Wimbledon Will Have To Wait -- State Titlist Looks Ahead To Senior Year, College

Like most tennis prodigies, Tim Gottesman has lived like an adult since the onset of his teenage years. Gottesman, ranked sixth nationally as a 14-year-old, has spent his summer and winter vacations at tournaments in Florida, South Carolina, Louisiana, Texas, Arizona, Michigan and Illinois.

Last year, Gottesman and his doubles partner, Jason Parker of Atlanta, were ranked third nationally in the 16-and-under division. At the national indoor tournament in Boston, the pair reached the finals. In singles, Gottesman was the country's 35th-ranked player and beat several ranked above him.

This past winter, Gottesman, a senior-to-be at Mercer Island High School, was defeated in the finals of the Copper Bowl tournament in Tucson, Ariz. by one of the world's top-ranked 18-and-under players.

In the Texas Open last month, Gottesman finished third by overcoming a 6-0, 2-0 deficit for a 0-6, 6-2, 6-4 victory against the top seed, Trey Phillips.

Gottesman, the 1991 Class AAA state high-school singles champion, is currently in Kalamazoo, Mich., for the national junior tourament. The singles and doubles champions receive automatic berths in the U.S. Open.

But Gottesman isn't grooming his rocket serves, crisp volleys and sharp groundstrokes for a future in the professional ranks. Instead, he hopes they help land him admittance to a prestigious college.

Among those he's looking at are Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Northwestern, Duke, North Carolina, and California. Gottesman is quick to point out that all have winning tennis programs.

"I'm probably not going to turn pro," Gottesman said by telephone from Kalamazoo. "Realistically, I don't think I'll be able to."

The victory he cites as his biggest wasn't attained at a national tournament but instead in last spring's state championship final against nemesis Mark Tomandl of Inglemoor High School. Tomandl had defeated him 6-1, 6-0 in the district tournament.

Gottesman overcame a 5-2 deficit and four match points in the third set for a 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 victory. He was also down 4-1 in the tiebreaker he wound up winning 7-5.

"Everyone told me that was one of the best matches they'd ever seen," he said. "It was a great feeling. It was probably the biggest match I've ever played."

The sport's tendency to transform kids into adults while they're still in junior high school provided Gottesman with something of a midlife crisis three years ago.

That's when his parents enlisted the services of the area's foremost coach, Mark Frisby. Frisby personally coaches about 50 players, and during the summer runs tennis camps that draw nearly 400 kids.

"When I started with him, he wasn't doing very well," Frisby said. "They couldn't figure out why he was losing to the kids he used to beat regularly.

"I see this all the time. The kid has been playing tennis for so long, like Tim who's been playing for about 10 years, and they get sick of it. They get tired of playing in the same tournaments against the same people."

In addition to improving Gottesman's serve, volley and forehand, Frisby taught him something that proved essential in his victory over Tomandl.

"I tried to tell him there is nothing wrong with losing to someone you once beat," Frisby said. "I think he's a pretty intelligent kid. I really worked on his personality. He wants to know why, and when I tell him why and how you hit a certain shot, it gets him excited."

Gottesman seems to have benefited from his confrontations with the tennis gods. Though the sport is obviously important to him, it's the fringe benefits that he treasures most.

"The best part of this is the friendships I've made," said Gottesman, who has a 3.9 grade-point average (out of a possible 4.0). "There are a lot of nice people who'll take you in, let you sleep in their bed and eat their food."