Passing Shot

For Philip Sheng, the future is now.

And so are the Futures.

Sheng, the Southern Section boys’ singles runner-up this tennis season after winning the title last year, will not attempt to return to the final.

Instead, the Thousand Oaks High junior is on track to graduate after the fall semester and plans to concentrate on professional Futures, Challenger and Satellite tournaments while testing the professional waters.

The process actually began last week, when he began competition in a Futures tournament in Berkeley, where he won four qualifying matches to advance to the main draw.

“I want go out there and give it a shot and see how I do,” Sheng said. “I’m just trying to get some exposure to the pros, get some experience against some good competition, and we’ll see what happens.”

His performance will determine, in large part, whether Sheng will turn professional out of high school or play college tennis.

“I just want to do whatever’s best for me, and my parents want whatever’s best for me,” he said.

The choice is difficult for any elite young player, said Bobby Berger, who coaches Sheng.

“It’s a big step because he has to decide what his future is,” Berger said. “But it should be exciting for him. It could put a new spin on his whole life.”

While maintaining amateur status, Sheng plans to play in two Futures events in Redding and Chico later this month.

In July, he hopes to qualify for the Mercedes-Benz Cup, and in August, he’ll compete in more Futures and in the boys’ 18 division of the U.S. National Hardcourt Championships in Kalamazoo, Mich.

If he finishes among the top eight at the hardcourt championships, Sheng will qualify to compete in U.S. Open junior tournament. If he wins in Kalamazoo, he will earn an automatic berth in the U.S. Open’s main draw.

Sheng’s busy summer is designed to help with his decision.

He is leaning toward beginning college a semester early. He says he would love to play for USC or Stanford, which recently won its 17th NCAA Division I men’s championship.

“I’d love to turn pro,” Sheng said. “I wish I’d be good enough to turn pro. But right now, I’m looking into college, and that would be good, too. College coaches, it’s their job to prepare players for the pros.”

But nothing, Berger said, prepares players for pro tennis like competing at that level.

“College tennis used to be a great stepping-stone to the pros,” he said. “Now, it’s becoming less of a great stepping-stone. A lot of guys are bypassing it, and you kind of have to decide pretty early what you want to do.”

Berger believes a summer of Futures, Challengers and Satellites is exactly what Sheng, 17, needs to prepare to play professionally--or convince him otherwise.

“I think it’s important to get an idea of what the pro tour is like,” Berger said. “He’ll get a sense of the lifestyle, the travel, the grind.”

On the lower-level pro circuit, where players compete as often as possible trying to collect points toward rankings, Sheng could play as many as six matches a week.

“The tour life is not that attractive once you get out there,” Berger said. “It’s eye-opening. It’s competitive. You don’t have a lot of friends. I think it’s a little different if you’re at the top. But for the first few years, especially, it’s tough.

“You either like the lifestyle, or you’re like, ‘I don’t like this at all. I want to go to college.’ ”

Sheng, the No. 1 player for Thousand Oaks for three years, already has mastered junior competition.

He went 63-7 in sets for the Lancers (14-6) this season, and is ranked No. 2 behind K.C. Corkery, a Mira Costa High junior, in Southern California in the boys’ 18 division by the U.S. Tennis Assn.

Sheng has gone 30-3 in USTA events this year, with losses only to Corkery in the Southern Section final and twice to Jeremy Wurtzman of Rochester, N.Y., in the Easter Bowl in April.

“Phil Sheng playing well can be among the top three or four players in the country,” Berger said. “He’s got size, he’s fast, he’s got a pro serve and forehand. He’s very talented. He’s going to be an amazing college player if that’s what he chooses.

“What I want him to realize is, he could be an amazing pro player, too.”