Experience wins out at Acura Classic

CARLSBAD —  On the first day of the last Acura Classic on Monday, the future of U.S. tennis fell short and the past and present stood tall.

Coco Vandeweghe, one of several who wear the future label, is 15 years old, got a spot in the main draw of the tournament because she is a local prodigy and played well enough to hint at better days ahead. In the first match of the day, she lost to veteran Elena Bovina of Russia, 6-3, 7-5.

Venus Williams is the past and present, along with her sister Serena, who is not playing here this week. Venus won the last three times she played here, in 2000, 2001 and 2002, and took this year’s title at Wimbledon. In Monday night’s featured match, she hit hard, served big and beat Russian Anastasia Rodionova, 6-3, 6-0.

The future of women’s tennis in the U.S. is an increasingly pressing issue. Serena Williams is the current highest-ranking U.S. player at No. 8. She will be 26 in September. Venus is next at No. 16. She turned 27 in June.

Serena has won eight Grand Slam tournaments, Venus six. No other active U.S. player has come close.

At the moment, the next highest-ranked U.S. player is Meilen Tu, who played out of Northridge for years, lives in Porter Ranch now, will be 30 in January and is No. 41, two slots ahead of Meghann Shaugnessy, who is 28. Lindsay Davenport, who quit the tour last year and has already had a baby, is still the sixth highest-ranked U.S. player at No. 68.

All of which makes Vandeweghe’s presence more intriguing. Monday’s outing was only her second in a WTA main draw, both times here with wild cards. She hasn’t taken the usual junior tennis route and doesn’t have a junior ranking high enough to get her into the U.S. Junior Open in a few weeks.

What she does have is enough game to hint at the possibility of making a big move. She also has visions of greatness, or, perhaps, illusions of grandeur.

“Yes, I want to be a pro tennis player,” she said Monday. “My ultimate goal is to be No. 1. Why settle for mediocrity?”

The other part of the Vandeweghe intrigue is the pedigree.

Her grandfather is Ernie Vandeweghe, who played for the New York Knicks in 1949-56. Her grandmother is the former Colleen Hutchins, who was Miss America in 1952, and whose brother was Mel Hutchins, the former All-American basketball player at Brigham Young, who went on to become a four-time NBA All-Star.

“That’s where all the family athletic ability comes from, from Mel,” Ernie said Monday, laughing.

Coco’s mother is Tauna, an Olympic swimmer on U.S. teams in 1976 and 1980. Her uncle, Kiki (Ernest Vandeweghe III), was a star basketball player at UCLA, played in the pros for Denver, Portland and the Knicks and was, until a year ago, the general manager of the Nuggets. Another uncle, Bruk, was a pro beach volleyball star for 14 years, and an aunt, Heather, played professional polo and is a doctor in Westwood.

Coco was originally named after her grandmother, but opts now for Coco. She has taken her mother’s maiden name.

In the match, she gave away three break points in the first game, had a set point on Bovina’s serve in the second and also served for the second set. But in the end, the experience of Bovina, once a quarterfinalist at the U.S. Open and an Australian Open mixed doubles champion, won out.

“I felt like if I got the match into a third set,” Vandeweghe said, “then I’d be the favorite.”

It was exactly that kind of bravado that carried Venus Williams into the international tennis spotlight 10 years ago, at age 17, with her trip to the U.S. Open final. Now, she is a veteran, a celebrity, and a mainstay of U.S. tennis.

Vandeweghe has skills, desire and a famous family. U.S. tennis needs her to also have a future.

bill.dwyre@latimes.com