Following a Dream

Dave Lingman knows there are doubters--heck, he even has a few in his family. He knows that leaving Harvard for the pro tennis tour after one solid but unspectacular season in the Ivy League wasn’t the most conventional move.

But then Lingman isn’t really concerned with what people might think. After all, he hasn’t exactly led the most conventional life.

At 14, he became seriously ill with osteomyelitis, a rare bacterial infection of the bone marrow. The infection, centered in his back, left him bedridden for four months and kept him away from full-time competitive tennis for a year.

Even after his return, his once-promising junior tennis career was plagued by recurring back problems and inconsistent play.

His academic career, however, was much more fulfilling. Lingman gained acceptance to Harvard after scoring 1,460 on his SAT and compiling a 3.9 grade-point average at Woodbridge High. He continued to excel in the classroom at Harvard, maintaining a 3.3 GPA as an economics major while playing college tennis.

Had Lingman returned to Harvard last fall for his sophomore year, he would have been the Crimson’s No. 1 singles player and one of the top players in the Ivy League. But that wasn’t enough for Lingman, who spent much of last season wondering if his window of opportunity was closing on a professional tennis career.

“I wanted to play tennis,” he said. “I wanted to make an impact. If I had waited three years, those are three years that I could have been working a lot harder on my game. I couldn’t do that at Harvard with all the schoolwork. I figured those three years could come later.”

Originally, Lingman envisioned taking a year off to refine his game and play some pro satellite events. He planned to maintain his amateur status and return to Harvard this fall for three more years of school and college tennis.

But now that he has spent the last six months trying to find his game, Lingman is considering taking off one more year--or more--before returning to school.

If he somehow beats the long odds, Lingman knows Harvard will always be there. And since the Ivy League does not give athletic scholarships, Lingman is under no financial commitment to finish in four years.

“I know I’m taking a little bit of a chance,” said Lingman, who turns 20 in July. “A lot of friends and family were surprised I was leaving Harvard, one of the best situations for academics. But I feel pretty good about my choice.”

And on the mornings he wakes up with a stiff back, Lingman feels even better about his choice.

“It reminds me that you could have a short life,” he said. “You only have this much time to give, so you might as well give it your all.”

Belle Lingman, David’s mother, feels the same way. A Pennsylvania graduate and a strong advocate of an Ivy League education, she also understands her son’s “yearning” to pursue his dream of a pro tennis career.

“David feels vulnerable,” she said. “Most teenagers think they’re immortal. David looks at life differently and that makes him more determined to accomplish what he really wants to accomplish.”

Lingman would not have the opportunity to chase his dreams without the financial support of his parents, who are divorced. Belle is a computer manager for DirecTV. Eric, with whom David lives, is an Arco executive.

While they declined to provide specifics, they say they have gone into debt to pay for Lingman’s first year at Harvard, and his current tennis training.

“Both of my parents have put their arms and legs into my tennis career to give me a chance,” Lingman said. “They’re spending the bare minimum, and they’ve taken out loans so that I can travel and afford training. All they’re asking me to do is give it my all. That’s what I’m doing.”

So far, Lingman’s all hasn’t amounted to much in the way of victories or dramatic improvement. In three Futures tournaments and one series of four satellites, he has yet to earn a computer point. He won several qualifying matches in a Northern California satellite in June, but that was before two of his private coaches told Lingman his game wasn’t ready for the grind of the pro tour.

Lingman agreed. So for much of the last six months, he has spent five to six hours a day attempting to transform his body, mind and game into that of a professional tennis player. For strength and quickness, Lingman trains with Ken Matsuda, who has worked with Michael Chang and Jim Courier. For help with his serve and backhand, Lingman goes to Phil Dent, a former top-10 player whose 19-year-old son Taylor is on the verge of a breakthrough on the tour. For everything else, Lingman sees former pros Scott Davis and Jose Higueras.

The Lingmans are sparing no expense in their son’s quest to become a top-flight pro tennis player.

“I believe in getting the best teachers and the best education,” Belle Lingman said. “You get what you pay for. If you’re going to be serious, you want serious people helping you. I don’t feel it is a big sacrifice. As a parent, you want to give your kids the opportunity.”

For now, Belle Lingman said she is comfortable with the pace of her son’s improvement.

“We’re not expecting a lot of results right now,” she said. “Instead of trying to win with what he’s got, he’s trying to improve his weapons and take a slower approach.”

