With Gerken’s Help, UCLA Gets Net Gain

Local tennis fans know Barbara Gerken as the girl from Thousand Oaks who became an All-American at UCLA and a seven-year pro who played at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open.

Now comes another highlight.

Gerken, a UCLA athletic administrator, is serving as tournament manager for the NCAA men’s tennis championships at UCLA. The team tournament runs today through Tuesday, with the individual championships Wednesday through May 25.

Gerken, 32, is credited with bringing the event back to Westwood for the first time in 30 years. The championships had been held at the University of Georgia 18 of the past 20 years. Bids by the Bruins were turned down the previous 12 years.

“It took persistence and convincing people that UCLA will do an excellent job and has excellent facilities,” Gerken said. “It’s nothing against Georgia, because they do a fantastic job. But it’s not fair to have it at Georgia [all the time].”

Some local talent will be on display in the 16-team event. Top-ranked UCLA has Jason Cook of Tarzana and Calabasas High graduate Darren Miller. Twins Mike and Bob Bryan of Camarillo will play both singles and doubles for third-seeded Stanford. Bob won the Pacific 10 Conference singles championship. Former Taft High standout Dylan Mann will play for Florida.

While the caliber of play will be a notch below the pros, the excitement level will be higher, Gerken said.

“There’s an element of excitement that a lot of people don’t know about,” she said. “You can hoop and holler, because it’s a team event. You don’t have to be hush-hush.”