Agostini: Taking things one drop shot at a time

Leticia McCaig stands 5-foot-2, not much taller than the net that defines her favorite game.

She can spin it, lob it, slice it and find angles on the court not covered in physics classes. If her family is her life, tennis is her life vocation.

"Tennis for me is a lifetime sport," McCaig said this week. "Your physical skills are important but you also have to be there with your head."

McCaig, 41, teaches tennis at Las Palmas Tennis Center in Sunnyvale. Her schedule is thus: Lessons at Las Palmas, then back home to Modesto to her husband, Rich, the director of tennis at the SOS Club, and their three sons.

When she's not teaching, she's often winning.

Earlier this year, Leticia was named the 2008 United States Tennis Association's women's open singles points champ in Northern California. She won three events on the circuit, often beating opponents half her age. She also won the women's doubles title with Katy Maltby of Sunnyvale.

How, Leticia?

"I make them run. I try doing it to them before they do it to me," she says. "One of my favorite shots is my drop shot. If I see they don't run forward too much, I do it a lot."

It's said she ties opponents to her own puppet strings with a strong forehard and then, almost always at the right moment, the well-disguised drop shot that floats over the net like a tiny waterfall.

"I still think I can improve," she says, "and I want my students to know I can still play."

Simply, McCaig has made a living on her love for the game. She sparked that affection on the clay courts of her hometown of Caracas, Venezuela. The oldest of five children, she eventually earned an NAIA scholarship and became an All-American at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor in Belton, Texas, 45 minutes from Austin. Her game carried her to the Venezuelan national team in racquetball and the Pan-American Games in tennis.

She must have blazed an impressive trail, because all four of her brothers and sisters gravitated to Mary Hardin-Baylor. One summer when a tournament in Santa Clara was forced to merge a male and female bracket, Leticia found herself staring at a foe she never before had met — Rich McCaig. Leticia won, 6-4, 6-3.

Two years later, they married.

"We have our moments. We go back and forth," Rich said. "She learned all those great touch shots on the clay. Her drop shot is incredible."

The McCaig sons — Christian, 12; Nolan, 9; and Coby, 7 — enjoy baseball and tennis.

"I don't want them to play tennis for me. I want them to play becase they like it," she says.

Leticia's own passion was tested six years ago when she fell during a match in San Francisco. She remembers the moment with painful clarity — moving to her left, losing her balance and, in an instant, all ligaments snapping in her left knee.

Doctors told her that her competitive days were done. She was sidelined from teaching for six months. "The first thing I thought of was supporting my family," Leticia said. "They said I could still give lessons but I wouldn't run the way I used to."

Leticia had other plans.

Her title says she's recovered. Her perseverance says she's never one to be discounted. She plays squash twice a week in addition to her tennis duties.

"The surgeon did a good job," she said. "I can't bend it like the right knee, but I can still run. It's not about the knee."

Meanwhile, husband and wife still meet on the court, only now they're teammates. They finished second last year in Northern California in mixed doubles.

Love doubles, of course.

Bee sports columnist Ron Agostini can be reached at ragostini@modbee.com or 578-2302.