Lingman, who doesn’t plan to enter another tournament until next month in Florida, also realizes he is in the early stages of a difficult process.

“I have a long way to go before I would be happy with my game,” said Lingman, who is trying to add some muscle to his slender 6-foot-1 frame. “I’ve been changing some stuff to try to get a little more solid. My weapon has always been my forehand. I’m trying to build a solid base around my forehand.”

Davis, who played on the tour for more than 10 years, said Lingman is taking small steps.

“David is probably in Stage 2 of three stages, but he’s come a long way,” Davis said. “He has enough power to be a pro. But his goal is to have the consistency to go with his power. He can make a good shot every point. But at the pro level, you sometimes need to make two, three or four good shots just to win a single point. And you’re only as good as your worst day.”

Dent, who retired from the tour almost 20 years ago, said Lingman is facing long odds.

“It’s harder to make it these days,” he said. “There are not only good, young tennis players, but the older guys are staying around longer. It’s a hard grind. But the more you put into it, the better chance you have. He’s a smart kid and he’s dedicated, so we’ll see.”

Harvard tennis Coach David Fish supports Lingman turning pro, but he isn’t overly optimistic.

“To be starting at 19 to get serious, it’s a real uphill battle,” said Fish, in his 26th year at Harvard. “There are a couple of kids in college each year that actually make it. An element of realism is necessary to go along with the passion. David is definitely choosing the road less traveled.”

Lingman started down that road when he chose to play his college tennis at Harvard. Although James Blake is a recent example of a Harvard player enjoying some success in pro tennis, Blake was the NCAA’s top-ranked player when he left in 1999 after only two seasons.

Typically, players with an eye on a pro tennis career don’t pick the Ivy League for their training ground. They play in the Pacific 10 or in the South, where the weather and the competition are warmer.

But Lingman, who wasn’t heavily recruited out of Woodbridge, wasn’t thinking solely about a tennis career when he picked Harvard.

“My parents wanted me to go to a good school and I wanted a balance,” he said.

There was a time, however, when Lingman wasn’t sure if he even wanted tennis to be a part of his balancing act. Early in his senior year of high school, he contemplated leaving the game.

“Tennis was a little harder the second time around,” Lingman said. “It took a little wind out of my sails when I was playing with the best players in the world at 14, then I had to sit out almost a year. I was a little bit angered by the turn of events. There was a lot of frustration.”

Some of that frustration still exists. To do this day, Lingman isn’t sure what caused his bacterial infection.

“They said that maybe it was something I ate,” he said. “But I’ll probably never know.”

What Lingman knows is this: One day he was playing the best tennis of his life against the best junior players in the world at the Orange Bowl tournament, the next day he was defaulting a match because he became delirious, and two weeks later, he couldn’t stand up because he had lost so much strength and flexibility in his back.

Lingman rebuilt his game and his ranking enough in two years to be invited back to the Orange Bowl, a prestigious International Tennis Federation junior tournament. But he never was the same.

“I had a lot of ups and downs in my junior career,” he said. “Never the sustained ups that I wanted.”

After a slow start at Harvard, Lingman was on the rise by the end of his freshman season. He finished 18-19 in dual singles matches, 5-2 in the Ivy League. In doubles, Lingman was 15-10. He was chosen the Ivy League’s rookie of the year and second-team all-league.

“At the end, David began to realize that his body could support being in great shape again,” Fish said. “He seemed to become more passionate about playing.”

Said Lingman: “I felt like I was going somewhere and I felt like I could get my game at a higher level if I trained a little longer somewhere else. I’ve put a lot of effort into my tennis. I wanted to see where I could go.”

Fish, who has never had a player take a tennis sabbatical, said he was surprised to see Lingman go.

“You’re not No. 1 on your team, you’re not first-team all-league and you haven’t made any national tournaments,” Fish said. “Pro tennis has certainly challenged better players in the past.”

The coach doesn’t get an argument from Belle Lingman. “It’s more like a personal exploration,” she said. “Some kids go to Europe for a year or on a religious mission for two years. Tennis is where his passion is, so we let him go for it.”

The Lingmans have a daughter, Susanna, who also has a desire to play professional tennis. A senior at Woodbridge, she is following her older brother to Harvard. Belle Lingman said it is possible that Susanna could also take a hiatus to explore the women’s pro tour.

“Life is an adventure,” Belle said. “If you follow conventional wisdom, there is no spice.”