TENNIS: MENTALLY TOUGH EDELBERG READY FOR REDEMPTION.

Byline: Dana Haddad Daily News Staff Writer

His rude awakening six weeks hence, Joey Edelberg is now fully conscious.

The Thousand Oaks resident knows that with a 192-player draw, he's likely to get a beatable first-round opponent today in the United States Tennis Association Junior National boys' 18-and-under championships in Kalamazoo, Mich.

After losing in the first round of the recent Southern California Junior Championships, Edelberg realizes there are no real underdogs at this level.

``I'm a lot more confident,'' he said. ``I think I'm better prepared, of course. I was prepared, physically, for sectionals, but not mentally. I was caught off-guard.''

Edelberg, 17, who will be a senior this fall at Oak Park High, was one of 16 players who automatically qualified for the main draw of the Southern California championships and had the luxury of waiting for 16 others to battle for the remaining spots in a qualifying tournament.

To his surprise, the qualifier seeded against Edelberg in the main draw's first round was Zoran Korak of San Marino.

Korak was a ringer - a player with top-10 talent but not enough ranking points to automatically qualify. He was easily the toughest opponent Edelberg could have faced among the qualifiers. Korak beat him 6-3, 6-3.

As a result, Edelberg was nearly denied entry into the nationals. He was the last of 15 players the Southern California Tennis Association sent to the boys' 18 nationals.

Now he wants to redeem himself.

``There are no freebies at nationals,'' Edelberg said. ``But I think that will help me, because I'll feel more of a challenge. I'll be ready, mentally.''

Edelberg is certainly no slouch. He was a member of the Daily News all-area high school team and is ranked 17th in Southern California. At 5-11, he has size and is developing power. He already has a strong serve, clocked at over 110 mph, and powerful ground strokes.

His coach, Jonathan Canter, an L.A. native who was once No. 36 in the world, is crafting other facets of his game.

Canter was instrumental in Edelberg's jump from 36th to No. 8 in the boys' 16 section rankings last year. For comparison, Korak finished 13th.

Canter believes Edelberg's biggest obstacle toward improvement is himself.

``A lot of it is in Joey's head,'' Canter said. ``He obviously can play (at a top) level. He could easily win a few rounds at the nationals. A lot of it comes down to his own confidence. It's a question of whether he can beat these guys.''

Edelberg had a woeful time against Korak, wrenching a knee and having to buy a brace at the pro shop between sets. Many of Edelberg's ground strokes were short, allowing Korak to approach the net for winners.

``I thought it was a winnable match for me. . . but I think he was more tournament tough than I was at that point,'' Edelberg said. ``He played five matches before me.''

Canter was not happy with Edelberg's performance, saying, ``He knew a couple days before he was going to play the guy. He just didn't want to play him. He was intimidated.''

But if this is tough love from Canter, Edelberg can probably handle it. Two years ago, Edelberg was diagnosed with a torn ligament in his right (swinging) shoulder. But he didn't stop playing - he served underhand and tried to hit only backhand shots - until his doctor demanded he stop.

Now that Edelberg is back in form, he has the attention of coaches from Pepperdine and the universities of San Diego and Colorado.

The facts

Event: United State Tennis Association Junior National Championships, boys' 18-and-under division.

When: Today through Aug. 16.

Where: Stowe Stadium, Kalamazoo College, Kalamazoo, Mich.

Area players: Joey Edelberg (Thousand Oaks).