semifinals of the USTA hard-court championships in Atlanta when Miller injured her shoulder.

“We don’t get to play together too often, but we just complement each other really well,” Freudenberg said.

Despite all the practice and travel time, Freudenberg expects to finish school next week with a 3.5 grade-point average. She’s looking forward to the summer, when she can concentrate on tennis full time for three months.

“It’s hard to keep your grades up when you’re playing two or three hours a day, seven days a week, and traveling almost every weekend, but my parents make sure I pay attention to school, too,” Freudenberg said. “The summers are nice because I can pay more attention to tennis, but I know school’s important.”

No wonder she doesn’t have any time for the malls.