As Senior Player, Lindborg Has Had Time Work to His Advantage : Tennis: Lenny Lindborg, 59, is a successful singles and doubles player and promoter.

Lenny Lindborg was 18 and just out of high school in 1954 when he signed a baseball contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

He also had played football and basketball at Compton High, but baseball was his first love. He didn’t start playing tennis until he was 30, and then really didn’t take it seriously until almost 10 years later.

Lindborg didn’t make it to the major leagues in baseball, much less stick around very long with the Hollywood Stars of the Pacific Coast League. He bounced around baseball’s minor leagues for seven years as a pitcher and outfielder.

But Lindborg, 59, has reached the big leagues of senior tennis, and has become one of the game’s leading promoters.

Lindborg, who lives in Laguna Niguel, is again the host this week for the U.S. Tennis Assn. National Men’s 50 and 55 Hardcourt Championships at the tennis club that carries his name in Huntington Beach.

This is a fun week for Lindborg, and he goes all-out to run an event that he hopes players will enjoy and return for. Singles and doubles play began Monday, with the finals scheduled for Sunday.

Lindborg, who went into the construction and development business when his baseball career ended, didn’t start taking tennis seriously until about 20 years ago, when he decided to build the tennis club.

“But building the club wasn’t an ego thing for me,” he said. “I did it as a business, although I was starting to get more involved with the game then. I thought we needed a tennis club here.”

Lindborg, who describes himself as a “dollar-and-cents guy,” took something of a gamble with the location. But the price of the land was right.

“There was a dump for wrecked cars on one side,” he said. “And there also was a mushroom field nearby and it really smelled. And we had a pistol range on another side.”

Lindborg bought the land for $1.25 a square foot and was involved in the club’s design and construction. “I built it myself out of cash, and I personally planted every tree on the grounds,” he said.

The car dump and the mushroom field are gone now, and the value of the land in the area has gradually improved. Lindborg said the land for the five-acre development probably is worth about $12 to $14 per foot now.

“They’re even talking about sound-proofing the pistol range now,” he said with a laugh.

Lindborg’s own stock as a tennis player has gone up steadily through those years too.

“I probably was a C player for about nine or 10 years,” Lindborg said. “Then I started taking some lessons because nobody wanted to play with me. Before that, I just goofed around with it. But being a pretty good athlete helped, and then I was able to start playing with some better players.”

Lindborg also started playing in some tournaments, and after awhile began doing well. He also began to play regularly with some of the top senior tennis players in the nation, including Bob Duesler of Newport Beach and Jim Nelson and Hank Leichtfried of Irvine, among others.

“They helped me a lot,” Lindborg said. “You always were looking for a partner that you could beat those guys in doubles with,” he said. “And that was tough to do.”

Duesler remembers Lindborg struggling when he first started playing in that group.

“He’s improved a great deal since then, and he’s done it with hard work,” Duesler said. “In the beginning, he didn’t do too well, but he stayed with it. He’s not a finesse player, but he’s strong physically and he plays that kind of game. He’s got a strong serve and when that’s on, it’s a big factor.”

Bob Howe of Newport Beach, who played in singles, doubles and mixed doubles for 16 consecutive years at Wimbledon, was Lindborg’s partner when they won the 50s indoor national championship in 1985.

Howe thinks Lindborg’s baseball skills helped him develop quickly when he did start taking tennis seriously. “Having an eye for the ball is really important, and he has that,” Howe said. “And he’s motivated.”

Lindborg agrees.

“Pitching is a lot like serving and hitting is a lot like returning serve, so I guess my baseball background has helped me,” he said. “My deal has always been to try to be aggressive and have the will to win. I know I don’t have all the shots other players have.”

This past year has been a good one for Lindborg. It began when he and his friend Larry Dodge of Piedmont, Calif., defeated Nelson and Duesler to win the national 55 hardcourt doubles last July after Dodge won the singles.

Then Lindborg won his first major singles title, the USTA 55 Grass Courts in Philadelphia, although he has won several other national doubles titles.

“That was a big breakthrough for him,” Duesler said. “I played in that tournament too, and he beat some very good grass court players there.”

Lindborg laughed and said: “I was as surprised as everyone else was. I’ve been ranked in the top 10 for several years, but I’ve maybe won only once against Duesler or Nelson in a tournament.”

Then in May, Lindborg and Nelson teamed to win senior doubles titles in two international senior Davis Cup-style events in Europe.

“Lenny’s a real fighter,” said Nelson. “He’s the kind of guy who’s never going to throw in the towel, no matter how things look. It was like last year in the 55 doubles. Duesler and I had him and Dodge beaten, and they fought back and won it, 7-6, in the third set.”

Lindborg hopes he can continue the run of good fortune this week.

Lindborg was host for the USTA national tournament for the 45s at his club for several years, but he and Jack Darrah of Westlake Tennis Club traded events with the 50 and 55s tournaments moving to Huntington Beach.

“It was Jack’s idea because he said he was having a hard time getting the sponsors to cover two events,” Lindborg said. “It was that and his court situation since he had fewer courts.”

Lindborg’s club also has been the host for the Pacific Southwest senior tournament, another top senior event.

“Lenny has really done a lot for senior tennis,” Duesler said.

And a lot to improve his own game in the process.