The Great Brooksby: He could end U.S. skid, rise to No. 1

Jenson Brooksby and his coach, Joseph Gilbert, pose on Dec. 11 at the Rio Del Oro
Sports Club in Sacramento, Calif. Brooksby first made an impression on Gilbert
while hitting against the wall at Rio Del Oro at 5 years old. Photo by Paul Bauman

   SACRAMENTO, Calif. — In 2006, director of tennis Joseph Gilbert was teaching a lesson at the Rio Del Oro Sports Club when he noticed a 5-year-old boy hitting against the adjacent wall.

   Lots of players, juniors and adults, do that. But Jenson Brooksby was different.

  "He was doing it with such intensity, such focus that I knew he was imagining himself playing a match," Gilbert (no relation to renowned coach and commentator Brad Gilbert) recalled recently. "Jokingly
enough, I looked at him, and I was like, 'Who you playing?' Within a millisecond, he goes, '(Rafael) Nadal,'" Gilbert added with a laugh.

Gilbert was teaching a lesson on the court at the left while Brooksby was
slugging balls against the wall. Photo by Paul Bauman

   "That was the first time I was really like, OK, I would want to coach this kid, because he was so focused. That's what I think a lot of people lack when it comes to tennis. You have to be out there for three to four hours, and these margins are so small. Throw away athleticism for a bit, throw away physicalness, throw away all this stuff that everybody's attracted to. At the end of the day, you've got to concentrate for three to four hours with not much letdown.

   "When I look at kids, I look at kids who can focus for long periods of time. That number is becoming smaller because everything in our life is about not focusing for three or four hours (laughs), whether it's their Instagram, their phone ... The kids I teach now are 18, 19 years old — they can't watch a movie. It's too hard for them; it's too long. A lot of parents ask me, 'What can we work on?' I'm like, 'Play cards, play chess, play games that last for long periods of time to work on their focus.' Jenson was good at that — he could focus for long periods of time. (Regarding) his attributes, that's a big one."

   Recalled Brooksby, who's as mild-mannered off the court as he is intense on it: "I just loved getting the racket and hitting. I always brought that intensity, even in a situation that doesn't seem you'd need to be intense, like hitting balls against the wall. ... I feel like I've kept that same intensity since I was a young kid to now and (will) into the future."

   Gilbert did indeed begin coaching Brooksby six months after the imaginary Nadal match. Fifteen years later, they're still together, but now at the top level of the game.

   Brooksby, 21, earned the ATP Newcomer of the Year award last week in a vote of players after skyrocketing from No. 307 in the world when he turned pro last December to No. 56 in the 2021 year-end rankings.

   The United States leads all nations with 12 men in the top 100. Three are tennis senior citizens in their 30s: No. 24 John Isner, No. 85 Steve Johnson and No. 96 Tennys Sandgren. Six are middle-aged (23 to 28): No. 23 Taylor Fritz, No. 26 Reilly Opelka, No. 38 Frances Tiafoe, No. 43 Tommy Paul, No. 55 Mackenzie McDonald and No. 66 Marcos Giron. And three are young at 20 or 21: No. 41 Sebastian Korda, Brooksby and No. 68 Brandon Nakashima. 

   According to the candid, outspoken Opelka, Brooksby could climb to the top of the rankings and end the U.S. men's soon-to-be-19-year title drought in Grand Slam singles.

   "The young guys are better than us, if I'm being honest," the 6-foot-11 (2.11-meter) Opelka, who lost to Brooksby 6-4, 6-4 in the first round in Antwerp in October, told Inside Tennis in October. "Korda is a hell of a player. Brooksby is brutal. He's going to be a big second-week guy. Nakashima is as pure of a ball-striker as there is. The young guys are going to be the guys to beat, from the American standpoint.

   "I'd invest in Brooksby. He's special and could be No. 1. His mind works so differently. He's got this game plan. He sees things so well and is so tricky. Behind the baseline, he reminds me of (Novak) Djokovic. He's got great depth, is a great ball striker, a great mover, (and has) good size and intangibles. He's got this X-factor, his mindset, that could make him a future Grand Slam champion." 

   Brooksby was almost unbeatable on the ATP Challenger Tour, equivalent to Triple-A baseball, in the first half of 2021 as he went 21-3 with three titles. The first loss came after a short turnaround between tournaments in Villena, Spain (elevation 1,657 feet or 550 meters) and Potchefstroom, South Africa (elevation 4,400 feet or 1,340 meters). The second defeat came in a final, and the third came via walkover.

   Brooksby became the first man since Florian Mayer of Germany in 2016 to win hardcourt and clay-court Challengers back-to-back, accomplishing the feat in Orlando and Tallahassee in April. The latter tournament was Brooksby's first on clay in two years.

   All Brooksby did in the second half of the year was:

   —Reach his maiden ATP Tour final in Newport, R.I., in his first grass-court tournament ever.

   —Advance to ATP Tour semifinals in Washington, D.C., and Antwerp.

   —Become the youngest American man to reach the fourth round of the U.S. Open since 20-year-old Andy Roddick in 2002. Roddick won the title the following year, the last singles crown for a U.S. man in a Grand Slam tournament, and was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2017.

   —Knock off three top-25 players (No. 15 Felix Auger-Aliassime, No. 25 Aslan Karatsev and No. 25 Opelka) and three more top-50 competitors (No. 42 Fritz, No. 43 John Millman and No. 44 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina). The ATP on Wednesday chose Brooksby's 6-3, 6-4 victory over Auger-Aliassime in the third round in Washington as the third-biggest upset of the year.

   "I knew I had the game to get to this level, but I'm a little surprised it all came together so quickly, the jump I made after not playing last year," admitted Brooksby, who sat out in 2020 because of turf toe and pandemic cancellations when he was enrolled at Baylor University in Waco, Texas.

   Djokovic praised Brooksby after beating him in four sets in the fourth round of the U.S. Open in September.

   "Brooksby is very talented and intelligent," Djokovic said during his on-court interview. "America has a bright future."

   Brooksby was hardly intimidated by Djokovic or the occasion, steamrolling him 6-1 in the first set in 29 minutes in 23,771-seat Arthur Ashe Stadium, the largest tennis facility in the world.

   "There's nothing he loves more than playing in front of a big crowd and playing on TV," Gilbert asserted. " ... That's where he shines the most."

   Djokovic should be wary if and when he meets Brooksby again, as he and Gilbert learn quickly. Several times this year, Brooksby lost to a player in their first meeting and won the next time. It happened with Bjorn Fratangelo, the French Open boys singles champion 10 years ago. It happened with 6-foot-8 (2.03-meter) Kevin Anderson, a two-time Grand Slam runner-up. And it happened with Karatsev, who vaulted from No. 112 to No. 18 this year to snag the ATP Most Improved Player award.

   Brooksby doesn't just beat opponents. He often leaves them muttering in frustration.

   During his first-round loss to Brooksby in Antwerp in October, Opelka opined that his young countryman is "the best player I've played in my whole life." That includes Nadal and reigning U.S. Open champion Daniil Medvedev. Opelka also marveled, "How could Novak win a game against this guy in the first set of the U.S. Open?"

