Tournament Has Abrams Coming Back for More

Geoff Abrams left Palmer Tennis Academy in Tampa, Fla., a semester early so he could graduate with his friends at Newport Harbor High. But Abrams also came back to Southern California with this weekend in mind--Ojai weekend.

Abrams won the prestigious Ojai Valley Invitational at 13 and 14 and lost in the boys’ interscholastic finals in 1994 as a 15-year-old.

“I’ve always loved Ojai--being with everybody up there and experiencing the place,” Abrams said. “You have to go and experience Ojai to know what people are talking about.”

Part of what Abrams is talking about is the complimentary freshly squeezed orange juice served every morning at Libbey Park, the tea and cookies served every afternoon and, of course, the great tennis that begins today and continues through Sunday.

Abrams didn’t play Ojai last year, but in ’94 he lost a classic three-set match to Nathon Jackmon of Santa Barbara in the final. Jackmon is now a sophomore at California. In six months, Abrams will be a freshman at Stanford. In a month, he’ll be off to Europe representing the United States in international tournaments in Milan, Italy, Brussels and Paris.

Ojai will be his swan song as a high school player. Because of his European trip, he will not play the Southern Section individual tournament.

“If I would have been here, I’d have played league and CIF, but I got the opportunity to go to Europe and I can’t pass that up,” Abrams said. “Ojai’s a good tournament to go out on. I’d like to head off to Europe on a positive note. And any time you can win a tournament, it’s a positive thing.”

The top-seeded Abrams, ranked 20th in the junior world rankings, will have some decent competition in last year’s Ojai boys’ interscholastic champion Nick Varvais of Simi Valley and last year’s runner-up Sam Adam Webster of Santa Barbara, who has won two consecutive Southern California Tennis Assn. tournaments.

Abrams also will be challenged by Corona del Mar’s Boris Turkich, Servite’s Ryan Moore and Foothill’s Joost Hol, last year’s boys’ 16 Ojai champion.

The boys’ interscholastic doubles field features Mike and Bob Bryan of Oxnard Rio Mesa, who will be joining Abrams next year at Stanford. The top county doubles teams are Jon Biorkman and Chris Seid of University, Jerry Liao and Parag Bhatt of Canyon and Brandon Shainfield and Greg Levy of Woodbridge.

The girls’ 18 field features Woodbridge’s Natalie Exon, Laguna Beach’s Michelle Bray, Canyon’s Shannon Wilkins and Santa Margarita’s Tracey Keyser.

The girls’ 18-and-under doubles field features Villa Park junior Faye DeVera and her partner Kristina Kraszewski of Torrance. DeVera, who won the Long Beach junior tournament last weekend, said she wanted to take a break from singles competition.

“I wanted to get more experience playing doubles and I wanted to have some fun this year,” said DeVera, who won the girls’ 14s at Ojai three years ago.

Other top teams in the girls’ 18 doubles tournament are Katie Canright of Newport Harbor and Alissa Scott of Corona del Mar, Michele Johnson and Katie Tierney of Dana Hills, Sarah Cohen and Vanessa Zajfen of Laguna Hills.

The junior divisions begin today and ends Saturday. The community college, Big West and Pac-10 competitions are today through Sunday.