A wrong turn leads to a teen finding her perfect coach

By NANCY MORGAN

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 27, 2000

Just when Marielle Wallin and her dad thought they were lost, they found a coach in New Port Richey.

About three years ago, the Wallins had been visiting Saddlebrook, looking at the academy as a potential training school for the teenager. Driving back from their visit, the Wallins lost direction and ended up staying overnight in the Pasco County town. The next day, while hitting on the public hard courts, they learned of Australian-born Cruise Furious, a teaching professional in the area since the early 1990s.

"It was merely by chance they came through here and stumbled on someone that knew me," Furious said. "We tried my coaching Marielle, it worked and now she's here and has been working with me over two years."

The Wallins, originally from Sweden, came to the U.S. from Spain, where they had lived since Marielle was 1. It was Marielle who wanted to come to America to learn tennis. For almost three years, Wallin has remained in New Port Richey to train with Furious while being homeschooled through correspondence courses.

"I actually started tennis when I was four with my dad, who plays almost every day," Marielle said. "When I was 12, I wanted to come here to train."

Last weekend, Wallin, 15, competed in the SPTC Easter Classic in St. Petersburg and won the consolation final in girls 18-and-under, beating Tampa's Yaitza Dominguez 6-2, 6-4. "I didn't know her, but I had seen her play her last match," Wallin said. "I tried serving to her backhand mostly as well as attacking her backhand side on groundstrokes."

As one would suspect from Wallin's play, she admires the aggressive net play of Martina Navratilova and Pete Sampras.

"Marielle's getting better all the time," Furious said. "She's not played too many tournaments so she still gets nervous, but we're working on that. Mainly, we're working on her technique -- without proper technique you can't do too much in the long run."

This weekend, Wallin will compete in the girls 18s division of the Junior Clay Court Championships at Tampa's Hunters Green Country Club Sports Center.

"I just try to do the best I can," Wallin said, "and not worry about results. I want my strokes to get good, to go out and play tournaments and do well."

OTHER SPTC EASTER RESULTS: Second-seeded Zoe Kent, 11, of Valrico won the main draw in the girls 14s and Daniel Vidal of Wesley Chapel finished second in the boys 14s. It was Kent's fourth tournament in the 14s division and first win. The Burns Middle School sixth grader is training with Andres Molina at the Palma Ceia Tennis Club in Tampa. Vidal is from Puerto Rico and is training at Saddlebrook Academy. In the 14s final, Vidal lost to Sarasota's Michael Samara 6-1, 6-2.

AT THE EASTER BOWL: Sixth-seeded Ashley Harkleroad of Georgia, who trains at Saddlebrook, won the girls 18-and-under championship at the Easter Bowl Junior Tennis Championships staged at the Riviera Resort and Racquet Club in Palm Springs, Calif. Harkleroad won five matches in straight sets and defeated No. 8 Lauren Barnikow of New Jersey 7-5, 6-4 in the final. Girls 18s top seed Kelly McCain lost in the round of 16 to No. 11 Katie Ruckert of Virginia in three sets. McCain advanced to the consolation final before falling 6-3, 6-2 to No. 9 seed Luana Magnami of California.

No. 11 seed Sukhwa Young reached the boys 16s quarterfinal main draw round in the 128-player field where he lost in three sets to No. 14 James Pade of Calif. Young advanced to the consolation final, where he lost 6-4, 6-3 to sometimes doubles partner Josh Cohen of Weston. Unseeded Alexandria Liles advanced to the girls 16s semifinal round. Dillon Brozyna won one round in the boys 16s main draw.

COMING UP: Junior tournaments are at Hunters Green Country Club Sports Complex, (813) 973-4220, in Tampa and at the Cheval Country Club, (813) 948-2282, in Lutz this weekend. ... An adult singles competition is set for this weekend in Clearwater at the Pro Star Tennis and Fitness Club, (727) 581-4935.

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