   During the Orlando semifinals, Christian Harrison fumed, "This guy is a freaking nightmare."

   After Brooksby ripped a lunging backhand down-the-line passing shot that landed on the sideline in the Tallahassee final, Fratangelo snapped: "No ----ing way. ... How easy is tennis for you right now?"

* * *

   Although Brooksby has sprouted to 6-foot-4 (1.93 meters), he is not today's prototypical power player. Rather, he's something of a mystery.

   "I feel like his game is underrated," contended Gilbert, who launched the JMG Tennis Academy (his middle name is Morris) 10 years ago. "I feel like people don't know exactly how he's winning. I feel like they don't know the style. It's just not simple, right? It's not just big serve, big forehand wins.

   "They have a tough time figuring out Medvedev because it's very similar. Medvedev is not a great athlete. How is he winning all the time? But that's OK. They called (Brooksby) unorthodox. The last two guys that got called unorthodox are Medvedev and Nadal. I like those guys (laughs). Being called unorthodox is a compliment."

Brooksby has one of the best two-handed backhands
in the world. Photo by Paul Bauman

   So are the comparisons Brooksby has drawn.

   "He has a bit of Djokovic in him; he's got a bit of Medvedev in him; he's got a bit of (Andy) Murray in him," Gilbert said. "A lot of people have compared him to those three players because he's playing a similar stylistic game as them. He's not relying on just (power). He's not playing off of a huge weapon. Murray said it right — he's using slice; he's using different shots. Murray said, 'I enjoy watching him play because it's a little more stylistic, kind of like an art form.' I think it's fun to watch."

   Regarding Brooksby's playing style, Gilbert said: "He has really good hands. He absorbs the ball really well. He has really good feel. He doesn't have too many weaknesses, doesn't have too many holes. He plays patterns a lot. He plays to a strategy, which changes a little bit pretty much every match."

   Gilbert studies videos of opponents the night before a match, tells Brooksby what shots to emphasize in the warmup and meets with his protégé 15 or 20 minutes before the match.

   "I'm like, 'Alright, this is the pattern we're going to play, this is the style we're going to play, these are the shots I want you to use, and this is how you're going to win," Gilbert said. "Then he goes out there, and he has a good ability to focus on that throughout the match."

   Gilbert elaborated on the patterns Brooksby employs.

   "Without getting too specific — people try to dig into the strategy; we try to keep that a little bit close to us because we feel like there (are) only a few guys out there playing the same strategy — we'll talk about when he wants to change direction, what side he wants to play more (against) a certain player, when he wants to be aggressive, what side to come in on, when to use his drop shot, who to use it more against — all those different types of conversations," Gilbert said. "It's a 15-, 20-minute talk before the match. It's not two minutes long. It's like, 'OK, this is where I want you to serve, this is where I want you to hit these shots.' His ability to hit all those shots gives us the flexibility to change the strategy and patterns."

Brooksby practices his serve while Gilbert observes
during the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells in Oc-
tober. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Basically, Brooksby wins with metronomic consistency and fierce mental toughness. He possesses one of the best two-handed backhands in the world, a forehand that he says has caught up to his backhand, a great ability to turn defense into offense and a devastating drop shot. Seemingly impervious to pressure, he plays his best on the big points, the mark of a champion.

   "His ball tolerance is obviously high, his consistency is obviously high, but I think it's because he's going after patterns and targets," Gilbert said. "It's a little against what a lot of Americans have been taught — to create that big weapon, to end points fast, serve plus one — big serve, big forehand. It's just a different way to play the game. It's what I believe in — having fewer weaknesses and setting up the points. I'm not particularly worried about having a huge weapon.

   "It matched well for him. If Jenson had to do it based on strength and power and physicality, he's losing a lot of those matches. It doesn't make sense to take a player that's not going to be as big and strong as Serena Williams and tell him to try to outhit Serena Williams. You look at maybe a (Martina) Hingis or a (Justine) Henin, who gave her fits but aren't nearly as big and strong. They're moving the ball around — patterns, different shots, not trying to bang the ball. Those (players) gave her more fits than a (Maria) Sharapova. Sharapova's playing the exact same way (as Williams) but not as big, not as strong, not as physical, not as good at it. Then she goes 0-15 (actually 0-18 during one stretch) against her."

   Brooksby's intangibles, meanwhile, are off the charts.

   "A lot of commentators are saying he's so competitive, and I agree with that 100 percent," Gilbert stated. "Whether we're playing a bounce (short-court) game or he's talking college sports or he's shooting pool, he's so competitive. ... He's one of the (most) competitive kids I've ever seen."

   Brooksby grew up in a competitive environment, both at home and at Gilbert's academy.

   "His mom and dad are super competitive," Gilbert said of Tania and Glen Brooksby. "His mom always had a huge, high belief in Jenson, that he could always do it. She expected him to work hard every time, to compete every time, to be disciplined all the time, to be focused all the time. She really drove that ship."

   Tania Brooksby (née Bentler), in fact, spent a lot of time in the water as a teenager in Van Nuys in the Los Angeles region, earning AAU All-America recognition in swimming.

    "I wouldn't use the word 'intense' (to describe her)," Gilbert said. "She's super loving, super caring but just demanded (Jenson) to work hard. It was about learning and getting better. It wasn't about, is my kid having fun? That's what Tania liked about me. I'm not handing out Jolly Ranchers, playing games and babysitting your kid. I'm not here just for entertainment purposes. I'm here to get better. If your kid doesn't want to get better, I don't want to do it. It's boring for me."

   Like Nadal, Brooksby goes all out on every point. Unlike Nadal, Brooksby is volatile, sometimes flinging his racket in disgust when he struggles. 

   "He doesn't want to give you a point," said Glen Brooksby, a Sacramento anesthesiologist. "Maybe some of that developed because he was always playing up and didn't have a big serve. He wasn't as big and strong and didn't have a putaway shot like the older kids. He had to get balls back, and he wasn't running around the backhand like other kids. He'd always just hit a backhand. He liked hitting backhands. A lot of coaches will say, 'You gotta run around that backhand and hit the big forehand, even at a young age. We never did that; Joe never did that; Jenson never wanted to. I think that helped him develop his backhand.

Brooksby's parents, Tania and Glen, chat with friends during the BNP Paribas
Open. Photo by Paul Bauman

   "He had to find ways to win at that age, and it forced him to grind out points, to play hard on every point. He'd always want to break serve. Even if he's up 4-1, he doesn't want to lose a game. He wants to break again. At 5-1, he wants to hold. A lot of players in the pros will pace themselves, especially if they have a big serve. If they get up a break, they'll coast on the return games knowing they can serve it out. He doesn't have that mentality. He's like, 'I want to win every game. You are going to work hard to hold serve against me. I'm going to break your serve every game.' He tries to do that. Obviously, it's hard, but that's his goal, to win every game. And that makes it easier for his serve. It puts less pressure on his serve if he's up a break or two breaks."

   Jenson admits that he hates to lose.

