His Day on Court : UCI’s Tontz Surprises Opponents, and Himself, By Elevating His Game to a Higher Level

To Chris Tontz and those who saw him play last year, the scene at UC Irvine’s tennis courts for two days last week was almost surreal.

Tontz, who couldn’t even crack the Anteaters’ starting lineup a year ago, didn’t belong in the same sentence with Michael Chang, much less on the same court. But here he was giving the world’s fifth-ranked player all he could handle during an informal training session.

And then on Sunday, Tontz’s rapid transformation gained even more momentum when he beat Marc LeClair, Colorado’s No. 1 player, in three sets. The victory, Tontz’s fourth in a row and his second as a No. 1 player, vaulted the sophomore from San Diego into the No. 1 singles slot, if only temporarily.

“He deserves it because he’s been winning and playing well,” UCI Coach Steve Clark said.

Tontz is pleased with his progress, but said he’s happier simply to be playing.

“I was just hoping I’d get a chance,” said Tontz, who was ranked 32nd nationally coming out of San Diego’s University of San Diego High. “I’ve always felt like I’ve had the strokes, I just didn’t have the confidence until this year.”

Tontz also acknowledged he didn’t have the strength, endurance or mental toughness last year. So he languished at No. 8 singles and after the season considered transferring to a school where he could play. He even called the coach at Notre Dame and asked about his chances of receiving a full-ride scholarship--Tontz is on a three-quarter scholarship at UCI.

But an unlikely string of events during the summer suddenly improved Tontz’s fortunes for this season. Brett Hansen-Dent and Charles Wheeler, the Nos. 1 and 3 singles players, left for the professional tour and Brett Stern, at No. 2 singles, transferred to Florida. Neel Grover, at No. 5 singles, graduated.

Tontz said he also caught a break when Greg Patton, UCI’s coach for 13 seasons, took the head coaching job at Boise State.

“Coach (Patton) really never gave me a fair shot,” Tontz said. “Now that I have a coach who believes in me, I can just worry about my own game. I don’t have to worry about not playing. I know that right now I’m in the lineup. Mentally, that means a lot.”

But Patton said he never had anything against Tontz.

“I think the world of him and I’m not surprised by his success at all,” Patton said. “I would never have played him in doubles if I didn’t believe in him. I thought that there were six players better than him, but I knew that would change. I felt very strongly that this guy would be a major player at UC Irvine.”

So strongly that Patton rooted for Tontz over one of his players this season.

“We were playing UCI and when Chris made a great shot to beat us, I found myself cheering for him,” Patton said. “I always believed in Chris.”

Tontz said he began believing in himself this summer when he embarked on a grueling workout routine that changed his physique and his attitude. Three days a week, Tontz woke up at 6 a.m. and alternated between quickness drills, running the stairs and running five 400-yard dashes.

“By the time, I got to the fall I had a jump on the other guys,” Tontz said. “I love to work hard. I felt to get up to that next level, I had to be strong physically.”

By the fall, Tontz had added 10 pounds of mostly muscle to his 6-foot-1, 170-pound frame. He had also improved his quickness and his durability.

“I feel the difference in the third set,” Tontz said. “I have as much energy as when I started the match. Last year, I cramped up a lot in third set.”

If he even reached the third set. In one of Tontz’s rare opportunities to play in a dual match, he failed to win a game from Stanford’s Jason Yee.

“Yee had just finished winning the National Indoors at his flight and I hadn’t played all season except for doubles,” Tontz said. “I was off the court in about a half hour. He smoked me.”

Essentially, Tontz was a mess. When opponents weren’t beating him, Tontz was beating himself.

“Chris always had real high expectations,” Clark said. “If he didn’t meet them, he would get all over himself. He was especially hung up on his serve. I talked to him and told him, ‘There’s more to tennis than serving.’ “Chris would just get really mad at himself a lot. When you’re really mad, you’re not receptive to change.”

Tontz readily admits he was not the easiest guy to get along with last year.

“It’s because I have such high goals that whenever I don’t have a good day at practice, I think that I’m further away from my goal than I want to be,” he said. “I guess I’m a perfectionist. When things don’t go well at practice, I get really upset.

“I put a lot of pressure on myself. That can be harmful, but I think I can handle it. I kind of enjoy the challenge of seeing how good I can get in tennis. I really enjoy the sport right now.”

It’s showing.

Tontz is not yet ranked in singles, but his match record of 10-5 and his showing against Chang are signs he is closing in on the top 100. Four of his five losses have come against players ranked in the top 65, including a three-set loss to eighth-ranked Chris Pressley.

“I’m starting to make the shots that last year I was missing by inches,” Tontz said. “Most of it comes from the training I did in the off-season. I get out here and I think there’s no way anybody should beat me because of what I did in the off-season.”

Even Chang?

“I really surprised myself,” said Tontz, who lost to Chang 6-4, 6-0, one day, then, 7-6, the next. “I didn’t think I was capable of playing that well. He just wore me down in the second set. He had me running side to side. I learned that I’m not that quick at all. He just exploited me.”

But Chang also gave Tontz, who hits an unorthodox two-handed forehand, something to work on this summer.

“Next year’s going to be really big, I feel like I can get inside the top 10,” Tontz said. “I still think there’s a chance that I can go to the NCAAs (individual singles tournament) this year.”

Patton said nothing Tontz accomplishes will surprise him.

“I think he can be an All-American,” Patton said. “He has ingredients that differentiates himself from other players. He has a great work ethic and he’s pretty obsessed with certain goals.”

Tontz said he can’t help himself.

“I take tennis very seriously,” he said. “That’s the main part of my life. Nothing else right now. Just tennis.”

The serious guy has had a serious game lately--just ask Chang.