Bleszynski Attempts Experiment in Fun

Pretend it never happened.

“I don’t really want to think about it,” Ania Bleszynski says.

Pretend that Bleszynski, one of the most feared players in women’s college tennis just a year ago, hasn’t seen her singles ranking slip from No. 2 to No. 47.

She smiles and says: “I’m blanking it out of my mind.”

That’s because, after a disappointing junior year, Bleszynski has returned for her final season at Stanford with one thing in mind: fun. And the merriment began Saturday with a 6-1, 7-5 victory over Mariana Eberle of Mississippi in the first round of the National Collegiate Tennis Classic at the Westlake Village Inn.

“I don’t want to put a lot of pressure on my game,” Bleszynski said. “I just want to enjoy myself.”

The tournament this weekend is as good a place as any to start. It offers an early season glimpse at eight of the best men’s and women’s college teams. While the competition is stiff, the season is young enough that no one lives or dies by their results here.

When heavy rains postponed matches at Sherwood Country Club on Friday, first- and second-round play was expanded to the club and the inn on Saturday.

Last year, Bleszynski would have been a favorite at this tournament. Six-feet tall, with a booming serve and a strong forehand, she came out of Harvard-Westlake High in 1994 as the No. 1-ranked 18-and-under player in the United States.

As a top singles player for Stanford, she was an All-America selection in her freshman and sophomore seasons.

But last year brought nagging injuries and troublesome losses to players who were ranked well below her. Some questioned Bleszynski’s commitment to the game. A child of two physicists, she had chosen physics as a major and the demanding course load seemed to preclude her from playing top-flight tennis.

By season’s end, as the Cardinal stormed toward an NCAA championship, she could not even qualify for a singles spot on the team.

“She got off to a slow start,” Coach Frank Brennan said. “Then she lost some confidence.”

Not everything went badly, though. Bleszynski discovered a deepening passion for physics and got a chance to do research on a joint project between Stanford, NASA and Lockheed Corp. And, as part of the No. 2-ranked doubles team with Julie Scott, she earned All-American honors for a third straight year.

“A lot of people would kill for that kind of year,” Brennan said.

Still, Bleszynski wanted to recapture the fun of playing tennis. The game had become frustrating.

So she took it easy over the summer, working at research, writing computer code for a project that seeks to prove Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. She stayed in shape by running, swimming and riding her bike. Her doubles partner noticed a difference this fall. The pair recently reached the final of the Northwest Rolex Regional.

“She has a good attitude,” Scott said. “You can just tell. Even in practice, she seems a lot happier.”

Against Eberle, Bleszynski cruised through the first set with steady ground strokes. Then came the unforced errors that have plagued her of late, along with flashes of anger.

But she recovered in time to pull out a straight-set victory and smile at Brennan. Later in the day, she upset seventh-seeded Kim Gates of Texas, 6-4, 6-0.

It was all part of her new game plan. Instead of pressing, Bleszynski is relaxing. Instead of getting upset, she is remaining upbeat.

“Whatever happens, [my senior season] will be good because I’m having fun,” she said.

Think of it as an experiment.

“We’ll see how it works. Maybe it will even help me play better.”