   "There's no tougher feeling for me," he said. "Getting a bad injury can suck, but there's no bigger feeling than losing, especially when I know there (are) things I could have approached better. It sucks, but it's also part of life. I'm more motivated to win than scared to lose."

   Brooksby's hatred of losing, Gilbert said, "motivates him to focus and put his best points together when it counts."

   During the Antwerp tournament, Tennis Channel commentator and Hall of Famer Tracy Austin crowed:  "His mental toughness is incredible. On the big points, he digs in and hits closer to the line. It's really quite impressive."

   Gilbert helped instill that with countless drills at the academy over the years. Games will start at 40-30 or 30-40. After 15 minutes, the loser moves down one court. Or Brooksby will play a set in which each game starts at 0-30 or 0-40.

   "(The coaches) create scenarios where the points are all really important, and nobody wants to move down a court," Glen Brooksby noted. 

   Work ethic? After beating Brooksby in the Newport final, Anderson said he saw Brooksby on the practice court more than anyone else during the week.

   Commentators unanimously say the only thing holding Brooksby back is his serve, but he and Gilbert disagree. Just give him a little more time, they say.

   "I think it's underrated," Brooksby said of his serve. "I know people say it's the speed, but I know I do have the speed. It's not that. Getting my body stronger and more in shape will naturally improve my serve. I feel like the placement is not mentioned."

   Gilbert put Brooksby's serve into perspective.

   "If you know his background, his serve has improved a ton," Gilbert asserted. "He's grown a lot; he was injured for a year. His physicality hasn't quite caught up to his body. Djokovic was similar in a way. He had to pull out of a lot of Grand Slams when he was younger. His serve wasn't a strong point when he was younger.

   "You've seen Jenson since he was a kid. I mean, he was small. He was small his whole junior career, tiny in comparison to everyone else. Now, all of a sudden, he's 6-4. Well, he's been serving as a small guy forever, so it's never been a thought for him to go after his serve so much. A lot of times, it was just like, hey, hit a serve that just doesn't get attacked (laughs) because you're smaller and weaker than everybody else.

   "Even in the gym now, he's not where he needs to be strength-wise, so we've hired a strength-and-conditioning coach, a very good one, Cassiano Costa (of Costa Performance in Boca Raton, Fla.). They've done a very good job with him in a short period of time."

   Gilbert noted that Brooksby "holds a lot, doesn't get broken a ton. His first-serve percentage is high; his spots are good. These are things I didn't feel they were pointing out in his serve (during the U.S. Open).

   "Yeah, if we get bigger and stronger, adding 10 mph (16.1 kph) doesn't seem terribly impossible, considering he's still a boy. He has pimples; he has no hair on his face. He's still maturing."

   Gilbert is more concerned about Brooksby's mental side.

   "He's emotional," Gilbert observed. "There's a positive side to that and a negative side. Djokovic is super competitive, but as he's matured, he's learned how to control it. Jenson has very little control over this. When he's emotional, I've seen it help him, give him energy, and at the same time, I've seen it suck energy out of him. ... I'm working on his emotions constantly."

   Gilbert also coaches pros Katie Volynets, ranked No. 180 at age 19; Govind Nanda, a 20-year-old former UCLA standout; and Collin Altamirano, who in 2013 became the first unseeded player to win the USTA Hardcourt National 18s (Brooksby won the 12s the same year). Brooksby shares a condominium in the Sacramento suburb of Carmichael with Nanda and JMG assistant coach Cam Muller.

   Gilbert's academy — based at Arden Hills, where swimming legends Mark Spitz and Debbie Meyer trained, in Sacramento since 2013 — has sent more than 50 players to Division I schools. Altamirano helped Virginia win the NCAA team title in each of his three years in Charlottesville (2015-17).

   "Joe's a genius," Glen Brooksby proclaimed. "He's one of the top development coaches in the country. Look at the success all of his players have had. All the assistant coaches are good. He selects them; he trains them. And then the parents are dedicated. Most of the kids are home-schooled."

* * *

   How many people — Americans, at least — are named after a race car driver? Glen Brooksby, a racing fan, and Tania christened their only child in honor of British driver Jenson Button, who won the Formula One world championship nine years later. Jenson's middle name is Tyler, hence the nickname J.T.

Gilbert poses with Brooksby and Collin Altamirano after they won the USTA
National Championships on hardcourts in the 12s and 18s, respectively, in 2013.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   Glen and Tania took tennis lessons from Gilbert at Rio Del Oro and dragged Jenson along when he was 2. He picked up a racket and began hitting balls. For the next five or six years, Jenson slugged balls off the garage door at home before and after school. 

   "I think he developed good hands because he was doing all kinds of little games," Glen said. "He'd do half-volleys and volleys and then groundstrokes and then move in. I think he really developed kind of a feel for the ball, and he still has a good feel for the ball. He takes pace really well, takes it off the rise when they hit a deep groundstroke instead of backing up."   

   Jenson also played T-ball for a year or two when he was 4 or 5, Glen noted. There were 15 to 20 players on the team, and all played in the field simultaneously. The extra players, including Jenson, spread out around second base. 

   "Some guy would hit it off the tee and lace it down the third-base line, and all the kids would run to where the ball was," Glen recalled. "But by the time they got there, the ball was over here. Jenson was the only one who ran to where the ball would be when he got there. He would field most of the balls because he knew how to intercept the ball."

   When Jenson batted, the coach "would always say, 'You're hitting it like you're hitting a forehand,' Glen said with a laugh.

   After T-ball, Jenson played basketball and soccer in addition to tennis.

   "There were weekends when we were doing soccer tournament, basketball tournament and tennis all in the same weekend in different towns," Glen said. "Something had to give, but it wasn't tennis (laughs).

   "We were seeing the end of the line with soccer because it's really physical. You get a lot of leg injuries. At 11, 12, those boys are really attacking the ball, and I didn't want him to get hurt. We kind of nudged him out of soccer because we didn't want some permanent knee or ankle injury. We knew tennis was going to be his best bet, and that's what he wanted to do mostly."

   Jenson beat Tania and Glen, former USTA League players, for the first time when he was 8 and 10, respectively.

   "We called it the Brooksby Cup," recalled Tania, who owned Bentler Insurance Services until selling it five years ago. "I remember him making me run all over the place. He could just put the ball wherever I wasn't (laughs). Then we took him to dinner."

   Brooksby had a stellar junior career, reaching the final of the Little Mo Nationals in the 8s, 9s and 10s, winning the USTA National Championships on hardcourts in the 12s, advancing to the final of the Clay Court Nationals in the 14s and 16s, reaching the USTA National final on hardcourts in the 16s, and winning the USTA Nationals and Easter Bowl on hardcourts in the 18s.

Brooksby, shown at 12, did not run around his back-
hand as a junior, and he certainly doesn't today.
 Photo by Paul Bauman

   Brooksby could have won more junior titles, but that wasn't Gilbert's philosophy.

