June 3, 2001|By Daryl Presgraves SPECIAL TO SUN-SENTINEL
GAINESVILLE — Her father's presence carries University of Florida tennis star Jessica Lehnhoff to the one place she goes to forget he's no longer there. With every unreachable ball, every insurmountable deficit, every frustrated racket toss, the deceased Walter Lehnhoff rises from his daughter's soul.
"I can hear his voice, `Hey, don't do that. Come on,'" said Lehnhoff, a junior from Delray Beach who graduated from All-Star Academy in 1998. "He used to always tell me, `Don't give up. There's always a chance.'"
The memory of her father pushes and motivates Lehnhoff never to give up, now as much as ever. He helped carry her through the Gators' run to the national semifinals May 20 when fourth-seeded Florida (24-3) lost to eventual national champion Stanford 4-1.
He inspired Lehnhoff to push the Cardinal's Laura Granville, the defending and eventual national champion, to three sets in the second round of the individual singles competition.
He infused Lehnhoff and partner Whitney Laiho in their run to the doubles national championship last Saturday in a 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 win against Granville and Gabriela Lastra.
Walter Lehnhoff will forever live in his daughter's heart despite passing away at 54 after suffering a heart attack two years ago while battling lung cancer.
And in his memory, the 21-year-old former Sun-Sentinel Player of the Year, who won the 1995 state high school singles and doubles titles as a freshman at Cooper City High School, has a chance to be one of the greatest women's tennis players at Florida. Older brother Alexander won the boys' state title as an 18-year-old senior at Cooper City, before playing college tennis for North Carolina.
"I always visualize him, and I hear his voice, for sure," said Lehnhoff, who played No. 2 singles and No. 1 doubles. "He's always with me no matter what I do."
Especially tennis. Trained by her brothers beginning when she was 7, Lehnhoff put together an impressive juniors career, including the Orange Bowl and Easter Bowl 14s' titles in 1995 when she was ranked No. 1 in the nation. The communications major was ranked No. 9 in the world in the Girls' 18s by the International Tennis Federation her last year in high school and was the top-ranked player in her native Guatemala in the 10s, 12s and 14s.
Through all Lehnhoff's early success, Walter Lehnhoff was there to cheer and encourage her and older brothers Chris and Alexander, who won the boys' state title for Cooper City, the same year Jessica won hers.
But on April 7, 1999, Lehnhoff found out she would have to do most of her maturing in tennis and as a person without her best friend there to watch her ever again. .
The loss, Lehnhoff said, was the hardest thing she has gone through. Then 11 days after his death, Lehnhoff found release in a place she never thought she would be able to survive without her father there to guide her. She returned to a UF match and won in three sets, coming back after winning the first set and dropping the second. Coming back for good.
"When you are outside of tennis your mind wanders, and then things come to mind that maybe are very hard to deal with and to emotionally overcome," said Florida coach Andy Brandi, who resigned after the season to pursue other tennis-related work. "Her escape from all that has happened outside of tennis is to go in there and lose yourself in a world that has been so meaningful and so wonderful to you from a very young age."
But getting there is never easy.
"Every time before a match I always think about him," said Lehnhoff, who entered the NCAA Tournament ranked No. 13 in singles by the ITA. "When they are playing the national anthem I always get sad. Then once I get into a match I just focus. You look at that ball, and you just don't think. That's why when it first happened I loved to just be on that court hitting that ball. I didn't have to think about anything."
And being on the court is a place that has always been comforting to Lehnhoff. She has a career 100-21 singles record and a 87-13 doubles record. She is a three-time doubles All-American and earned singles All-America honors as a sophomore and junior. Lehnhoff finished this season 38-7 in singles and 40-2 in doubles while playing the best tennis of her career.
"Jessica has definitely grown as a person and a player, although ever since she was little she was awesome, so it's nothing of a surprise," said Laiho, who is 45-6 when playing with Lehnhoff.
"She has so much talent. She basically can do whatever she wants to do with tennis. "She carries me [in doubles]. She's awesome. Her hands are unbelievable. We've played together for a couple years now and her instincts are awesome. She's a great player."
Maybe even good enough to make it as a professional, which is Lehnhoff's goal. But she said getting a degree, which would have a specialty in production, is important to her as it was to her father.
