Taking Center Court at Pepperdine : After 10-Year Professional Career, Teltscher Tries His Hand at Coaching

Eliot Teltscher knows about playing tennis, but he is not sure what to expect from coaching it.

Teltscher, who grew up in Palos Verdes Estates, was an All-American at UCLA in 1978 and later ranked among the world’s top 15 players during a 10-year professional career.

He was named Pepperdine men’s coach on June 19 after Allen Fox resigned to devote more time to his family and other outside interests.

Coaching however, is unfamiliar territory for the 32-year-old Palos Verdes High graduate, although he traveled briefly as a coach on the pro circuit with ninth-ranked Pete Sampras and 79th-ranked Jim Grabb.

Taking over a college program figures to be more demanding, particularly since Teltscher is succeeding one of the NCAA’s most successful coaches. In 14 years, Fox compiled a dual match record of 304-90 and led the Waves to 13 NCAA tournament appearances.

“I’m going into something I’ve absolutely never done before,” Teltscher said, laughing. “Hopefully it will work out. It’s an ideal situation. It will be the closest thing to a job that I’ve ever had.”

Teltscher heard about the opening by chance. A friend who played at Cal State Long Beach consulted Teltscher about transferring because Long Beach was dropping its program. Teltscher suggested Pepperdine because he has known Fox for years.

When Teltscher called Pepperdine to talk to Fox about his friend, Fox asked him if he wanted to be his assistant.

Three weeks later, Fox called Teltscher and asked if he wanted to be the coach.

Teltscher said he accepted because he was ready for a challenge after retiring from the pro circuit two years ago.

The 5-foot-9, 160-pound Teltscher has spent most of his life playing tennis. He started at age 10 because his parents played socially at the Jack Kramer Club in Rancho Palos Verdes. He became a top-ranked junior and an All-CIF player at Palos Verdes High. He also trained with Robert Lansdorp, a top junior tennis coach who worked with Tracy Austin throughout her career.

“Since he was 10, 11 years old he was always so tenacious,” Lansdorp said. “He’s a fighter. He would run down everything. Every time you played the guy you had a battle on your hands.”

Teltscher played only one season at UCLA before turning pro. He was the team’s No. 1 singles player in 1978 and led the Bruins to the NCAA tournament final in Georgia. UCLA lost to Stanford and Teltscher lost a singles match to John McEnroe for the third time that season.

As a professional, Teltscher defeated McEnroe twice. Teltscher was ranked in the top eight at the time and McEnroe was in the top two.

Teltscher also has victories over Jimmy Connors and Ivan Lendl. He snapped an 18-match losing streak against Connors by beating him in a tournament in Chicago. He defeated Lendl in the quarterfinals of the Italian Open.

“He never portrayed the impressive macho that was going to beat everybody,” Lansdorp said. “He was never a great athlete. Allen Fox wrote the book ‘If I Am The Better Player, Why Can’t I Win,’ and with Eliot it was ‘If I look like the worst player, how come I’m winning.’ ”

As a pro, Teltscher won more than 10 tournaments and he was ranked as high as No. 6 in the world in 1982. Some of his singles titles include the Trans American Open in San Francisco and the Hawaiian Open. In 1983 he teamed with Barbara Jordan for the French Open mixed doubles title. He also reached the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open three times, losing to Connors each year.

“I was just a baseline player. I didn’t have all that much of a game, but I just tried real hard,” Teltscher said. “A lot of the guys played better than me, but I just tried harder.”

Teltscher was also a three-time member of the U.S. Davis Cup team. He played singles the first year and sat behind McEnroe the second year. He saw plenty of action during his final year, when the United States lost to Germany.

“Mentally he was very tough,” said UCLA Coach Glenn Bassett, who has guided the Bruins to seven NCAA titles and 13 conference championships. “His mind was completely in the match all the time. He was a winner.”

Bassett says Teltscher’s performance as a college freshman made it clear he would be a successful professional.

“You could see he had it all, the physical and the mental,” Bassett said. “He really had perseverance. He also had real good ground strokes and a sensational backhand. Probably the best I’ve seen here.”

Teltscher retired from professional tennis in 1988 because of a recurring arm injury. He says he never recovered from a 1986 ulnar nerve operation in his right arm.

“My ranking dropped from No. 15 to about 80 or 90,” he said. “I hit a point where I wasn’t playing well and I wasn’t enjoying it like before. And my arm really hurt. That’s when I said, ‘I’ve had enough of this whole thing.’ ”

Last year Teltscher gave the pro circuit another try. He trained intensely for three months with Lansdorp and received wild cards to four tournaments.

“I worked out harder in those three months than I did in the 10 years I played as a pro,” Teltscher said.

He beat Jeff Tarango in the first round of a Washington tournament, but lost to Brad Gilbert in the second round. He also lost a first-round doubles match at the Volvo of Los Angeles and lost in the first round of the Volvo at Yale and a New York event before retiring again.

“I just knew this wasn’t going to work,” Teltscher said. “But I’m very glad I did that because I still had something in me. There’s always the 35s. I still like competing.”

Fox believes Teltscher will eventually be a great coach. His recent experience as a player will help Pepperdine’s program remain at the top.

“His success as a competitor and the way he’s succeeded will help him as a coach,” said Fox, who took over at Pepperdine during Teltscher’s freshman year at UCLA. “Eliot as a player was ferocious from what I remember. He was intense, not a great athlete and not a lot of tools, but a great competitor. Those qualities are going to make him a great coach.”

Lansdorp, who played tennis at Pepperdine, said: “Eliot’s style of game was intelligent. He had to think all his life and that will help him a great deal with coaching. He’ll be excellent as a coach. He’ll be very helpful.”

Teltscher will inherit a young team that went 22-3 last year and finished seventh nationally in the Intercollegiate Tennis Coaches Assn. poll. Most of those players will be back unless they turn professional this summer, according to Fox.

Among those returning are juniors Howard Joffe and Ashley Naumann and sophomores Ari Nathan and Cary Lothringer. A top newcomer is junior Vince Mackey, the former University High School standout, who transferred to Pepperdine after Cal State Long Beach dropped its men’s tennis program.

“The guys know Eliot and they respect him because he’s a recent highly ranked tennis player,” said Fox, who will assist Teltscher next season. “He was beating guys that are playing now.”

Teltscher is not looking forward to coaching against Bassett in the schools’ annual dual match.

“Coaching against Glenn will be very strange,” Teltscher said. “He did so much for me as a player.”

The Waves will make their debut under Teltscher in the West Coast Fall Men’s Tennis Championships that begin Wednesday and end Oct. 6 at the Warner Center Hilton and Towers in Woodland Hills. Pepperdine begins its dual-match schedule in January.