   "Joe always wanted him to play up," Glen Brooksby said. "He was 11 or something and made the national clay-court semis. Joe's like, 'OK, now he goes to the 14s.' You don't need to win championships at that age. It's not important. It's more the competition. You want to be pushing yourself all the time, and the only way for top players in one age group to do it is to move to the next age group and play the bigger, stronger players. ... 

   "Joe was always looking for that next level, because to him, it wasn't about the juniors. It's about where (Jenson) is right now. He had the vision to do that with Jenson and the vision to create his game. It's Jenson hitting the shots and Joe creating the game style and the way he hits the ball."

   Brooksby reached the USTA National 16s final on hardcourts at 15 and won the 18s at 17. Instead of trying to make it two in a row in the 18s, he won back-to-back $25,000 tournaments in Illinois against budding professionals and earned ranking points. Two weeks later, the 18-year-old Brooksby qualified for the U.S. Open and stunned 2010 Wimbledon runner-up Tomas Berdych in the opening round for his first tour-level win. In the second round, Brooksby led No. 17 seed Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia by a set and 4-0 before losing in four sets.

   Forgoing $100,000 for reaching the second round of the U.S. Open, Brooksby enrolled at Baylor in January 2020 but never played a match for the Bears. He turned pro on Dec. 8, 2020.

    Just over one year later, Brooksby is training for his first Australian Open after recovering from an abdominal strain that ended his season two weeks early in November. Nadal is questionable for the year's first Grand Slam tournament, Jan. 17-30 in Melbourne, after testing positive for COVID on Monday. He ended a four-month injury layoff in last week's exhibition event in Abu Dhabi.

   Barring more injuries, Brooksby and Nadal figure to meet somewhere, sometime in 2022. This time, it will be for real.

Bryans, Easter Bowl, NorCal HOF, coach award, colleges

Bob Bryan, serving, and Mike Bryan play in the 2016
U.S. Open. The ex-Stanford stars won their sixth Miami
Open title on Saturday. Photo by Paul Bauman

   The Bryan brothers and Vivian Ovrootsky won big titles on Saturday.
   Third seeds and ex-Stanford stars Bob and Mike Bryan beat unseeded Wesley Koolhof of the Netherlands and Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece 7-5, 7-6 (6) for their sixth Miami Open crown and second in a row.
   The 40-year-old Bryan twins saved four set points in the second-set tiebreaker. They also survived four match points in their 7-6 (7), 6-7 (8) [14-12] semifinal victory over top-seeded Lukasz Kubot of Poland and Marcelo Melo of Brazil.
   The Bryans collected their 118th tour-level title and second since Bob returned to action in January after missing eight months. He underwent hip replacement surgery last August.
   "A doctor was cutting me open eight months ago, and I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to make it back on court," said Bob, who lives in the Miami suburb of Sunny Isles Beach. "To win this title is a dream and certainly wasn't possible eight months ago. This huge for us."
   Ovrootsky, a 14-year-old San Jose resident, downed DJ Bennett of Belleview, Fla., 6-3, 6-4 for the Easter Bowl girls 16 title in Indian Wells. Ovrootsky was seeded ninth and Bennett 10th.
   "I didn't play my best tennis today, and DJ played unbelievable tennis today, and her forehand was really on," Ovrootsky, who also received the USTA Sportsmanship Award in her age group, told publicist Steve Pratt. "I just had to get through the match and stay offensive."
   Ovrootsky, who won an ITF Level 4 tournament in Irvine last week, extended her winning streak to 12 matches.
   "It was tiring, but I think I recovered well, which is why I was able to move the way I did today," said Ovrootsky, who has won three USTA gold balls and two silver balls.
   Ovrootsky takes online classes and trains under Nick Fustar at the Eagle Fustar Tennis Academy.
   Two other San Francisco Bay Area residents, Ria Bhakta of Saratoga and Natasha Rajaram of Los Altos, lost in finals on Thursday.
   Third-seeded Tsehay Driscoll of Pacific Palisades in the Los Angeles area topped the second-seeded Bhakta 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 for the girls 14 singles title.
   Unseeded Daniela Borruel of Buena Park in the L.A. region, and Rebecca Kong of San Diego dominated second-seeded Thea Latak, from the Chicago suburb of Burr Ridge, Ill., and Rajaram 6-3, 6-1 for the girls 12 doubles crown.
   NorCal Hall of Fame -- The USTA Northern California Tennis Hall of Fame will enshrine prominent coach Brad Stine and four others at a luncheon on Friday, June 21, at the Peninsula Golf & Country Club in San Mateo. The event is scheduled for 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
  Stine has coached Jim Courier, Kevin Anderson, Mardy Fish, Andrei Medvedev and other pros. Also inducted will be:
   --Elly Hakami, who reached No. 32 in the world in singles in 1988 and No. 68 in doubles in 1987.
   --Jeff Greenwald, a sports psychologist, author and top 40-and-over player.
   --Administrators Linda Peltz and Mike Skinner.
   Developmental Coach of Year -- Joseph Gilbert, the owner and director of the JMG Tennis Academy at Arden Hills Athletic & Social Club in Sacramento, became the first two-time winner of the Team USA Developmental Coach of the Year award.
   Gilbert coaches:
   --Collin Altamirano and Jenson Brooksby, the 2013 and 2018 USTA boys 18 national champions, respectively.
   --Ishaan Ravichander and Mason Nguyen, the boys 18 and 12 winners, respectively, in the USTA National Winter Championships in January.
   --Zachery Lim, who won the boys 16 title in the International Spring Championships in Carson last April.
   Colleges -- Caroline Lampl edged Rianna Valdes 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4) to give the No. 7 Stanford women (14-1, 5-0 Pac-12) a 4-3 victory over No. 16 USC (13-3, 3-1) in Los Angeles.
   Emily Arbuthnott, one of the Cardinal's top players, missed the match for an undisclosed reason.
   No. 11 UCLA (12-4, 4-1) routed No. 15 Cal (9-5, 3-2) 6-1 in Los Angeles.
   The No. 12 USC men (13-6, 3-0) outplayed No. 10 and host Stanford (12-4, 2-2) 4-1. No. 19 UCLA (10-4, 3-0) beat No. 40 Cal (9-9, 2-2) 4-2 in Berkeley.

Ex-pro star Likhovtseva joins JMG in Sacramento

   The JMG Tennis Academy at Arden Hills in Sacramento has scored a coup with the addition of coach Elena Likhovtseva.
   The 42-year-old Russian quietly enjoyed a decorated 17-year career (1992-2008) on the WTA tour.
   Likhovtseva (pronounced Lee-HOFF-seh-vuh) reached highs of No. 3 in doubles (2004) and No. 15 in singles (1999). She won 27 titles in doubles and three in singles.
   The slightly built Likhovtseva captured two Grand Slam mixed doubles titles (Wimbledon in 2002 with Mahesh Bhupathi of India and the Australian Open in 2007 with Daniel Nestor of Canada), reached four major doubles finals, and advanced to the singles semifinals of the 2005 French Open.
   In addition, Likhovtseva played on Russia's 2004 Fed Cup championship team, was a three-time Olympian and helped the Sacramento Capitals win four World TeamTennis titles in her nine years on the club (1999-2008). She was named the league's Female MVP in 2005.
   "She's almost like family for us," former Capitals owner Lonnie Nielson told The Sacramento Bee in 2007. "She's been around so long, and we enjoy having her on and off the court. She's one of the nicest players I've ever met."
   Likhovtseva stayed with Nielson's mother-in-law when the Capitals played at home.
   JMG, founded and owned by Joseph Gilbert, has produced junior national champions Collin Altamirano, Jenson Brooksby, Austen Huang, Karl Lee, Zachery Lim, Priya Nelson and Rudy Quan and sent numerous players to Division I universities on scholarship.
   Altamirano, who in 2013 became the first unseeded player to win the USTA boys 18 national championship, helped the University of Virginia win the NCAA team title in all three of his years there before turning pro last year.

