To prepare for the $50,000 Honolulu Challenger, which starts this morning at Kailua Racquet Club, Dennis Lajola did what any other Hawaii tennis player would do … if they could.
Lajola trained with Michael Chang in California.
Lajola, 22, went from Aiea to mainland tennis academies and international tournaments before coming home to help the University of Hawaii to three conference championships.
He won a USTA Pro Circuit Futures title before starting at UH and turned pro last year after his final college match.
Chang, who turns 40 next month, won 34 tournaments around the world, including the 1989 French Open, and $19 million.
He is also 5 foot 9 and 160 pounds, same as Lajola. The two were introduced by Chang’s wife, Amber Liu.
2012 HONOLULU CHALLENGER
What: USTA Pro Circuit men’s tennis
Where: Kailua Racquet Club
When: From 10 a.m. today through Sunday, with night matches at 6 p.m. weekdays
Purse: $50,000 total, $7,200 plus 80 rankings points to singles champion
2011 champion: Ryan Harrison
Top seed: Go Soeda (ATP No. 99)
Local ties: Dennis Lajola and Leo Rosenberg in singles, and Ikaika Jobe and Hendrik Bode, and Mikael Maatta and Jan Axel Tribler in doubles
Admission: Free
Parking: Church of the Nazarene (536 Oneawa St.), except Thursday and Sunday
Special events: Saturday—USTA Member and Military Appreciation Day; Sunday—USTA Member Appreciation Day and 10-under exhibition
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"I learned so much from him in the last few months," said Lajola, now sponsored by Oahu’s Bear Engineering. "He’s taught me a lot with preparation for tournaments and has gotten me physically to the next level. We have been working on my game to be able to play with guys on the tour with a bigger forehand and being more consistent with my groundstrokes."
Lajola’s focus since he left Manoa has been on developing his game for the pro tour and keeping his ranking, now 659th, going in the right direction. He has concentrated specifically on his fitness.
"I have made a big improvement physically," Lajola said. "I felt like to compete on the pro tour I had to improve my fitness a couple levels and I feel like it’s paying off. I am still working hard on my fitness and am still far away from where I want to be physically, but I am definitely moving in the right direction."
He hopes to make it into more Challenger main draws and, ideally, some ATP tour qualifiers after this week. And, spend as much time as he can with Chang in California.
"It has been a blessing for me to be able to work out with him for the last few months," Lajola says. "He has given me a lot of advice and tips that have helped me tremendously in my game."
Lajola earned his place in the Honolulu Challenger main draw with a win at the Wild Card Tournament 10 days ago. He opens Wednesday at 6 p.m. against another wild card, Jack Sock. The 19-year-old won mixed doubles at last year’s U.S. Open with Melanie Oudin and just captured his second Futures title.
The eight seeds at the Challenger are ranked among the top 210 in the world. Japan’s Go Soeda is the top seed and ranked 99th.
American Bobby Reynolds is seeded second and ranked 115th. Reynolds has won 29 Pro Circuit titles. He opens against Lajola’s former UH teammate, Leo Rosenberg, who earned a wild card with a win at the Honolulu Masters. That winner plays Robby Ginepri or Steve Johnson. Ginepri,working his way back from a 2010 injury, was ranked as high as 15th in 2006. He has three ATP titles, reached the semifinals of the 2005 U.S. Open and played on two U.S. Davis Cup teams.
Former Davis Cup teammates Andy Roddick and James Blake won Hawaii Challenger titles in 2001 and 2002.
