TENNIS / WOMEN’S TOURNAMENT AT MANHATTAN BEACH : Po, Tired of Traveling, to Return to UCLA

When Kimberly Po does something, she devotes 100% of her time to it. That’s why she left UCLA a year ago to play on the women’s tennis tour.

It’s also why she is quitting tennis after the U.S. Open next month.

Po, who advanced into the main draw of the Virginia Slims of Los Angeles with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Julie Richardson of New Zealand at the Manhattan Country Club, said Monday that she will return to UCLA after the year’s final Grand Slam.

Po said she would eventually like to study environmental law.

“It’s just something I’ve wanted to do for a while,” Po said. “When I tell people, they sometimes give me weird looks, though.”

Po, 20, of Rolling Hills, said the tour’s main drawback is the travel. So far this year, she has spent about 2 1/2 months abroad, including a 3 1/2-week stay in Australia in January and a month in Europe from the French Open through Wimbledon.

“I don’t like being away from home and my friends,” said Po, who played from 1989 to 1991 at UCLA. “I don’t think I could live like that for seven or eight years.”

Before the Virginia Slims, Po was ranked 85th. She was the 11th-ranked college player in her last year at UCLA.

“She’s got the type of game that I think she could have done very well,” said Susie Mascarin Keane, a UCLA assistant when Po was in college and a pro for eight years.

“I was really surprised to hear (she was retiring). I know so many women from the college crew who are just out there trying to get to that level. Here you have someone who has pretty much made it, and she doesn’t want it.”

At Wimbledon, Po played well against Martina Navratilova and won the second set before play was called because of darkness. The next day, she lost the third set, 6-0, and was eliminated.

Amy Frazier, seeded seventh at the Virginia Slims, said Po has a good serve and solid ground strokes.

“I’m sad to see her retire,” said Frazier, who beat Po at the Suntory Open in April.

Po’s next match will be today at 11 a.m. against Catarina Lindqvist of Sweden. Po lost during the first round at last year’s tournament.

“It’s hard playing here because it’s too close to home,” she said. But she also said that, in a way, tennis is easier for her now that she is on her way out.

“I have less pressure,” she said.

When she returns to UCLA, Po said she would like to help with the Bruin women’s tennis team, particularly because of a new NCAA rule that allows teams to have only one paid assistant coach, creating a need for volunteers.

Po said that she might continue to play in a few local pro events that would not require her to skip too many classes, “just to keep my name in the computer.”

The most difficult part of her decision, she said, will be leaving the friends she made on the tour.

“I have friends from Japan and Australia,” she said. “When am I ever going to see them again?”

Quitting the tour is Po’s second tough decision in the past year.

She decided to leave UCLA at the end of the school year because of injuries. She suffered an elbow injury after she fell during a running drill and a thumb injury running into a fence. Po decided she should give the tour a chance before more injuries ended her hopes of playing professionally.

Besides, Po said, she knew that she “could always go back to school.”

Tennis Notes

Pam Shriver beat Marianne Werdel, 6-2, 6-1, Monday night. . . . Top-seeded Monica Seles will play her first match at 7 tonight against Karina Habsudova. Martina Navratilova will play her first match Wednesday.