Back Pain Forces Weiss to Write Off Season as Net Loss : After Rapidly Rising in National Tennis Rankings, 16-Year-Old From Calabasas High Must Sit Out a Year

What a cruel trick Jason Weiss’ health has played on him. A year ago, Weiss was overpowering opponents on the tennis court.

Today, because of an unusual back injury, he can barely pick up a racket.

The teen-ager who slammed his way to the final of the Southern California Sectional tournament and to a seventh-place finish in the national junior hard-court championships in singles last year with a powerful serve-and-volley attack walks stiffly and moves slowly--fighting off pain.

Many times during the past six months Weiss, 16, has crawled out of bed in his Tarzana home feeling more like an old man than a teen-ager.

“A few times my back was so sore I couldn’t stand up straight,” he said. “I’d have to sit there like I’m 80 years old.”

The cause of the injury--a stress fracture of the third and fourth vertebrae--and the exact time it occurred remains a mystery. Weiss won’t rule out the possibility that the fracture came from playing on clay courts at the Amre Sammakia Tennis Academy in Florida, where he trained for four months last year.

Weiss said the slipping and sliding might have created extra stress on his lower back.

Jerry Weiss, Jason’s mother, believes weightlifting is the culprit. Jason, she said, worked out too often.

Whatever the cause, the injury derailed Weiss shortly after he had become one of the nation’s elite players in the 16-and-under division. Junior Tennis magazine named him the nation’s most improved player in boys’ 16s for 1993, and after his strong showing in the national hard-court tournament, more than 30 colleges--including Stanford, Duke and Notre Dame--started recruiting him.

Reebok decided to sponsor Weiss, giving him free tennis clothing, and Sammakia saw the makings of another Pete Sampras. The No. 1 player in the world can beat opponents at the net and from the base line.

“Jason was developing the ground stroke to where he would have been more well-rounded,” Sammakia said. “He was learning to pick his shots better and hanging into points really well. He was already a good volleyer.

“Jason’s a very gifted athlete. He’s in the upper echelon of the players I’ve worked with--and I’ve worked with 12 national champions. He hits everything on the run well. He hits the forehand on the run as good as anybody I’ve seen.”

Sammakia said he has seen many injuries in his time: sore backs, weak shoulders and twisted knees. But always his players have returned to the game, he said, so he wasn’t concerned when Weiss began taking anti-inflammatory pills last fall.

The pain grew progressively worse, and when Jerry Weiss caught up with her son in November at the Orange Bowl national tournament in Florida, she knew there was a problem.

“His legs would almost give out when he just walked,” she said. “I knew it was not good. But he wouldn’t default.”

Just before Christmas, Weiss returned to California from the academy at Lake Mary, Fla. He re-enrolled at Calabasas High--his father lives in the Calabasas attendance area--to complete his junior year, planning to play for a Coyote team that won a Southern Section championship earlier this month.

But in January, a magnetic resonance imaging examination revealed slight cracks in the two vertebrae. Doctors prescribed rest and no athletic activity.

A specially designed exercise regimen provided some relief, but an automobile accident in March aggravated the injury. After his last examination, in May, showed the injury had worsened, all exercise was canceled.

And so is an entire year of tennis. He missed last week’s Southern California Sectional in Orange County where his brother Nicholas played in the 14-and-under division.

Last year’s tournament was an important one for Jason. He upset top-seeded Kevin Kim of Fullerton, 4-6, 6-2, 7-5, to reach the 16s singles final against Camarillo’s Bob Bryan, who won 7-6, 6-0.

Kim (Weiss’ doubles partner) and Bryan are currently playing international tournaments for the U.S. Junior National team, and Weiss’ patience is growing thin.

“This injury is (upsetting me) so bad that I’m just going to go out there and start playing and see what happens,” he said. “I don’t care who I lose to or beat. I just want to play again.”

Weiss realizes he can’t follow through on that vow. Tennis is out of the question right now.

“It’s a dangerous injury,” he said, regaining his composure. “Your back’s your back.”

Weiss did go on the court recently and rallied with his brother until his mother caught him.

“I grabbed the racquet out of his hand,” Jerry Weiss said. “He’s getting real frustrated. He’s concerned about college. He tries to minimize it when he talks to college coaches. He’s trying to push himself. But he still wakes up in the morning and can barely move. He’s in the Jacuzzi all the time.”

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Weiss plans to take five recruiting trips this fall and would like to show people what he can do with a racket during those visits. But his back continues to show what he can’t do.

Walking down a set of stairs recently, Weiss misjudged a step. The rough landing jarred his spine and he screamed, frightening his girlfriend.

Weiss is rarely seen at the Calabasas Park Tennis Club, where he and many of his friends normally practice. When he does visit, he finds watching others too painful.

“It’s kind of weird,” he said. “I come to the tennis club now just to drop my brother off. I used to be here every day playing. It hurts.”

Coincidentally, if it hadn’t been for another serious injury, Weiss might never have started tennis. While pitching in a youth baseball game, he was struck in the head by a line drive and suffered skull fractures.

“He had a dream the night before that he was going to get hit, only he was the batter in the dream,” Jerry Weiss said. “And the boy who hit the line drive was the pitcher. It was a bizarre thing.”

The injury prohibited Weiss from participating in most sports for a year. Reluctantly, he took up tennis at age 12 and performed as if he had been born with a racket in his hand.

He entered his first junior tournament in December. By April, he had earned a berth in the national 12-and-under tournament. By year’s end, Weiss was ranked No. 11 by the Southern California Tennis Assn.

Two years later, in 1992, Weiss reached the final of the City Section individual championship as a freshman playing for Taft High, losing to Rafael Huerta of Chatsworth.

Weiss led Taft to the team championship that year but also caused the team to forfeit that title. The same day Taft defeated University for the team championship, Weiss played in a national tournament in the morning in San Diego. He had not attended school the same day he competed in an athletic event, a violation of City rules.

But that was his last mishap until the injury. No one knows for sure when he will be completely healed, said Weiss, because tests often show “hot spots” as much as a year after the bone has mended.

“Basically, my whole year’s gone,” he said. “Can’t play nationals. Can’t play any of the clay-court tournaments over the summer. But I’d rather have my back better than anything right now.”

When Weiss does pick up a racket again, it won’t take him long to return to form.

“He’ll get right back into it,” Sammakia said. “He’s that kind of athlete.”