TENNIS / DANA HADDAD : Weiss’ Future Seems Linked to Florida

Jason Weiss of Calabasas has just played the best tennis tournament of his life. So what is he going to do now?

“I’m going to Florida,” he says. “Maybe.”

Seemingly overnight, Weiss has joined a growing number of juniors who, having tasted academy life, are contemplating leaving home.

Sprawling tennis centers--complete with courts, classrooms and dormitories--that now dot the Florida coast provide the attraction. The promise of a high national ranking and a college scholarship comes with the package.

Weiss, 15, said he always had been anti- academy, but he changed his mind last week when he reached the semifinals in both singles and doubles in the United States Tennis Assn. junior national championships. His accomplishments came on the heels of a one-week session under Amre Sammakia in Florida.

“I’d always done what I was supposed to do in tournaments, nothing more,” said Weiss, who was seeded 13th at nationals but recorded a big upset of No. 5 Hyon Yoo, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, in the 16-and-under division. “But the extra work paid off. I grinded real hard. That was the hardest work in my life.”

Weiss spent more time boogie-boarding at Zuma Beach this summer than he did playing tennis. And the thought of leaving his family to train six hours a day, six days a week in a structured environment “had just never been appealing to me.”

“He really surprised me,” said Jerry Weiss, Jason’s mother. “He’s never wanted to leave his friends. He’s super social and he loves his school (Calabasas High).”

Now the Weiss family must make a quick and crucial decision. School starts Monday in Lake Mary, Fla., site of the Sammakia Tennis Academy.

Other area players have either chosen or are considering the Florida route. Derek Pope (Nordhoff High) of Ojai has been training under Sammakia for several months. John Rom of Pierce College attended the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Bradenton for a year. Weiss said his doubles partner, Kevin Kim of Fullerton, is considering Sammakia. Erin Boisclair of Agoura Hills, a doubles finalist in the 14-and-under nationals last week, said she also dreams of Florida training.

Paul Xanthos, an area coach for 47 years, said families should be cautious when making an investment of $20,000 to $25,000 for a year’s worth of room and board, schooling and ground strokes.

“Some of these kids are very much influenced by the publicity of some of these camps, because a few world-class players have worked out there,” Xanthos said. “They don’t say anything about the hundreds of kids who have gone there and accomplished nothing.

“Kids like Jason might be better off staying in Southern California and playing as many tournaments as they can. There’s a lot of good players around here.”

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Scouting report: Despite a discouraging loss last week in the quarterfinals of the USTA national girls’ 18-and-under tournament in San Jose last week, Meilen Tu of Northridge has a bright future. So says Dana Seandel, the tournament director.

Seandel predicted that the 15-year-old could win the tournament next year and make an impact on the national scene for several years.

“She has all kinds of potential if her injuries don’t get her,” said Seandel, a Northern California Tennis Assn. official, after watching Tu for the second year in a row at the Almaden Valley Athletic Club.

“She’s young and she’s playing a lot and her body is just developing. She played one of the best matches of the tournament against Janet Lee.”

Lee, 17, of Rancho Palos Verdes, went on to win the championship after struggling to beat Tu, 7-5, 1-6, 6-2. Tu led, 2-0, in the third set but was hampered by a sprained right ankle and a sore lower back.

“I played more aggressive--I had her on the defensive,” Tu said of Lee. “I was just missing and she just kept the ball in. It came down to experience. She was smart.”

Tu, a member of the U.S. junior national team who attends Granada Hills High, said she was pressing and placed too much emphasis on winning the match instead of taking it point by point.

“Fifteen to 17 is a big age difference,” Seandel said. “I like Tu’s attitude. She’s a tough competitor and the game’s 90% mental. She’s young and can only get better.”

Seandel also took note of another prospect from the area, Krissy Hamilton of Agoura Hills. For the second year in a row Hamilton, 13, was the youngest of 128 players in the 18-and-under field. After losing in the round of 16 last week, Hamilton still has five shots at winning a national title in 18 singles.

“She moves very well in the back court and keeps the ball in play,” Seandel said. “She doesn’t do much else at this point. But she’ll get better.”

Hamilton won the Southern California Tennis Assn. sectional championships in June and was seeded in the top 16 in the nationals.

Holding up against older, stronger competition through three rounds, she was eliminated in straight sets by unseeded Khristen Pietrucha of Boca Raton, Fla.

Seandel watched a lot of tennis during the seven-day tournament but never caught Ania Bleszynski in action. The 16-year-old from Thousand Oaks also reached the round of 16, in which she pushed Lee to a second-set tiebreaker before losing.