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.
