Smashing Return : Lingman Is Playing Tennis Again After Recovering From Serious Illness

Six months ago, David Lingman was playing the best tennis of his life. Ranked 16th nationally in the boys’ 14 age division, Lingman was on the verge of vaulting into the top 10 after a breakthrough week at the Orange Bowl junior tournament in Miami.

Little did Lingman know his picture-of-health body was on the verge of breaking down so badly that he would become bedridden for nearly four months and that he would have to wait until today to play his next competitive singles match.

Lingman, a freshman at Woodbridge High, has gone from being one of the favorites to win this week’s Southern California Junior Sectionals to simply being lucky enough to compete.

“We don’t care about the results, we’re just happy he’s out there,” said Lingman’s mother, Belle.

Belle Lingman admits there were times in January and early February when she wondered if her son would ever walk again, much less play tennis. David Lingman wouldn’t let himselfthink about not playing tennis again, but he was scared to death.

What was he scared of?

No one, including a slew of doctors, had the slightest idea for about six weeks.

Lingman’s Odyssey began before Christmas when he came down with a bad case of the flu that forced him to withdraw from the consolation round of the Orange Bowl tournament. Lingman tried to go with the other tournament players to Disneyland, but he became so sick he had to leave the amusement park.

It took him a week to kick the flu. Once he did, he began working out with his coach, Syd Ball, at the Balboa Bay Racquet Club. Immediately, Lingman began feeling a twinge in his back while he served. When the pain worsened, he saw his family physician, who treated Lingman for a back strain and administered cortisone shots for about three weeks.

Though his pain was briefly numbed, Lingman’s condition worsened.

“I couldn’t stand up,” he said. “I couldn’t walk very well. I kind of crawled. I didn’t really know what had happened. I was confused. I didn’t understand why the doctors couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me. I wondered when it would end.”

Belle Lingman wondered the same thing.

“David was hunched over like the Hunchback of Notre Dame,” she said. “He could only scoot and he couldn’t sit or sleep, so obviously he couldn’t go to school.”

X-rays were taken on Lingman’s back for a possible hairline fracture, but tests were negative. Meanwhile, acupuncture and surgery were being discussed as possible solutions to ending Lingman’s pain.

Finally, nearly two months after Lingman contracted the flu, orthopedic surgeon Ted Tanzer began to suspect a bacterial infection in Lingman’s bones. He referred Lingman to Dr. Mitchell Cohen, an orthopedic spinal surgeon, who agreed with Tanzer’s diagnosis--osteomyelitis, an infection of the bones.

When tests came back positive for an infection, Belle Lingman rejoiced.

“All I could think was, ‘We’re on our way back now,’ ” Belle Lingman said. “It was such a relief to finally know what we were dealing with. We had fears that it might be something more deadly.”

Cohen and Tanzer believe Lingman became infected during the time he had the flu, when his immune system was weakened.

“It was an upper respiratory infection that got into his blood stream and settled down into his disk,” Cohen said. “In kids, there’s a huge blood supply to the disk. Because he was already sick, the body didn’t clean out the infection.”

Cohen said Lingman’s infection is extremely rare.

“Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, it’s a back strain,” he said. “I only see this kind of thing once a year.”

*

Once Lingman was diagnosed in early February, he was admitted to the hospital and put in a back brace. Cohen decided to treat the infection with antibiotics that were administered intravenously.

“It was my belief that antibiotics would work in this case,” he said. “It turns out I was right. Who knows what someone else might have done? They could have easily gone in there and cleaned out the infection through surgery and that could have been disastrous.”

After five days, Lingman was released and left in the hands of his mother, who was given the task of cleaning needles, keeping a fresh supply of antibiotics flowing to her son’s blood stream and giving emotional support.

“I have to tell you there were a couple minor emergencies with those IVs,” Belle Lingman said.

For nearly two months, Lingman was confined to his bed. His spirits were raised by visits from high school tennis teammates he had never played with, competitors in junior tournaments and his two private coaches, Ball and Ross Case.

“We’re grateful to the tennis community for their support,” Belle Lingman said. “We had articles faxed to us, people sent care packages, flowers, you name it. It speaks well for the tennis community and their ability to come together.”

While on his back, Lingman began counting the days until he could return to the court.

“It was hard missing all that time,” he said. “I was playing so well before. I knew I’d never get that time back.”

Ball said he tried to use Lingman’s condition as a motivator.

“I told him while he’s laying there to visualize himself getting better and playing better,” said Ball, who has been Lingman’s coach for three years. “When you’re down a set and 5-2, you’ll be able to think back on these times and think how good you have it.”