Precocious Priya: Already like a pro at 11

Priya Nelson displays her Easter Bowl gold ball and sportsman-
ship award with her father, John, left, and coach, Joseph Gilbert,
at Indian Wells in March. Photo courtesy of Joseph Gilbert

   For Priya Nelson, winning the Easter Bowl girls 12 singles title in March was a breeze compared to the last time she stepped on a court at Indian Wells.
   On the other side of the net was a pretty good player. You might have heard of him. Fellow named Novak Djokovic.
   Two years ago, Djokovic was getting ready to practice on a distant back court in front of a handful of fans during the BNP Paribas Open at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.
   Normally, stars practice on one of three front courts at Indian Wells while fans pack the surrounding stands.
   "There was like five people, and I was the only kid there," recalled Nelson, a lifelong Sacramentan who will turn 12 on June 22. "Well, there was one other kid. So (Djokovic) had me and the other kid come down to his court, and we (each) played one point with him."
   Nelson's Indian mother, Bonnie (born Bhavna Parmar), witnessed the -- ahem -- stroke of luck.
   "He was like, 'I want some kids to practice with me, get me started, get me warmed
up,' " said Bonnie, a financial planner.  
   Djokovic handed Priya one of his rackets, and the showdown began. Who won?
   "Him," Nelson groused.
   Ditto for the point against the other kid, a boy. Hey, children have to learn that nothing in life is going to be handed to them -- other than grades, of course -- right? But Djokovic complimented Nelson afterward.
   "He said, 'You did a good job for having my heavy racket,' " Bonnie noted.
   Priya said she wasn't nervous facing Djokovic, which seems odd until you consider that she has exhibited traits of professional players almost since she first picked up a racket at 3 years old. Nelson has unusual intelligence, variety, natural ability, poise, touch, competitiveness and dedication.
   Three weeks before the Easter Bowl, Nelson played No. 1 singles and doubles (except for one match at No. 2 doubles) in the USTA National Boys & Girls 12 Spring Team Championships in Tucson, Ariz. The tournament used a college dual-match format, with six singles and three doubles matches. Nelson went 4-0 in singles without losing a set and 2-2 in doubles for the Tootsie Pops, who won the Northwest consolation bracket.
   Janusz Conradi, the Tootsie Pops' coach, was so impressed with Nelson that he likened her to a friend and childhood practice partner in Poland. You might have heard of her, too. Young lady named Agnieszka Radwanska, ranked eighth in the world and formerly second.
   "(Nelson) has a gift that not too many players have at this stage," Conradi said. "She knows how to win points. In certain situations, she knows what she needs to do to win the point, and she's going to do it. She can come up with a pretty clear pathway.
   "She's very organized when it comes to her pattern of play. She's also able to change it. This is something very unique among junior players. Many kids know how to hit topspin cross-court and topspin down the line. She's able to change the pace with her slice, she's able to change the pace with a heavy topspin, able to hit a flat backhand down the line. These are shots that you are expecting from professionals. She has that variety at a very young age."
   Conradi continued: "This is something I'm sure she learned from watching other players. I'm sure she's going to improve physically and technically later on. I would like to see how she plays in three years, how she improves in those areas. She's tall (5-foot-4 or 1.62 meters), but she's tiny (91 pounds or 41.3 kilograms). ... The intelligence, the tennis IQ, reminds me a lot of Agnieszka."
   Gay Goff, who plays at the Rio del Oro Racquet Club in Sacramento, observed Nelson's intelligence last weekend as the phenom cruised to the girls 16 semifinals in the Rio del Oro 18s, 16s and 14s Junior Championships. The semis are scheduled for Saturday at 10:30 a.m. and the final for Sunday at 9 a.m.

Priya Nelson, wearing her trademark Roger Federer
cap, takes a selfie with Federer's Swiss countryman,
Stan Wawrinka, during the BNP Paribas Open at In-
dian Wells in March. Photo courtesy of the Nelsons

   "She's amazing," Goff marveled. "If she sees her opponent likes pace, she doesn't give it to her. It's instinctive. If she has to run wide for a shot, (the ball) goes up to give her time."

   Nelson also is perceptive on the practice court.

   "She learns well when you teach her," said Conradi, the director of junior tennis at Oakbourne Country Club in Lafayette, La. "Sometimes you teach a student five things, and they learn four. With Priya, you teach her five things, but she learns seven or eight. It's very unique the way she sees things."
   John Nelson said he first saw something special in his daughter when she was 4. And John knows what he's talking about. He teaches physical education at Pacific Elementary School in south Sacramento.
   "She had a little Dora the Explorer pink racket, and she would hit foam balls with her (older) brother," said John, who met Bonnie when they were students at Sacramento State. Priya and Ravi, 15, are their only children. "She just did a lot of things that were natural. She would keep to the side of the ball and move and hit the ball with topspin. She had never been taught to do that. Her footwork was really interesting for such a small kid."
   Priya, a home-schooled sixth grader, and Ravi, a freshman at Rio Americano High School, train under Joseph Gilbert at the JMG Tennis Academy at the Arden Hills Club & Spa in Sacramento. Ravi, Rio Americano's No. 1 singles player, won the Capital Athletic League championship last week.
   "(Priya) watched her brother," said Gilbert, the academy's founder and owner. "From a coach's side, the younger ones watching the older ones, it definitely helps."
   Goff saw Priya play mini-matches at age 4.
   "They played four games then," Goff said. "She was like a professional. There was no fussing."
   Nothing has changed in that regard.
   "Priya's always mentally calm," Gilbert said. "I've had my share of different kids on that, but she's definitely one of the best at keeping her emotions under control."
   Gilbert began working with Nelson when she was 5.
   "Priya picked up (the game) pretty easily," he said. "She has very good hands, very good feel. She understands the game really well, and she has since a young age. It's easy to teach the skills she needs, and she likes to compete. That's one thing we changed in her schedule as I got to know her and talked to the parents. We upped the tournament side because she liked to compete so much, and that started making a difference right away. She was the one who said she wanted to play more tournaments. I usually have a lower (frequency) of tournaments, but you've got to adjust to every kid."
   Gilbert elaborated on Nelson's understanding of tennis.
   "She just understands the feel of it, the movement, covering the court," he said. "She has good hands, so she has the skills to put the ball where she needs to when she's in trouble. And (she has) good court sense -- when to be aggressive, when to be more defensive. She's always had that. Since 6, 7, 8 years old, she could feel the court really well.
   "As a coach, you've got to move her in that direction, to her strengths. It works well with me because I like it. I was attracted to her as a player from a very young age because I felt she had good hands, good feel and good court sense, which is right up my alley for what I enjoy teaching (versus power)."
   Nelson won the girls 8-and-under singles title in the 2013 Little Mo Nationals in Austin, Texas, and made her Easter Bowl debut this year. She was unseeded at Indian Wells because it was only her second Level 1 national tournament; Nelson reached the third round of the USTA National Winter Championships in Tucson in late December.
   The Easter Bowl singles draw featured five of the top 10 girls in the USTA 12-and-under rankings but only one of the top five. No. 1 Katja Wiersholm of Kirkland, Wash., No. 2 Vivian Ovrootsky of San Jose and No. 4 Robin Montgomery of Washington, D.C., played in the 14s, and No. 5 Nikita Vishwase of Phoenix did not play in the tournament.
   No. 3 Matilyn Wang, a Scottsdale, Ariz., resident seeded first in the Easter Bowl girls 12s, lost to unseeded Eleana Yu of Mason, Ohio, in the semifinals.
   Nelson ousted three seeds in the Easter Bowl, including No. 2 Tsehay Driscoll of Pacific Palisades in the Los Angeles area 6-1, 6-4 in the first round, before beating Yu 6-1, 6-3 for the title. Yu is the top-ranked sixth grader on tennisrecruiting.net. Driscoll is fourth and Nelson fifth.

