An Artist From Paris : Tieu Came to Pierce From the Continent With a Firm Grip on Her Game

One day in early February, a 23-year-old woman showed up unexpectedly at Pierce College and asked to try out for the tennis team.

Mai-Chi Tieu spoke halting English in a French accent, wore street shoes and didn’t have a racket. Nobody would have blamed women’s Coach Diana Frizzelle had she brushed her off.

But two years of coaching junior college tennis have taught Frizzelle a few things about diamonds in the rough. So she loaned Tieu her racket, borrowed one for herself and hit a shot to Tieu’s forehand. Frizzelle will never forget what happened. Tieu jumped all over the ball “and nearly ripped my head off” with the return, Frizzelle said.

“Her backhand was gorgeous, her serve was beautiful, she had a total game and magic racket control. She hit slices, topspin, angle shots that were impossible to get to. I thought I died and went to heaven.”

After the short audition, Frizzelle welcomed the newest member of the Brahma tennis team and rattled off a battery of questions. To her growing astonishment, she discovered that Tieu had been a top junior in her native France, playing twice in the junior division of the French Open. When Tieu revealed this to Frizzelle, the coach excused herself. “I ran off and told everyone on campus,” Frizzelle said. “I was so excited.”

Even though Tieu had not played competitively for five years, she became Pierce’s No. 1 player and has posted a three-set win over the state’s fourth-ranked junior college player. She is 10-0 and ranked second in the state in singles and 8-2 in doubles.

Frizzelle is still excited.

“Even without playing for so long, she held onto her game,” Frizzelle said. “The shots are there. She may still be a little disappointed over her level of play, but I’m delighted.”

Tieu is almost as overwhelmed as Frizzelle about the turn of events. Until last November, she was living with her parents in Paris, working in optometry and playing only recreational tennis. Then her parents gave her permission to go to college in the United States. She would stay with her cousin, Andy Nguyen, 30, who lives in Reseda.

With a student visa, Tieu enrolled at Pierce for the spring semester. She didn’t plan to play tennis until she had a sudden realization that the sport could be her entree into American life, “to blossom me,” she said.

Shy at first, Tieu is now one of the girls, Frizzelle said, adding, “She has really bloomed and come out of her shell. The girls love her. She’s made good friends already.”

The daughter of a Vietnamese-born Chinese dentist and a French-born Vietnamese artist, Tieu had lived in Paris all of her life--and she wasn’t intimidated by Los Angeles. Driving downtown (to replace a lost visa at the French Consulate) didn’t even faze her, but she learned that any similarity between Los Angeles and Paris ends with congestion and rude drivers. “One thing I miss is cultural activity,” she said.

Frizzelle was surprised to hear that. “We have culture,” she said to Tieu. “We’ve got to take you to ‘Phantom of the Opera.’ ”

Tieu eventually wants to attend California and study international commerce, although Frizzelle is trying to steer her to USC. Tieu would like to play Division I tennis. If she does, this time she’ll bring her own racket.