Predicting Phenoms Is a Tricky Business, Especially in the U.S.

The agent on the phone was throwing out names and numbers, rapid-fire, hardly hesitating to take a breath. Frankly, it was exhausting being on the other end of the line.

Anyway, he is a deal maker. Sometimes, the guy has uncanny insight. He was talking about Lleyton Hewitt long before the youngster won his first tour event in 1998 at Adelaide, Australia. But, the talent scout has his off days too. We submit another name as evidence.

Tommy Ho.

That was long ago and excusable. He represented young Tommy, after all, and closeness has a way of clouding the picture. Last week, there was no such issue about his latest source of enthusiasm, an 18-year-old from Northern California who had recently moved to Sacramento from Napa.

The kid was in what turned out to be an 18-match winning streak. He won a futures event and then a Challenger event in Dallas earlier this month. It all sounded mildly interesting and slipped into the mental file of up-and-comers next to Mardy Fish and Andy Roddick.

A few days later, there was more information. The kid was now in Tennessee, showing up in Memphis without a spot in qualifying. Tournament director Tommy Buford, intrigued, told him to come to practice and gave him a hotel room. If six players didn’t show up for qualifying or withdrew--a decided longshot--he would get a spot.

Cosmic events came together and the youngster qualified, surviving a match point in one round, and he made the quarterfinals of his first ATP tour event, beating Kevin Kim, Greg Rusedski and George Bastl. His winning streak ended with a straight-set loss to eventual winner Mark Philippoussis.

So was this powerful baseliner from Sacramento the answer for U.S. Davis Cup captain Patrick McEnroe’s youth project? A suitable sidekick for Roddick?

Well, not quite.

The Napster-loving teenager--”we are wireless now”--who speaks flawless English used to live someplace else before Napa. He grew up in Moscow. And not Moscow, Idaho, either. Dmitry Tursunov moved to the United States when he was 12, leaving his father Igor, mother Svetlana and brother Denis behind.

So much for the American youth project.

Nevertheless, it was a very good week to be an 18-year-old on the tour. Roddick won a round in Memphis before losing to Tommy Haas in the second round. In Buenos Aires, qualifier Jose Acasuso of Argentina reached Sunday’s final, losing to Gustavo Kuerten, in his first tour event.

Then there was Tursunov. Tursunov made an ATP media representative show him Bastl’s picture in the press guide before their match. “I know nothing about him, only his name,” Tursunov said in a telephone interview last week.

Of course, he knew a bit more about Rusedski.

“I was trying not to think of him as a tennis God but as a player,” he said. “I’m glad I forgot he got to the U.S. Open final.”

Tursunov is adaptable. His survival skills are highly developed, having moved to the United States without knowing any English. For him, the biggest surprise was that Northern California didn’t have skyscrapers like New York.

Starting at age 3, he had his first coach--his father--and they had typical parent-child battles, on and off the court. Igor recognized the talent and kept him on the tennis court even when Dmitry wanted to quit playing.

“Every parent is like that, most people who succeed start at a young age,” Dmitry said. “Kids like to play in the sandbox, but someone has to guide them. I had some arguments with my dad. It was the stage where you feel you are always right.”

To this day, he waits until the end of the tournament to call home. Igor apparently will start issuing instructions from Moscow, relapsing into old habits, turning from father to coach. For Dmitry, the presence of his father is even more difficult during tournaments.

“I get a lot of pressure playing in front of him,” he said. “I’m trying to look prettier out there.”

His father turned him into a hard-hitting prospect, blessed with a powerful serve and groundstrokes. The father was the visionary. Dmitry acknowledged this to reporters in Memphis after his first-round victory. Asked his father’s name, he said, “Igor. As in Frankenstein.”

ALL-CARDINAL FINAL

In the Memphis doubles final, Bob and Mike Bryan of Camarillo defeated Alex O’Brien and Jonathan Stark, 6-3, 7-6 (3), for their first ATP title.

It was an all-Stanford final. “I’m sure [Stanford Coach] Dick Gould is smiling somewhere,” Bob Bryan said.

The Bryans’ best previous result was the 1998 doubles final in Orlando, Fla.

“It’s great,” Bob said. “It makes it even more special to do it in the States. Everyone has been supporting us. Our big goal is to play Davis Cup and if we have some good tournaments, maybe he [McEnroe] will take a good look at us.”

YEAR TWO

Women’s qualifying at the Tennis Masters Series at Indian Wells begins in a week. Admission to the two days of qualifying, Monday and Tuesday, is free. First-round action begins March 7.

Tickets remain available for all sessions, officials said. For more information, call the Tennis Garden box office at (800) 999-1585.