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By
Karen Pearlman
August 13, 2001
Four years ago, Alexandra Podkolzina and her mother, Svetlana,
were hopping buses and trains, lugging around tennis gear from
one part of Moscow to another.
Automobile-less but determined, the two traveled great
distances on packed public transportation for two hours at a
time just so Alexandra could get in an hour of tennis.
Just before noon yesterday in Ocean Beach, the only items
Podkolzina had to carry were a yellow hand towel, an empty
water bottle and a cellular phone, which she used to call her
mother in Concord.
The news she relayed, in Russian:
She beat Frances "Whitney" Deason of Houston 6-1,
6-1 to capture the title in the USTA Girls' 16 Super National
Championships at the George E. Barnes Family Junior Tennis
Center.
She also told her mother that she was tired. Although the
match lasted only 46 minutes, Podkolzina was playing her 10th
match in two weeks, her sixth match in six days.
"I was going to go home (last night), but I want to
stay another day to maybe tan my stomach at the beach,"
said the 15-year-old Podkolzina.
The championship completed a week of action at the tennis
center in which 192 girls were gunning for what Podkolzina --
in her first major U.S. tournament -- attained.
"I played her last week in the Junior Fed Cup in San
Francisco," Deason said. "I lost (7-5, 6-3). She
played a lot better this time. She served really well and
didn't make as many errors."
About the only trouble Podkolzina had was when a racket
string broke after the first point of the first game. After
that minor setback, she picked up her reserve racket and never
slowed down.
"I had it figured out for the most part,"
Podkolzina said. "I like playing Whitney because she's
real. She doesn't play mind games or tricks like some players
do."
Podkolzina, ranked 15th nationally in the Girls' 18,
doesn't need to resort to those tactics either.
Her powerful forehand, equally strong backhand, wicked
slices and blistering serves were too much for her competitors
last week, including Deason, who played for third place in
doubles with Jenna Long of Fremont an hour after her singles
loss.
"I never really got into a rhythm," Deason said.
Podkolzina knows about rhythm -- and not just on the tennis
court.
In Russia, when Podkolzina wasn't playing tennis, she was a
serious student of music, taking guitar lessons weekly. She
may be the only girl on the tennis circuit who can play the
domra, a three-stringed Russian instrument.
Podkolzina, however, gave up one set of strings for
another.
"I love playing the guitar but I quit because of
tennis," she said. "I was learning to play some
Russian melodies. But with the time it would take us to get to
tennis lessons, I didn't even get to do my homework until
11:30 at night."
Podkolzina's time was consumed by tennis. And while Anna
Kournikova may have made a name for Moscow-born tennis
players, Russia is not quite a hotbed for the sport.
With her parents' OK, Podkolzina left Russia at age 11 for
Mirabella, Spain, where she attended a British school and
played tennis. After 11/2 years there, she attended the Hopman
Tennis School at the Saddlebrook Resort in Tampa, Fla.
Podkolzina was supposed to return to Spain after her stay
in Florida, but she confessed to her mother that she wanted to
quit tennis and live with her family, which had moved to
Northern California while Alexandra was in Spain.
"My mom said, 'Honey, maybe you should consider tennis
for college,' " Podkolzina said. "So she found
me a coach there that I liked, (Berkeley Tennis Center's) Todd
Mitchell, and I've been with him ever since. He is the best
coach I've ever had. I'm lucky we found him."
And she's lucky that her parents' Toyota Corolla can get
her where she needs to be -- in just minutes.
Liu reaches finals
Amber Liu of La Mesa reached the
finals of the USTA Girls' 18 Super National Hard Court
Championships in San Jose. Liu beat No. 3 seed Jamea
Jackson 6-1, 6-2 in the quarterfinals, and then defeated Tory
Zawacki 6-0, 6-1 in the semifinals. The winner of the
tournament gets a wild-card berth into the women's main draw
of the U.S. Open.
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