Priya Nelson poses in front of a pool at the Arden Hills
Club & Spa, where she trains, in Sacramento last month.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   "After I saw that match (against Driscoll)," Gilbert said, "I was like 'All right, it pretty much shows she can play with anybody in the tournament. Now let's keep it consistent throughout a whole week.' That's something we've been working on, and I was trying to challenge her at the tournament to do that, not to have any sluggish days or down days or where you're not 100 percent prepared. ...
   "To her credit, she did the thing I thought was toughest for her to do, is to do that throughout a week. She was probably the best (all week) in the final. She was the most fired up and the most energetic (with) the most attention to detail, which for a coach was really fun to watch."
   Nelson became the fifth junior and first girl from the JMG Tennis Academy to earn a gold ball for winning a national Level 1 title. The others are Collin Altamirano (2013 USTA National boys 18 singles), Jenson Brooksby (USTA National boys 12 singles), Austen Huang (2015 USTA Winter Nationals boys 18 singles) and Karl Lee (2015 USTA National Clay Court boys 12 singles plus three doubles titles).
   Altamirano, a University of Virginia junior who's 15-5 at Nos. 1-4 singles and 17-3 at No. 3 doubles, will try to help the Cavaliers win their third consecutive NCAA title this month.
   Nelson came close to an Easter Bowl "Triple Crown." She reached the doubles quarterfinals with Maryia Hrynashka of Rancho Cordova in the Sacramento area, losing 10-8 in a match tiebreaker to the fifth seeds, and won the girls 12 sportsmanship award.
  Nelson, whose favorite shot is her slice backhand, now is ranked sixth nationally in girls 12 singles.
   "She has a good, clean game," Gilbert said. "Her serve is solid, she's consistent, she moves well. I like her forehand -- she can hit it heavy. Sometimes that's the shot that gets a little inconsistent at times, or the backhand gets a little stray. But overall, if she stays focused, she's clean on all of her shots, and that's what makes her tough to beat."
   Like Conradi, Gilbert appreciates Nelson's variety.
   "She plays points that are fun for me to watch because she'll hit so many different shots in a point, whether it's a high ball, whether it's a slice, whether it's an angle, whether it's a cut serve," Gilbert said. "She can do all of that in one point. She's pretty comfortable at the net, she's got good hands, so it's a little bit of a well-rounded game. I don't think anything really sticks out. I just think it's clean all over."
   Less than 48 hours after winning the Easter Bowl, Nelson was back on the court in the first round of the 16s in the Gold River Junior Championships at the Gold River Racquet Club in the Sacramento area.
   "Most of the time -- probably with 90, 99 percent of our players -- I would not have suggested that, but Priya likes to compete and play, so I let that one fly," Gilbert said with a laugh. "Three or four years ago, I would have texted or called the parents and said, 'Take her out of the tournament,' but I'm adjusting to her, and she's enjoying it. That's showing -- she got to the final of the 16s (at Gold River). She had a great tournament. ...
  "In the past, I spaced out the tournaments a lot more, and I still do with some players because they need that mental break from it, but Priya doesn't bring those emotions. Collin is a good example. Collin is so emotional on the court that doing back-to-back-to-back tournaments is exhausting for everybody (laughs), so we take breaks. Priya keeps a good, even demeanor, so I have to look at that and go, 'You know what? It doesn't take as much of an emotional toll on her to play these tournaments.' "
   Nelson ousted top-seeded Avantika Willy, last year's girls 14 NorCal Sectional champion, 6-3, 6-4 in the second round at Gold River en route to the final and won the 14s doubles title with Tomi Main of Seaside in the Monterey area.
   Nelson always wears a Roger Federer cap on the court and rarely takes it off at home. She idolizes Federer "because he's really good on court and his mental (approach) is really good and he's always really calm and I like how he moves and the way he treats others on court," she said.
   Nelson hopes to play professionally someday. She already trains like a pro, pounding balls and working out at Arden Hills from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. five days a week to prepare for weekend and national tournaments.
   The question, according to Gilbert, is whether Nelson can stay motivated for the next five or six years.
   "It's hard not to get distracted, to stay healthy, to enjoy it, to come out every day and be fired up and want to keep working and improving," Gilbert said. "That's the hard thing about tennis. It's a really long path these kids have to take, so where Priya's at right now, I don't have any big things I feel are holes in her game. To keep doing what she's doing for a long period of time is probably the biggest challenge."
   Bonnie Nelson is realistic but not worried about Priya burning out.  
   "There are no guarantees of any sort," Bonnie conceded. "Kids change as they grow. But one of the biggest things I can say towards her success is if there's something she needs to work on -- footwork or her backhand, whatever it is -- she works on it. That's the difference between my son and her. She wants it; she's hungry for it. That's what's driving her."

Sacramento academy bags another national title

   The JMG Tennis Academy is having a better year than Starbucks.
   A player from JMG in Sacramento won a national title for the third time since August earlier this month. Priya Nelson, 8, routed Susanna Maltby of Glen Ellyn, Ill., 6-2, 6-0 in the girls 8 final at the Little Mo Nationals in Austin, Texas, on Oct. 21.
   Nelson won all of her matches in straight sets.
   "Priya is both highly dedicated and highly talented, which is unique at her age," Joseph Gilbert, the founder and director of JMG, said in a statement. "I've been fortunate enough to coach her from the very beginning, and I just love catching talented young players early like that. It's easy to see Priya's headed for lots of future success, and it will be very exciting to watch her journey."
   On back-to-back days in August, JMG's Collin Altamirano and Jenson Brooksby won titles in the USTA Boys 18 and 12 National Championships, respectively. Altamirano, 17, became the first unseeded player in the 71-year history of the USTA Boys 18s to capture the title.
   Past Little Mo champions include Andy Roddick and Canada's Vasek Pospisil, who reached the semifinals of last week's Swiss Indoors in Basel. Pospisil lost to hometown hero Roger Federer 7-5 in the third set.

