TENNIS: OJAI TOURNEY THE PLACE TO BE MOST OF TOP PLAYERS EXPECT TO BE ON HAND.

Byline: ERIK BOAL

Special to the Daily News

Jenson Turner has accumulated more than 60trophies during his junior career, yet one of his most prized possessions is a name board from his appearance in a boys' 14-under tournament final.

Chris Simpson has won three Southern Section boys' tennis titles, but watching James Thayer and Sam Wagner win the Wightman Cup at Libbey Park in 2003 remains one of his proudest moments as a coach.

Steve Kuechel has walked the city's prestigious courts both as a high school and college player, then as a coach at Campbell Hall of North Hollywood.

And Drew Jacobs considers it an honor to compete in the same environment that once belonged to legends Arthur Ashe, Bob and Mike Bryan, Michael Chang, Jimmy Connors and Pete Sampras, just to name a few.

In a word: tradition. In another: Ojai.

For four days every year, thousands of top junior, high school, college and pro circuit players gather in a small town in Ventura County for the Ojai Valley Tennis Tournament.

They play in front of crowds ranging from 10 to 1,000. They drink orange juice at Libbey Park in the morning and enjoy tea and cookies in the afternoon. And they marvel at the list of former Ojai champions, which reads like a who's who of the sport.

The buzz leading up to the 107th edition of the event was that many of the top junior players in Southern California wouldn't be attending Ojai in order to boost their USTA rankings by attending junior tournaments elsewhere.

Aside from top-seed Ryan Thacher's 11th-hour decision to withdraw from the CIF boys' singles event to focus on a heavy academic load at Harvard-Westlake of Studio City, the rest of the area's top high school players are still scheduled to compete.

"I was always planning on playing Ojai. I like the tournament, it's run well and it's close to home, which is nice," said Jacobs, a senior at Moorpark who will attend CalPoly in the fall. "To have a chance to add my name with the likes of Michael Chang and Pete Sampras, that would be pretty cool."

The absence of Thacher increases the odds of reaching Saturday's title match for Malibu's Daniel Moss, Jacobs and Turner, a junior at Campbell Hall who suffered a three-set loss in the 14-under final in his first trip to Ojai.

"The guys who are truly passionate and competitive want to be where all the big names are, and that's at Ojai," said Greg Turner, Jenson's dad. "There's an aura about Ojai. There's a feeling you get walking around the woods and then all of the sudden a tennis court appears. You can't get that anywhere else."

Eleven singles players and 13 doubles teams from the area are expected to compete in the CIF events and 22 local athletes who are age eligible are entered in the 16-under, 18-under and open draws.

"To see all these guys who are chasing points just to get a higher ranking, I don't get it," said Kuechel, who played at Ojai when he attended North Hollywood High and Valley College. "Going after rankings, in my opinion, is the wrong idea. For me, it's all about tradition."

Despite Thacher's absence, the Wolverines will still be represented in doubles by Nic Patonai and Michael Vann.

"To get to play in that environment, where tennis takes over a small town for an entire weekend, is unbelievable," Simpson said. "For a lot of kids, they won't have this opportunity again."

But Simpson knows Thacher will someday.

"These are the toughest weeks of my high school career and unfortunately something had to give," Thacher said. "It was hard, but I'm at Harvard-Westlake for school first."

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CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) Moorpark's Drew Jacobs said he considers it an honor to play in the Ojai Tournament.

(2) Harvard-Westlake's Ryan Thacher is expected to miss the Ojai Tournament.

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer