Tennis Champ Will Serve for the Record : Eagle Rock’s Unbeaten Janice Lum Seeks Third Straight City Crown

Janice Lum is becoming accustomed to perfection. If she’s not in the classroom earning straight A’s, she’s on the tennis court winning in straight sets.

Lum, 17, is a senior at Eagle Rock High and two-time defending City Section singles champion. She has not lost a high school tennis match in three years and has dropped only two sets in her entire high school career.

On Friday, Lum will play in the City finals at the Racquet Center in Studio City. She will try to equal the record for consecutive championships set by Linda Howell of Venice, who won titles in 1978, 1979 and 1980.

“She’s one of the best I’ve ever seen,” said Harriette Pullen, who has been the girls tennis coordinator for the City section for 12 years. “She reminds me of Chris Evert-Lloyd with her concentration.”

Lum’s game resembles Evert-Lloyd’s in that she is a baseline player. Opponents who try to rally with her inevitably lose, as do those that try to challenge Lum at the net.

“She’s very cool and calm under pressure,” Palisades Coach Bud Kling said. “She plays the big points as if they weren’t big points. I’ve never seen her let up in a crucial situation.”

Like most top high school and college players, Lum began playing tennis very young. She won a tournament at Griffith Park when she was 10 and started playing in United States Tennis Assn.-sanctioned junior tournaments.

She is currently ranked ninth in the nation in the girls 18-and-under division.

“Each point is a tough point because she is so steady and cool,” Eagle Rock Tennis Coach Sonya Most said. “She lets her opponents make the mistakes.”

Lum is a master at avoiding the unforced error. This season, Most averaged the number of points each of her players gave up during the East League schedule. Lum gave up an average of just three points a match.

“I just think about watching the ball,” said Lum, who is considering USC, UC Santa Barbara and UC Berkeley for college. “During the high school season, I just try to work on my game.”

Lum has another weapon besides her on-court demeanor and mental toughness. Like Martina Navratilova, Lum is a left-hander whose shots drive opponents crazy.

Anya Kochoff, who played at Palisades, is the only player to take a set from Lum. Kochoff, who is playing tennis at USC, won a set in each championship match against Lum in 1984 and ’85.

“When you play a left-hander like Janice, everything is the opposite of what you’re used to,” Kochoff said. “It’s almost like your natural instinct has to be switched around. It screws you up a little bit.”

Lum is somewhat of a tradition-breaker in tennis circles. In the past, Southern California tennis champions came with assembly-line regularity from Palisades and other affluent communities.

“Obviously some girls have more money to spend on lessons, clubs and other things,” USC Tennis Coach Dave Borelli said. “But sometimes those girls peak at a very young age. I think Janice is the kind of player that would develop even more in a good college program.”

Perhaps Lum’s greatest impact at Eagle Rock was in helping the girls team’s other players become better. This season, Eagle Rock won its first-ever City 3-A title. Even more impressive is that it won the championship match against Hamilton without Lum, who was competing in a national tournament in Kansas.

“That’s what’s fun about high school tennis,” Lum said. “You get a lot of support and you get to support others. I was very happy the team was able to win even though I couldn’t play.”

Most is not predicting any residual effects at Eagle Rock because of the championship. She does not expect any proteges to transfer into the program and recognizes that Lum may have been that once-in-a-lifetime player that some coaches never get the opportunity to work with.

“Most of the girls that come into our program have never played tennis until they take a class here,” Most said. “Janice was obviously different. She’s been great for our team and great for our school.

“I won’t have another Janice Lum, that’s for sure.”