Academy makes waves with two national champs

Collin Altamirano, right, and Jenson Brooksby, left, won Super-
national titles last month under coach Joseph Gilbert, middle.
Photos by Paul Bauman

   SACRAMENTO, Calif. — In the late 1960s and the 1970s, taskmaster Sherm Chavoor churned out Olympic swimming champions at the Arden Hills Swimming and Tennis Club.
   Mark Spitz won nine gold medals and Debbie Meyer and Mike Burton three each. Spitz's seven gold medals in the 1972 Munich Olympics stood as the record until Michael Phelps broke it with eight in the 2008 Beijing Games.
   In all, disciples of the irascible Chavoor won 31 Olympic medals, including 20 gold, and set 83 world records and 131 American marks.
   Forty-one years after the peak of Chavoor's success, another disciplinarian could be starting a tennis dynasty at what is now the Arden Hills Resort and Spa. Training under Joseph Gilbert at his JMG Tennis Academy, Collin Altamirano and Jenson (J.T.) Brooksby won their first USTA Supernational titles on back-to-back days last month.

   Altamirano, 17, became the first unseeded player in the 71-year history of the USTA Boys 18 National Championships in Kalamazoo, Mich., to capture the title. Past winners include International Tennis Hall of Famers Michael Chang, Stan Smith and Dennis Ralston.
   Brooksby, 12, justified his No. 1 seeding by winning the USTA Boys 12 National Championships in Little Rock, Ark.
   "A lot of kids fly to Florida, fly to Southern Cal, fly all over the nation looking for the best training," said the 35-year-old Gilbert, who opened the academy in January 2011. "This shows we can do it here. That was a goal of mine, to show, look, we can create players at the top national level right here in Sacramento. There was no reason why we couldn't before. That's why I broke off and did my own academy."   
   Another Sacramento teaching pro, however, was stunned that two players from California's sleepy capital, not to mention one club, won titles in the most prestigious age-group tournaments for Americans.
   "It's unbelievable. It's unfathomable," marveled the pro, who requested anonymity. "That happens in Florida and Southern California. People laugh at Northern California tennis. It's like a dream coming out of little cowtown Sacramento."
    By winning the 18 Supernationals, Altamirano earned an automatic wild card into the main draw of the U.S. Open, in which he lost to 22nd-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 in the first round.
   "Gilbert is the only coach in the area who could have taken (Altamirano) to the U.S. Open," said the teaching pro.
   Other top juniors at the JMG Tennis Academy are Brandon Sutter (boys 18s), Kassidy Jump (girls 18s), Ravi Nelson (boys 12s) and Jessi Muljat (girls 12s). Sutter and Jump are freshmen at Stanford and Arizona State, respectively, of the powerful Pacific-12 Conference.
   JMG, the teaching pro predicted, "will be one of the premier academies on the West Coast, like (Nick) Bollettieri's in Florida."

Sacramento's Arden Hills, founded in 1954, has morphed
from a modest club into a swanky facility.

   Arden Hills, founded by Chavoor in 1954, was very utilitarian in his day. It had a handful of courts and pools, and a modest clubhouse.
   Since then, Arden Hills has morphed into a swanky facility that bills itself as "Sacramento's Luxury Hotel, Wedding, Spa and Wellness Resort." It features 12 immaculate courts, four pools, a 50,000-foot health and wellness pavilion, an opulent five-room bed and breakfast, and even a hair salon. Academy players have access to top fitness trainers, nutritionists and sports psychologists.
   Chavoor sold Arden Hills in the mid-1980s, retired in 1990 and died of cancer at 73 in 1992. Now along comes Gilbert.
   "He's been my coach pretty much my whole life," said Altamirano. "He made my game very good and made me tough. He's the reason I'm here today, the reason I won that tournament."
   Brooksby gives Gilbert almost as much credit.
   "Joseph has really helped me mentally and game-wise," Brooksby said, "and I finally brought it out there for that whole tournament. I was doing it throughout every match back to back. I was staying calm and not getting upset."
   It hasn't been easy for Altamirano, who reached the junior boys quarterfinals at the U.S. Open this week, and Brooksby.
   "Joseph is almost paramilitaristic in the way he teaches," the teaching pro said. "You've got to have kids who are kind of like robots. He takes the wimp out of them. Whine, and he's going to make you run more. Eventually, you're not going to whine anymore. Collin was a brat on the court for many years, and (Gilbert) got that out of him.
   "It's a very good balance. Joseph has a harmonious relationship with his players, but at the same time, he's a ballbuster. Joseph has a talent with that."

* * *

   Gilbert and four other pros work with 25 to 30 serious players at the academy.
   "(Altamirano and Brooksby) got where they are because of their dedication," said Gilbert, who's not related to renowned coach and commentator Brad Gilbert. "We're not looking for huge numbers. We're looking for dedication."
   Gilbert personally tutors about half of the players, starting his day at 7 or 8 a.m. and finishing at 8:30 p.m.
   "I push; I'm tough," he admitted. "But they show up every day. They want it, which is great to see."
   The program is tailored to the player, and Gilbert declined to specify the range of fees. He has a system, though, emphasizing "a lot of individual time in comparison to most academies. I don't work with a lot of kids. I work with a handful of kids for a lot of hours, and I do believe in that. The philosophy is less kids, more hours.
   "I have extremely strong relationships with (Altamirano and Brooksby) because I've spent so much time with them. I've traveled with them, and Collin has lived with me, so that individual component of how much time we've spent together has made a huge difference."
   Altamirano said Gilbert has helped him "in so many ways, in life, just in general, how to be a good person, just a good kid. That was probably the most helpful thing, not even the tennis game, just being a smart individual and being able to take care of myself.
   "He trusts me to travel on my own. That was a big thing for him and me, too, because obviously it's not easy to do. It's tough to stay to a schedule when you're on your own and you can do whatever you want and there's no one there to help you."

Altamirano, 17, has a punishing forehand.

