Pulled Muscle Puts Cramp in Braverman’s Vacation

Natalie Braverman’s summer vacation wasn’t supposed to begin this way. Braverman, who is finishing her sophomore year at Newport Harbor, was supposed to be showing off her powerful new serve this week at Los Caballeros Racquet Club, site of the Southern California Junior Sectionals.

But Braverman pulled a muscle in her back three months ago, knocking her out of competition.

“I don’t want to go anywhere near [Los Caballeros],” said Braverman, who reached the finals of last year’s sectionals in the girls’ 16s. “It’s too depressing. I don’t want to hear about it. I don’t want to read about it.”

Braverman said she sympathizes with her older sister, Brandis, whose pro career has been marred by knee and shoulder injuries.

“I’m starting to see how she feels,” Braverman said. “Now, I understand what she goes through.”

Braverman is seeing a physical therapist once a week, and staying fit by swimming and riding a stationary bike. But other than that, she isn’t doing much.

“I get home every day from school and I don’t know what to do,” she said.

Braverman tried two mini-comebacks, but they ended shortly.

“I hit for 30 minutes a day and I had a total relapse,” she said. “When I hit my two-handed forehand, it pulls on the muscle in my back.”

Switching to a one-handed forehand isn’t an option.

“I wasn’t taught that way,” she said. “I can’t even feed balls with one hand.”

But Braverman has proved she can hammer a two-handed forehand and two-handed backhand as hard as any junior girls’ player in Southern California. Although her serve has always been shaky, Braverman ended last season ranked 16th nationally and seventh in Southern California in the girls’ 16s.

Just before injuring herself--during a mid-March pre-qualifying event for the USTA Challenger in La Canada--Braverman had begun a major reconstruction project on her serve. She was working with USTA coaches Lynne Rolley and Eliot Teltscher on developing more power and consistency.

“I was turning my hips more, lowering my ball toss and trying to put my toss in one place,” Braverman said. “It was really working well. That’s why this injury is so disappointing. I feel like all that work is ruined.”

Braverman was considering making her comeback tournament the national clay courts in mid-July. But she has pushed that back to the national hard courts in mid-August.

In April, Braverman made another important decision in her tennis career. She told her high school coach, Fletcher Olson, that she would not play her junior season. Last year, Braverman helped lead the Sailors to the Southern Section Division I finals.

“Last year’s high school season was the most fun I’ve had in tennis,” Braverman said. “But I just decided I want to work on my individual ranking and my own game this year.”

ADD SECTIONALS

The main draw of the junior sectionals begins today at Los Caballeros. San Marino’s Luana Magnani, who beat Braverman in last year’s girls’ 16 finals, is seeded first in the girls’ 18 field. Woodbridge junior Susanna Lingman, who won the Roxy/Quiksilver event at Los Caballeros last month, is seeded seventh. All age division finals will be Sunday.

TOMORROW’S STARS

The Anaheim Tennis Center is hosting a national open tournament July 16-20 for boys and girls 14 and under. The tournament, a tier-two event in the USTA’s revamped national schedule, will have 64-player draws. Cal State Fullerton also will be used as a tournament site.

ABRAMS WINS DEBUT

Newport Beach’s Geoff Abrams, who recently helped lead Stanford to its 17th NCAA men’s tennis title, won his first professional match last week in Berkeley at the USTA Chandler Cup Futures event. Abrams, who ranked eighth in the final NCAA singles rankings, defeated Chris Magyary, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2, in the first round. He lost in the second round to Mark Merklein of the Bahamas, 6-3, 6-1.

In the same event, Aaron Talarico of Laguna Beach lost to Stanford’s Alex Kim, 6-1, 6-1, in the first round. Kim, the NCAA singles champion, went on to win the tournament. Abrams and Kim won the doubles event after being given a wild card into the 16-team draw.

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