In April, Lingman began working with therapist Chris Morton and trainer Ken Matsuda, who works with Michael Chang and Jim Courier. Morton worked Lingman’s back and Matsuda worked about every other area.

“Because it is such a rare thing David had, there was a lot of hit-and-miss therapy,” said Morton, a part owner of Mariners Physical Therapy in Costa Mesa. “David was stooped over like an 80- or 90-year-old man and he was very guarded. When he’d bend, there were some very sharp pains. I had to convince him that the pain was OK and that it would not lead to any other injury.”

Matsuda put Lingman through a series of water exercises to minimize trauma to his back.

“The water is not painful, not stressful, all he can do is get tired,” Matsuda said.

*

Lingman felt strong enough to go back to school after a 10-week absence. Once he started classes, Lingman started hitting tennis balls again and he began thinking about a comeback date. Morton, Matsuda and Lingman’s doctors agreed that physical activity could only help strengthen Lingman’s muscles, which had atrophied for the previous four months.

Though he was still taking heavy doses of antibiotics orally, Lingman and Morton decided that he was ready to play competitively. So Belle Lingman approached Woodbridge Coach Joan Willett in late April about David playing some doubles.

“He was back in school and feeling better but we noticed he was still a little down because of the medication,” Belle Lingman said. “We thought if he could participate on a team, he could gain some psychological benefit. The kids made him feel wanted immediately and he felt he could contribute.”

Four months ahead of his doctor’s timetable, Lingman played a doubles match for Woodbridge on May 16.

“I didn’t think he’d be able to play tennis this spring,” Morton said. “I was just trying to get him functional to sit up in class. This kid came a long way. When I first saw him, he had a fanny pack around his waist to hold the bags of antibiotics. He had a needle in his arm that was giving him constant injections. He had all these annoyances, plus the pain.

“But he never complained. He just said, ‘Oh, well, let’s do what we have to do to get back on the court as fast as we can.’ ”

The pain was still with Lingman when he stepped on the court with his doubles partner Brent De Saxe for Woodbridge’s match with Los Alamitos in the second round of the Southern Section playoffs. But Lingman didn’t care.

“I sort of cringed when I first saw him walk on the court that day,” Willett said. “It looked like it hurt him to walk. I saw the pained expression on his face when he would serve, but when I asked him if he was OK, he say, ‘Oh sure Coach, I’m fine.’ ”

Said Lingman: “I hadn’t been to a high school tennis match so I didn’t know what to expect. I enjoyed being out there participating.”

But he was doing more than participating. Though he was only playing at about half of his ability level, Lingman was still able to win at least one set in each match he played with De Saxe. Coincidentally, as Woodbridge continued to advance in the Southern Section Division I playoffs, it was winning by a matter of games.

As the fifth-seeded team, Woodbridge knocked off fourth-seeded Beverly Hills by nine games in the quarterfinals, top-seeded and eight-time section champion Santa Barbara by one game in the semifinals and second-seeded Peninsula in the final, 10-8 in sets.

“It’s hard to say, but honestly I don’t think we would have won the title without David,” singles player Adam Artunian said.

*

Since the season ended, Lingman has been frantically trying to make up for lost time in school and on the court. Somehow, Lingman will finish three classes on time. He will finish the other two subjects by early July.

Today at noon, Lingman will take his biggest step on the court when he plays Colin Boylan of Los Alamitos in the first round of the sectionals at Fountain Valley’s Mile Square Park courts.

“My movement’s only about 75%, but I feel I can hit the ball as hard as before,” he said. “I still have some pain and I’m still stiff after I play.”

It has been so long since Lingman last played a singles match that his age group has changed. Although he doesn’t turn 15 until July 9, he is entered in the boys’ 16 division and he is an unseeded player since he has no ranking. In order to meet a seeded player, Lingman must win four matches.

How will he do?

“I’ll be nervous, but happy,” he said. “I think I have a real good chance to get to the main draw. I’d be disappointed if I didn’t get that far. And from there, I think I’m good enough to beat any player I play.”

Ball is still amazed Lingman is playing the sectionals today.

“He’s defied the odds,” Ball said. “But he’s been very determined to get back. The mind can overcome a lot of things. He still has a way to go. It’ll be an interesting journey, but he’s got a lot of great people behind him.”

Will he ever be able to walk on a tennis court without thinking of his painful ordeal?

“I don’t think I could ever forget it,” Lingman said. “But when I get all better, I can put it behind me.”

Cohen said he would like to be there when he does.

“I told him when I first treated him that when he goes to Wimbledon, I want to be there court-side with him.”