TENNIS / WENDY WITHERSPOON : Bryan Twins Seek Feat of Clay

Twins Mike and Bob Bryan of Camarillo return to the clay courts of the Ft. Lauderdale Tennis Club in Florida to defend their doubles title in the boys’ 14 division of the United States Tennis Assn. clay-court national championships, beginning Sunday.

The Bryans won the doubles championship in the Southern California Tennis Assn. sectional tournament June 29 with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Geoff Abrams of Newport Beach and Joseph Gilbert of Fullerton. The sectional is on a hard-court surface.

The 14-year-old twins have been ranked No. 1 in doubles four of the past six years in the SCTA. They have been No. 1 in the nation two of the past three years in their division.

The Bryans say clay courts suit their style of play. They practiced on clay last week at Sherwood Country Club.

In singles, the twins routinely default matches if they wind up playing each other. Because both are top players in their age group, they often are scheduled as opponents when tournaments reach the final stages.

“They don’t want to view their brother as a competitor,” said Wayne Bryan, their father.

But Wayne Bryan also said they might make an exception to that rule in a national tournament.

In the national clay-court tournament, Bob is seeded second and Mike fourth in singles. If both win all their matches in the double-elimination tournament, they will meet in Saturday’s final. They could meet earlier, however.

Wayne Bryan will not speculate on what they will do if they are scheduled to meet: “It’s kind of premature because there are 128 kids in the draw. They are just trying to win their first matches and let’s go from there,” he said.

Add clay courts: Other area players will compete in their respective age-group national clay-court championships.

Mei Len Tu of Northridge and Ania Bleszynski of Thousand Oaks will compete in the girls’ 18 division, which will be held at The Racquet Club of Memphis.

Derek Pope of Ojai will compete in the boys’ 16 division at Bellemeade Country Club in Nashville, Tenn.

Jessica Kessler of Studio City, Erin Boisclair of Agoura and Jessica Improta of Agoura will compete in the girls’ 14 division at Veltri Tennis Center in Plantation, Fla.

Adults only: Bill Marrs took up tennis as a recreational sport and because he thought it was a good way to find love.

“I was single when I moved to L.A. and tennis is a great sport to meet other single people. It’s a healthy activity,” said Marrs, a member of the Porter Valley Country Club.

When he served one over the net to Patricia Harris, he knew he had found a perfect match. The Granada Hills couple has been married five years and Marrs continues to play the game.

A lawyer, Marrs spends weekends as captain of two SCTA adult league tennis teams and plays on one of them.

“The hardest thing is getting eight adults together at one time to play a match,” Marrs said.

Marrs is captain of a 4.0 team and a 4.5 team. He plays on the 4.0 team. Both teams won their Valley league and will participate in the district playoffs against San Gabriel on Sunday at Los Caballeros Sports Village in Fountain Valley.

It is only his second year participating in organized adult tennis, but Marrs already has experienced success. Last year, his 4.5 team won the district tournament title and this year both teams went undefeated. The 4.5 men are 8-0 and the 4.0 men 6-0.

“I may have a knack for finding good players,” Marrs said.

Marrs’ 4.5 team has a home-court advantage. Four team members live on Tulsa Street in Chatsworth and possess their own tennis court. “We call them the Tulsa Street Terminators,” Marrs said.

Other Valley team captains who will lead their teams to district playoffs Sunday are Tina Clarefield’s 4.5 women of the Calabasas Tennis Club, Tug Craig’s 3.5 men of the West Valley Tennis Club, Jean Williams’ 3.5 women, an independent group, and Cathy Lengyel’s 4.0 women, an independent team.

Winners at district playoffs compete in sectionals Aug. 21-23 at Los Caballeros Sports Village.

Add adults: The top Ventura teams in each level participated in area playoffs Saturday at Pershing Park in Santa Barbara. Bill Rorick’s 4.0 men’s team of the Oxnard Tennis Club defeated Mike Kelly’s team from Central Coast, 4-1. Mary Rudolph’s 4.5 women’s team of Sunset Hills Country Club defeated Cheryl Hahn’s team from Central Coast, 3-2.

Peter Quinn’s 4.5 men’s team, of Sunset Hills Country Club, lost to Alan Wilkenson’s Santa Barbara team, 3-2. Janice Needham’s 3.5 women’s team, of Thousand Oaks Racquet Club, lost to Ann Bradford’s Central Coast team, 4-1.

Grand Prix: Many area juniors will compete in the Thousand Oaks Racquet Club junior tournament, which begins Monday.

The tournament is one of 22 in the SCTA Summer Grand Prix. The top eight point winners in the Grand Prix advance to the Masters, held at The Racquet Centre in Studio City, Oct. 31-Nov. 1.