Bad Break Keeps Joe Sidelined

Darren Joe’s heart aches more than his lower back these days.

This is good news for Joe, a sophomore at Westlake High who was the Marmonte League’s second-best singles player.

The bad news is the unusual stress fracture near the base of his spine will keep him from competing in next week’s Southern California Junior Sectional championships at the Los Caballeros Sports Village in Fountain Valley.

After winning 45 of 48 sets during the high school season, Joe felt he was ready to challenge the best players in his 16-and-under age group.

“I’m extremely disappointed because I’ve worked harder this year than any other year,” he said. “I’ve never been injured playing tennis.”

The timing of his first injury couldn’t be worse.

Joe would have been seeded among the top 20 players in the boys’ 18-and-under division in next week’s sectional. A top-six finish likely would have qualified him for the national championships in July.

At the time of his injury, Joe was playing his best tennis. Two of his three high school losses were to Royal’s Nick Varvais, the first four-time Marmonte League singles champion who was selected The Times’ regional player of the year the past two seasons.

Joe’s second loss to Varvais was relatively close, 6-2, 6-4, in the league singles championship match.

A few days later, Joe felt a pop in his back while playing for Westlake in the Southern Section playoffs. What he thought was a pulled muscle was diagnosed as a rare hair-line fracture in a vertebra, and his doctor prescribed six weeks of rest.

Joe, a two-time all-region selection by The Times, is currently sitting around the house, serving the sixth week of his rehabilitation.

“Right now my back doesn’t hurt anymore,” he said. “But it’s not time yet. I’m just a normal kid now, concentrating on school and spending extra time with my family. I’m going to the doctor next week. Hopefully, I’ll get good news.”

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Joe isn’t the only top area player sidelined from the sectional by injury.

Brandis Braverman of Encino withdrew Thursday because of inflammation and softening of the cartilage around her knees.

Braverman, 16, was seeded third in girls’ 18 singles and has been ranked as high as No. 9 in the nation this year. She said she discovered the injury last week, when she trained hard after a nine-day layoff.

“When I went to see my doctor Monday morning I could barely walk,” she said. “I came back with a vengeance last week. I did a two-mile run the first day, plus a bunch of sprints. I hadn’t been running to that point.”

She felt pain the next day.

Braverman, a strong baseline player, improved her world ranking from 520 to 172 after playing a series of events in Italy in May.

She must petition the Southern California Tennis Assn. for entry to the U.S. national tournament later this summer.

“It’s a rough time, but it’s all in the process of being a better tennis player,” Braverman said.

“My ultimate goal is to make the pros.”

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To know Matt Snowdon is to never know where he might appear next.

Snowdon, a Calabasas High senior bound for Kansas on scholarship, resides in Calabasas (with his father) and Bel-Air (with his mother).

But the past two years his residence had either been the Palmer Tennis Academy in Key Biscayne, Fla., or the John Newcombe Tennis Ranch in Newbraunsels, Texas.

It was a surprise when Snowdon showed up this spring on the Calabasas campus, asking to play for the school team.

The Coyotes were soon howling his praises, as Snowdon went 42-0 in regular-season play and led Calabasas to its third consecutive Frontier League championship.

“I didn’t want to spend all my high school life at tennis academies,” Snowdon said.

“The camaraderie [at Calabasas] was great. The road matches were awesome. We had lots of team dinners and barbecues. It was great.”

Snowdon, considered one of the top 12 players in boys’ 18 singles, must qualify for the main draw of the Southern California championships because he hasn’t played enough tournaments.

Snowdon should be able to sleep through the early qualifying rounds--and he may need the rest.

“My first match [today] is the night after my grad night,” he said. “That will be interesting. If I can get through that morning, it shouldn’t be a problem.”