Girl's got game

Ben Cappuccitti hadn't long been in his new job earlier this year as a coach at the Gorin Tennis Academy in Granite Bay before he noticed then-11- year-old Breanna Bachini doing her workout specialty - inverted pushups, in which she does pushups while standing on her hands up against a wall.For Cappuccitti, whose only previous experience with inverted pushups came during his college days when he was, shall we say, slightly inebriated, the sight of a pre-teen girl mastering them was a revelation."If you do those when you're drunk, you can break your skull," said Cappuccitti, now the Gorin Academy's assistant director. "Physically she's amazing."Many observers said similar things last week when Bachini, now 12, won six of seven matches and captured the North bracket in her age group (girls 12s) at the United States Tennis Association (USTA) National Clay Court Championships in Boca Raton, Fla.Now the challenge for Cappuccitti, who is also Bachini's personal coach, is to help his young charge translate her physical prowess into even better tennis results. The Roseville resident and her father, Tedd, have been on the long road to stardom for years, entering her in Northern California tournaments and the occasional national tournament whenever the family's modest means would allow.This summer Bachini is poised to take another big step. Though she is ranked No. 2 in Northern California and No. 51 nationally in the girls 12 division, the Bachini family plan is to begin playing mostly in the girls 14 level and eventually earn that division's top national ranking."She's not going to pursue No. 1 in 12s," Tedd Bachini said. "This way she'll have almost three years to try to get No. 1 in 14s."In Boca Raton, Bachini lost her second match in the main draw, but proceeded to win five straight North bracket matches despite playing on clay for the first time in her career."I think I played very good on clay," she said. "I think I can be a natural on clay because I'm very good with my conditioning."Bachini's path to this point has been well documented locally, but it bears repeating; Her's is in no way a typical 12-year-old's existence. She is home schooled, consumes a diet entirely absent of junk food, and spends at least six hours a day working out in a gym, doing tennis drills, or playing matches.At just over 5-feet tall, Bachini is shorter than many of her opponents, but she still intimidates because she is so physically fit. Plus she has an edge to her competitive drive, noting, "I don't think (size) really makes a difference. They may be bigger, but they can also fall harder."Cappuccitti expected at least one more Bachini opponent to fall in Florida, but he emphasizes that he's proud of her nonetheless. He became her coach somewhat by happenstance; during his interview at Gorin Academy, Tedd Bachini approached him and said, "I have a good feeling about you. I like you."Cappuccitti, 26, a native of Ponthierry, France, was an aspiring pro player himself as a youth, and eventually the No. 1 player for Illinois State University before graduating in December. He says he has viewed the occasional youth tournament in Europe and had seen plenty of girls who hit the ball as well as Bachini. "But," he emphasized, "they don't move as well."That's not to say Bachini, who competes next in the West Coast Championships at the Rio Del Oro tennis club in Sacramento Aug. 1-6, is a shoo-in to grow to be a standout pro, a No. 1 nationally ranked youth player, or even the most athletic female player ever from Roseville."She doesn't move that well technically," Cappuccitti pointed out. "She can run forever, but her muscles are a little bit tight, a little stiff."Aha, so Bachini isn't the perfect little tennis prodigy after all. But make no mistake: somewhere right now she's probably doing stretching exercises in an attempt to get that much closer to perfection.And there's a good chance that she's upside down as she does them.