TENNIS / DANA HADDAD : Bryan Twins Buoyed by Buildup in Kalamazoo

Tennis has made life quite a ride for Bob and Mike Bryan of Camarillo. The touring twins have carried their rackets across the United States and into Japan for national and international tournaments. Thursday they arrived in the most exciting place they’ve ever seen:

Kalamazoo, Mich.

The Bryans, 15 and identical, are playing their fifth consecutive USTA National Juniors tournament, which begins there Saturday.

It seems like every time the 5-foot-5 brothers look up, they discover a new skyline. Two weeks ago it was Nashville, Tenn., for a national clay surface tournament.

It also seems like whenever the Bryans walk onto the court a bigger, bulkier, upset-minded opponent awaits.

“And this year the guys are a lot bigger,� said Bob Bryan. The brothers this year moved into the 16-and-under age group.

Mike and Bob each weigh only 97 pounds, yet they are considered heavyweights. Every time they play, they’re seeded.

Age and size have never been much of an obstacle for these two, however. Mike is seeded eighth, Bob 11th in the singles draw. But doubles is what they do best, and they figure to be near the top of those seedings when they are posted today.

The Bryans got a hint of that when they were asked to arrive a day early to play in the Media Mania tournament.

Mania was how the twins described the scene in Kalamazoo Thursday. For all their travels, they’ve never seen such excitement and buildup for the tournament to be staged at Stowe Stadium at Kalamazoo College.

“It’s huge,� Bob said. “They have three big stadiums. They have banners all over the town and I hear they really get into it. And I hear they pack the stands, which seat like about 5,000.�

Bob and Mike played in front of some big crowds last year. There was the exhibition match at the Volvo Tennis/Los Angeles Open at the packed Los Angeles Tennis Center and a big international junior tournament in Tokyo. But Kalamazoo is crazed, they say.

“The stands are so big and everybody’s excited,� Mike said. “So far, this is the biggest tournament we’ve been in. And we’ve been playing tournaments since we were 6 or 7.�

The Bryans have lost only two doubles matches this year. Both came in finals of big events. They lost to Jason Weiss of Calabasas (seeded 13th in singles at Kalamazoo) and Kevin Kim of Fullerton, 3-6, 6-1, 7-5, in the Southern California Sectional finale. Two weeks ago they came up short against Justin Gimelstob of Essex Falls, N.J., and Rafael Jordan of Rio Piedras, P.R., 6-2, 6-2, in the National Clay Court tournament in Nashville.

Gimelstob and Jordan, seeded first and second in singles, are together again this week, and the Bryans are adjusting their doubles strategy in hopes of a championship rematch.

“The bigger guys will be coming up to the net and we’ll be trying to take the net away,� Bob said. “We have to keep them from dominating.�

If genetics plays its part, however, the Bryans won’t be looking skyward at their competition forever. Their father, Wayne Bryan, was also 5-5 at age 15. He’s now 6-2.

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Other singles hopefuls: Of the six week-long USTA national juniors tournaments around the country, which start this weekend, Valley players are most prominent in boys’ 16 singles, with the Bryans, Weiss and Jeremy Testwuide of Bell Canyon (14th) seeded. Also in the 128-player draw are Jason Cook of Woodland Hills, Nick Varvais of Simi Valley and Dylan Mann of Canoga Park.

Three local players could emerge in the Southern California-dominated girls’ 18 tournament, starting Sunday in San Jose.

Meilen Tu, 15, of Northridge is seeded fifth and Ania Bleszynski, 16, of Thousand Oaks ninth. Krissy Hamilton of Agoura Hills, 14, is not seeded although she is the 1993 Southern California Tennis Assn. sectional champion in 18s and has a strong national ranking.

Elsewhere, Monique Allegre of Camarillo and Jessica Kessler of Studio City are entered in girls’ 16s in San Diego, and Erin Boisclair of Agoura Hills and Brandy Braverman of Encino are entered in girls’ 14s in Fairburn, Ga.

Philip Tseng of Harvard-Westlake High (seeded 12th) is one of three local players in boys’ 18s, also being played in Kalamazoo. The others are Chong Cho of Glendale and Steve Tallakson of Oak View. James Oh of Chatsworth is the only local player entered in the singles draw at the boys’ 14s tournament in San Antonio.