A Killer on the Court : But Before the Game, Loyola’s Kris Anderson Is All Smiles, Jokes

Kris Anderson stands at the center of a tennis court, smiling. At 5-10 she is a presence but not an intimidator, not yet. She asks her practice partner for a few lobs, bloody fish to a shark.

No trace of her little-girl smile remains as the first lob descends. Anderson widens her eyes a split second before racket meets ball, her teeth clench and lips pull apart. She smashes the ball with a grunt, a boxer to his bag. A yellowish-green flash streaks across the court and skips just inside base line.

Lob-- smash , lob-- smash , lob-- smash . Feeding frenzy at the Loyola Marymount tennis court lasts 5 minutes with only one ball landing out of bounds. Success, yes. Satisfaction, no. Anderson shakes her head and moves on to the next drill. Tunnel vision has consumed her.

The transformation from Kris, the consummate student-athlete who eats vegetarian burgers, to Ms. Anderson, smasher, is as subtle as it is devastating. Before practice she jokes and smiles, but never lollygags. Anderson is usually the first to arrive at practice. As time passes she becomes more and more quiet--and focuses.

“The first thing you notice about Kris,” says LMU Coach Jamie Sanchez, “is she looks confident, self-assured. She maintains a good attitude that is rarely negative. There are never any outbursts coming from her.”

Anderson’s 4-year doubles partner, Cristi Gonzalez, agrees.

“She is very intense,” Gonzalez said. “It’s obvious. She is so intense I don’t even need to say it.’

Her intensity does not funnel solely into tennis. Last year Anderson was named Student-Athlete of the Year at Loyola (a repeat performance of her senior year at an Arizona high school) and was asked to apply for a Rhodes Scholarship. The media studies major turned down the offer after extended deliberation.

“I was really honored,” Anderson said, flashing a smile. “I looked over the application . . . and it was a 2-year deal involving English, history, literature and biology. Those subjects are not what I am majoring in, although I like economics.”

Tom Kelly, professor of communications at LMU, contacted Anderson about applying for the scholarship that allows the recipient to study at Oxford or Cambridge and still wishes she had.

“I knew she was a bright student and an athlete,” Kelly said. “In some ways I wish she would have applied. They like to have a well-rounded person, sound mind and sound body. I knew a lot of young men had been Rhodes Scholars in the past, and I was glad I found a young woman who was more than apt.”

Anderson said many outside sources were pushing her to apply, adding unwelcomed pressure.

“It was a big decision,” she said. “I wondered about it for a long time. It was the hardest thing because the prestige and honor with it made it hard to say, ‘Sorry, I don’t want that right now.’

“Afterward, I think it made people think more that maybe they pressured me too much. I didn’t want that to happen. But now they are happy and are supporting my decision. That is all I ever wanted.”

Anderson, who will graduate this year with a GPA around 3.9, is minoring in business and philosophy. She reasons the diversity by saying, “I like to think.”

She also likes to play tennis--a lot. Where Gonzalez said she feels worn of the game and ready to venture into new areas, Anderson sees nothing but tennis

courts in her future.

“I want to play on the tour back East for a few months,” Anderson says about her post-graduation plans. “Then I want to get certified by the United States Tennis Professionals Assn. and be a teaching pro. I worked a summer job teaching tennis in Phoenix and I loved working with the kids. Being able to help someone else progress would be great for me. In about 10 years I want to open a tennis academy where students get a good education and a great tennis program.”

Back at practice, Anderson is in the middle of a volley drill. Her partner hits two into the net and apologizes. Anderson answers, “That’s OK, I’m doing it too.” She hasn’t for 15 minutes.

Her intense practices pay off with success. After three years at LMU, Anderson has compiled a 55-30 singles record and a 57-27 doubles mark. This season she is 2-0 in both. For 1988, the Southern California Women’s Open ranking system considered her the best doubles player and the No. 5 singles player in the area. She and Gonzalez were invited to play in the preseason All-American tournament.

“It all stems from the goals she establishes,” Sanchez said. “She focuses on how she is going to accomplish these things. She is focused. Her objectives and goals are already set. She maps out things. Most college students don’t.”

It has always been that way for Anderson. She aspired to have a ranking next to her name by age 18. The South West Tennis Assn. ranked her as high as No. 4 in high school.

She also wanted to play tennis for a small school and now is the team captain for a 3,500-student university.

And the 20-year-old also aspires to heighten her towering level of concentration.

“Unfortunately, it takes me two or three games to get really focused,” Anderson says, lightly shaking her head. “I’ve been working to shorten that. Now, before the games I begin stretching and thinking about the match: “This is what you are going to do.

“It’s a matter of psyching myself up, believing in what I’ve got. It is important for any player to have (intense concentration). Those who don’t are at a huge disadvantage right away. The top players get into that mode.”

Getting into that mode has always been a part of Anderson’s life. As a child growing up in Paradise Valley, Ariz., she called herself a tomboy, playing football and baseball. Anderson said she “got sick of all the different sports” and started taking tennis lessons.

During high school she was named Most Valuable Player of the tennis team and decided to write letters to favorite colleges.

Stanford, USC, Pepperdine and West Point all received mail from Anderson, but she decided a small school would fit her needs best. Loyola Marymount enticed her most.

“I get about 50 to 100 letters,” Sanchez said. “Some are form letters. But Kris was personally interested in the tennis program and the school. Her letter was a little more specific. She came to visit and talking to her in person was very good.”

Anderson, who is on full scholarship in a program that can only offer a handful of them, said she has no regrets about deciding on Loyola after visiting the campus only once.

“It was mainly the communications department,” Anderson says, that swayed her to LMU. “I like the atmosphere of a small campus best.”

Gonzalez also likes a small campus. But that is probably where similarities between the doubles tandem end. Gonzalez is 5-6 with black hair and Anderson is 5-10 with blond hair and blue eyes.

“We’re very opposite but we get along,” Gonzalez said. “I think the combined personalities are good. She is serious and I am too, but I have a more casual attitude. She pumps me up and I calm her down. She is really into tennis (and) I’m having fun playing. It’s a blast.”

The pals have won 67% of their matches over the past three years and are expected to continue the tradition. But as opposite as they are, one common point is evident in both: self-confidence, Anderson says.

“I feel tennis players as a whole are confident in themselves,” Anderson says. “And they carry the competitiveness into other aspects of their life. They like the show of it, it’s their stage. I feel that way too.

“I also like tennis because over a period of years it is something I enjoy physically and mentally. It gives me a high without drugs or alcohol. I love tennis.”