   Altamirano lived with Gilbert for five years until the coach and his wife had a baby six weeks ago. 
   "Him living with me was a big part to show how to discipline himself, like he was talking about traveling on his own," Gilbert said. "When he was younger, he had to set up a schedule on his own. I checked in on him, and if the schedule wasn't done right, he would get disciplined for it. If it was done right, he'd get rewards for it.
   "I definitely do believe in these guys being independent. I'm trying to get J.T. to start making more decisions on his own because that's how you prepare a professional, in my opinion. On the tennis court, you're out there on your own. There are no coaches, there's no help, so when you get out there, you need to be self-sufficient. Training these guys to do that is a lot of life lessons. Some of them are tough, but they've done a good job."
   Gilbert also likes to keep his players fresh.
   "I don't believe in an extreme amount of tournaments," he said. "I like players to enjoy a victory or grieve a loss. Giving them a certain amount of time to do that is important. If you go tournament after tournament after tournament, which a lot of players do, I think it becomes kind of mind-numbing whether you lose or win. It's not as much of a rush to play a tournament.
   "With both these guys, I've limited tournaments quite a bit. J.T. last year took off two or three months (from tournaments). Same with Collin throughout his years with me. We've taken off three or four months at a time to work on things mentally or in his game or just to give him a fresh start at playing tournaments again."
   Gilbert added that he "has noticed over the years that when (juniors) took a big break from tournaments, they have their best result the very next tournament they played. A lot of people would think the opposite, like, 'Oh, they're not tournament tough.' But every time they took two to three months of a break from tournaments, their very next tournament was a great result."

   Gilbert was born in Louisiana but grew up in Southern California After an impressive junior career, he played at Boise State for two years as the Broncos reached No. 2 in the nation, Fresno State for one year and Sacramento State for one year.        

   Gilbert said he left Boise State because his coach, Greg Patton, accepted a position with the United States Tennis Association and Gilbert's father died.
   "I had friends at Fresno State, and it was near Southern California," Gilbert explained. After a year, I was not a huge fan of Fresno. I liked the school and the team. I was a little burned out."
   Gilbert -- who had lived in Sacramento as a teenager with his coach, Paul Hubbard -- then enrolled at Sacramento State. After completing his eligibility, Gilbert taught at the Rio Del Oro Racquet Club in Sacramento for 10 years before starting his academy. JMG stands for Joseph Morris Gilbert.
   Gilbert learned much of his system from Hubbard, who died in a car accident 10 years ago at 31.
   "Training national-level kids takes a lot of time," Gilbert observed. "There's only so many kids you can work with. Paul opened my mind to that individual training philosophy ... the relationship, the trust, spending so much time together.
   "Paul by the end of it could tell me to 'sit on the bench and look at the stars (in the sky) — that'll make you better,' and I kind of believed him. I feel like we're getting to a point with these two that they believe in what I'm preaching to them. They trust me."

* * * 

   Sitting at an indoor cafe table at Arden Hills after returning from the Supernationals, Altamirano and Brooksby contrasted sharply. Altamirano, 6-foot-2, resembles a teen idol with his piercing eyes and dark, flowing hair. Brooksby, 5-foot-3, looks like a mini-surfer dude with his blond, flowing hair and puka shell necklace. Both, however, wear braces.
   Altamirano and Brooksby also have similar playing styles based on outstanding groundstrokes.
   "I hit a really heavy ball with a lot of spin (on both sides)," Altamirano said. "It really pushes my opponents back, and I'm able to do it over and over and over and over again. I'm very consistent with it. I can hit a ball that gives me a short ball and never miss.
   "I never felt like anyone could out-rally me (in Kalamazoo). They couldn't really attack my ball as long as I hit it clean. It calmed me down, (and) made me loose and have confidence in winning."
   Gilbert agreed, except for the part about never missing.
   "I do see him miss on occasion," Gilbert cracked.

Brooksby, 12, is adept at finding
angles to finish points, Gilbert said.

   Brooksby said his strengths are "basically the same" as Altamirano's.
   "We've been taught really similar. (Hit a) heavy ball that (opponents) can't attack, run them around, move them from side to side. On offense, hit the angles, get them off the court and then finish off the point," Brooksby said.
   Brooksby has a more offensive game than he gets credit for, according to Gilbert.
    "A lot of people think his strength is his defense and getting the ball in play a lot, which it is," Gilbert said. "But in my opinion what sets him apart — because there's a lot of kids that can do that at his age — is when he gets (on) offense, he finds the angles that can finish off points a lot easier than other 12-year-olds.
   "Usually, 12-year-olds have a hard time finishing off points because they're not big enough and strong enough to muscle through anybody yet. He knows how to work the court a lot better than most 12-year-olds."
   Altamirano's unseeded status in the nationals was deceiving. He has played primarily in men's professional and open tournaments, limiting his opportunities to earn junior ranking points.
   "My goal was to win (the Supernationals)," Altamirano said. "I knew I could. I've played against higher levels. In the pro events, I've played against guys 200, 300 in the world. I see weaknesses out there. I've seen a bigger ball. Juniors didn't scare me anymore. I was used to it, and it came easier to me."

   Altamirano demolished top-seeded Gage Brymer of Irvine 6-0, 6-1 in the semifinals.
   "I played really well that day," Altamirano explained with a laugh. "His game didn't really fit mine, at all. He wanted to hit hard and blast right through me, and I was perfectly OK with taking a step behind the baseline, hitting heavy and watching him make errors."
   Gilbert taught Altamirano's mother, Anne, and stepfather, Wes Barber, and Brooksby's parents, Glen and Tania. Collin first picked up a racket at 2 and began playing seriously at 5. Jenson, who also goes by J.T. because his middle name is Tyler, started at 4.
   Altamirano lives with his grandparents in the Sacramento suburb of Elk Grove. His father, Frank, resides in Yuba City, 42 miles (68 kilometers) north of Sacramento, and his mother and stepfather live in Santa Barbara in Southern California.
   "My mom was the main (tennis) influence," Altamirano said. "She was a very good player. She wanted me to have big goals in tennis. She got me passionate about it.
   "She's in love with this game. It baffles me how much she loves this game. I go home, and Tennis Channel is running 24-7 at her house. It drives me nuts. She just wants her life to be around tennis."
   Explaining her love of tennis, Anne said Collin "was 1 year old when I got interested, and I got addicted to it. It's a good workout, and it's like a chess match. There's a lot of technique to try to perfect. I love competing, too. I've always been a competitive person."
   Anne made the UC Santa Barbara team at 30 years old but was ruled ineligible before participating in any matches because she had played in community college more than five years beforehand.
   Collin, a home-schooled senior, said he hasn't decided whether to go to college or turn professional.
   "I'm not too worried about it, to be honest with you. I have a year to make that decision," said Altamirano, adding that he has received scholarship offers from reigning NCAA champion Virginia, Illinois, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest and Washington. "This next year is going to be fun, and I'm looking forward to it."
   Brooksby said he defeated his mother, a 4.0 player, 6-0, 6-0 when he was 8 and first topped his father, a 4.5 competitor, at 10.
   "Now I beat my dad 95 percent of the time," crowed Jenson, a home-schooled seventh-grader.
   Glen Brooksby, a Sacramento anesthesiologist, has attended the prestigious BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells for the past 20 years, except one year when he had Achilles' tendinitis. Jenson accompanied him for the first time — other than when he was 1 or 2 — last year.
   With Gilbert's help, maybe Altamirano and Brooksby eventually will play in the BNP Paribas Open.  
   "We're such a young academy," he said. "We're only 2 or 3 years old, and we're producing this. Most academies are 25 years old and not having the same results.
   "Give us some time. We're going to keep doing really great things. Maybe people will fly here to train rather than our kids leaving to go other places."