DAILY PILOT HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETE OF THE WEEK:Gaytan-Leach motivated by rejection

As the sounds of tennis balls pounding against racquets and into the ground reverberated through the air, the tension rose at the Newport Beach Tennis Club.

On one court, Cierra Gaytan-Leach played with her partner for the women’s open doubles title at the Roy Emerson Adoption Guild Classic back in May.

On the next court, there was the father Gaytan-Leach never knew: Rick Leach, who has let Gaytan-Leach know he doesn’t want anything to do with her.

Gaytan-Leach and her doubles partner lost the match, but maybe just finishing the match could have been described as heroic. Living without a father has affected Gaytan-Leach, but she refuses to use it as a crutch. Instead, she thinks of her father, or being without him, and becomes motivated.

Rick Leach won five Grand Slam doubles titles and in 1990 reached the No. 1 doubles ranking. He made quite a name for himself partnering with Jim Pugh. In college, Leach played for his father, Dick, at USC and became a four-time All-American. Locally, they were reunited, Rick playing and Dick coaching for the Newport Beach Breakers.

But Gaytan-Leach, a Corona del Mar High sophomore, is not proud of her dad’s feats. They only serve as motivation.

“It’s made me stronger,” Gaytan-Leach said of living without her father. “The fact that my biological father is really good at tennis, it makes me want to do it more and to be better than him. I just want to show him that I can do good without him.

“I don’t take rejection lightly.”

Gaytan-Leach’s encounter with her father at the NBTC in May wasn’t the only time she’s seen her father. In fact, she said she has seen him several times, but few words are spoken. Their eyes hardly meet. In tennis, love means zero. In this father-daughter relationship, it is no different.

“I’ve seen my dad before at pro tennis tournaments,” Gaytan-Leach said. “He knows exactly who I am. He doesn’t care who I am. It’s not easy to deal with. I think about it a lot. It pumps me up, really.”

Leach would not comment and he denied all interviews about his daughter. Maybe that will only provide more inspiration for Gaytan-Leach. Yet, throughout the high school fall sports season, she was the one who could be looked at for inspiration.

Gaytan-Leach, who was a home-school student last year, made her presence felt in her debut at Corona del Mar, where she played golf and tennis. She contributed in capturing Pacific Coast League titles for both teams. What’s more, she played No. 2 singles for the CdM girls’ tennis team that went undefeated and won the CIF Southern Section Division I title on Nov. 20.

Today she will team with Jill Damion in the Round of 16 for the CIF Individual Tournament at Seal Beach Tennis Center.

The results of Gaytan-Leach’s motivation could have been seen Nov. 20 in her first-set match against Troy’s Frances Tseng. The action went back and forth, just the way Gaytan-Leach likes.

Her game is perhaps symbolic of her lifestyle. She thrives on attacks to the net. When there’s an opportunity to volley, she seizes it.

“I’m not afraid to take chances,” she said.

Playing in a tiebreaker against Tseng, Gaytan-Leach used that mentality. She was down 4-3, but rallied to win the last four points. How did she deliver the final winner? A volley.

It seems that’s the way Gaytan-Leach is off the court, too — always ready to hit back, never afraid of confrontation. For college, she actually wants to go to the school her father starred at: USC.

“That’s my first choice,” she said.

It’s that type of attitude that makes those close to Gaytan-Leach proud of her.

“She’s just a really great kid and well adjusted,” said Gaytan-Leach’s mother, Noel Gaytan. “She’s been in a single-parent home her whole life. She has turned something that could be a negative and made it into a positive.”

Gaytan-Leach hasn’t gone without total emotional support. It also helps that some of her relatives from her father’s side have welcomed her into the Leach family. Rick Leach’s brother, John, who married Lindsay Davenport three years ago, has reached out to Gaytan-Leach.

At least once a month, John Leach and his wife take Gaytan-Leach out to dinner. From time to time, Davenport will also give Gaytan-Leach advice on her game.

Rick Leach’s mother, Sandy Leach, has also opened her arms to Gaytan-Leach, but it has meant the loss of her son.

“Cierra has gone to him and said, ‘Why don’t you like me?” Sandy said. “And he would say, ‘Go ask your mother.’ It has torn our family apart … I wake up in the middle of the night, thinking about it. It’s been a hard thing to deal with.

“But I love Cierra,” she said. “She’s precious. What I hurt for is that I wasn’t part of her life since the day she was born. Noel has gone out of her way to make sure we see her.”

Sandy said Rick Leach, 41, provides financial support for the 15-year-old Gaytan-Leach. Rick Leach never married Noel Gaytan, but has since been married and has a daughter, Sandy said.

Gaytan-Leach has only met her sister once, Sandy said.

Gaytan-Leach does her best to keep that drama off the court and only hones it to gain drive for another winner, or perhaps an ace. At times, she has needed plenty of motivation.

Just this past season, she admitted that she felt burned out, juggling schedules for the CdM golf and tennis teams. But she didn’t want to stop. She didn’t want to have a reputation as a quitter, she said.

However, next year, she is contemplating going back to the home-school routine. Her busy tennis schedule begs for a flexible school schedule. She’s ranked ninth in the nation in girls 16s doubles and fourth with her close friend, Tayler Davis.

More than likely, Gaytan-Leach will be wanted by the CdM golf and tennis teams next year. But sometimes you have to look out for yourself.

Gaytan-Leach can assuredly attest to that.