Once a Virtual Tennis Prodigy, Krissy Hamilton Is Rekindling a Career That Ran the Gamut from Brilliant to Controversial to Bizarre

More than a year after her brilliant but controversial junior tennis career came to a bizarre end, Krissy Hamilton is still racking up victories.

And trying to clean a tarnished reputation.

Hamilton, 16, is making an impact as an amateur on professional circuits, beating older, stronger and more experienced players.

On the road for 44 days and six U.S. tournaments earlier this summer, Hamilton posted victories over two former U.S. Junior National team members, Traci Green and Tracy Singian.

Showing mental toughness and stamina, she had a 13-8 record and won six of eight matches that lasted three sets. Two of the victories came against No. 131 Leizel Horn of South Africa and Stephanie Mabry, who plays No. 1 singles at Notre Dame.

“It’s been fun,” said Hamilton, who recently graduated from the Bridges to Learning Academy, a private school in Sherman Oaks. “I like to travel. I liked playing six tournaments in a row. It’s a dream.

“The key for me has been staying mentally tough the whole match. These are the top players in the country. You can’t let down. You always have to be ready to play three sets.”

Hamilton always was ready to play junior tennis, even when engulfed in controversy.

As a 12-year-old, she wowed Southern California tennis circles by jumping into the girls’ 18-and-under division and finishing the year ranked fourth.

In the three years that followed, the Agoura Hills teenager was No. 1.

But Hamilton’s top ranking wasn’t enough to stop the Southern California Tennis Assn. from taking disciplinary action against her in June 1995, when she missed the opening round of the Southern California Junior Sectional Championships, where she was top-seeded, while playing a pro tournament in Georgia.

SCTA officials, angry, embarrassed and suspecting Hamilton was bending the rules to her advantage, retaliated by blocking her entry into the United States Tennis Assn. Junior National Championships, where she would have been among the favorites.

Hamilton was never heard from again.

With three years of eligibility left, and three more shots at a possible national title, Hamilton quit juniors. She hasn’t played a junior event since April 1995. Yet, she still had enough ranking points by the end of the 1995 season to finish ranked No. 1 for the third year in a row.

The irony is not lost on Hamilton.

“I was shocked,” she said of the SCTA’s action. “I was 28-0 in Southern California. I played every single person but maybe two who were in the top 10. I had wins over everybody.”

Hamilton wants to forget the past. It’s onward and upward to the pros.

Craig Heinberg, Hamilton’s stepfather and coach, will continue to sponsor her in USTA $10,000 satellite and $25,000-50,000 challenger tournaments until she turns 18 in December, 1997.

If by then she hasn’t reached a world ranking of 150, Hamilton--ranked 483--will head for college and possibly study medicine.

Dating to 1994, when she was 14 and played the first three of 17 pro events, Hamilton has a record of 26-16.

“I think either decision is fine,” Hamilton said. “But I’d rather go pro. I’ve been playing tennis for 10 years.”

Going AWOL for the 1995 Southern California championships wasn’t a complete loss.

Making a surprise appearance in the round of 16 that week at the $25,000 USTA Women’s Challenger of Peachtree tournament in Peachtree City, Ga., while playing with an injured toe, Hamilton boosted her ranking from 818 to 593.

Back in California, Heinberg was butting heads with Jim Hillman, the SCTA director of junior tennis, about Hamilton’s status.

Heinberg explained Hamilton’s absence by saying she was injured and was scheduled to have minor surgery to remove a hangnail.

Hamilton had a history of defaulting because of injuries before key matches. The gossip among parents and other players was that Hamilton was ducking highly seeded opponents to protect her No. 1 status.

Sixth-seeded Alexandra Stevenson was hoping for a quarterfinal rematch with Hamilton after a three-set loss in Long Beach two months earlier.

Said Stevenson: “At Long Beach my coach said, ‘You better beat her now, because you’ll never see her again.’ It figured.”

Hillman never before had grounds to discipline Hamilton, but this time he acted after a parent produced evidence of Hamilton’s participation in the Georgia pro tournament on the day she was scheduled to play her first-round match at the junior sectional.

Heinberg, who maintains an occasionally turbulent but amicable relationship with Hillman, said his stepdaughter should not have been punished and that she had earned the right to play the national tournament in San Jose despite skipping sectional play in Fountain Valley.

Hamilton then had her fifth toenail surgery and limped off into the sunset, without farewells from many of her opponents. At the mention of Hamilton’s name, many players rolled their eyes and bit their lips.

Heinberg said his stepdaughter was an outsider who was perhaps never accepted by older peers, in part because she went to tournaments to take care of business.

“They didn’t know her,” he said. “They didn’t understand her. What kind of friendship were they going to have with a 12-year-old?”

Said Hamilton: “If I was 16 and just lost to a 12-year-old, I’d roll my eyes, too.”

Some players also questioned Hamilton’s judgment in making line calls at crucial points of matches. There are no umpires in junior competition, and players are expected be honorable.

If Hamilton made bad line calls, she did so only in the name of survival, Heinberg said.

“It’s gamesmanship and you’ve got to be able to handle it, because people want to win,” he said.

Hamilton, who as an amateur can’t keep any money won at tournaments, has given her career earnings of $4,280 to her parents, helping cover roughly one-third of her expenses. “We’re raking in the dough now,” Heinberg said, smiling.

While Heinberg stays at home teaching several top players from the area on a backyard court he built 10 years ago, Hamilton is chaperoned on the road by her mother, Diane.

“The other players come from all over the world with these great coaches and she’s winning with me,” Diane said.

“All I do is tell her what Craig keeps saying: ‘If you miss, you lose.’ It’s amazing.”

Hamilton has already gained some popularity. She receives occasional fan mail from the kids she has met at tournaments and clinics.

But some of her old rivals from the juniors, who have also graduated to the satellites, still give Krissy the cold shoulder.

“They stay clear of her,” Diane said.

But Jessica Fernandez has seen a different side of Hamilton.

“She was really quiet, but I found out she’s really nice once I got to know her,” said Fernandez, 17, a tour player from Orlando, Fla.

Fernandez said she and Hamilton became good friends this year when they became traveling roommates.

On the court, they are still strong adversaries, Hamilton having beaten Fernandez in their two meetings.

“She’s very competitive and she’s pretty good,” Fernandez said. “She takes everything pretty seriously, and she’s going to get better.”