When he was a young boy, about 5 years old, Oskar Rouse was fixated on a ceiling fan in the family’s Clairemont living room.
He would stare at the blades for minutes at a time, his head turning round and round.
”I told him to stop,” said Rouse’s father, Richard.
But Oskar continued to be mesmerized, staring at the rotating blades.
Richard was an avid tennis player and one of his friends offered a suggestion that might stop Oskar from staring at the fan. He told Richard to hang a ball by a string from a backyard tree, give Oskar a scaled-down racket and let him whack the ball.
Voila, one obsession was replaced by another.
”He stopped staring at the fan after that,” said Richard. “It was fascinating how he was able to channel staring at the fan to hitting the ball. It was pretty cool. The string’s still there.”
Oskar is 17 years old now, a junior at University City High School and one of the San Diego Section’s top junior tennis players. Last month at the Barnes Tennis Center, he finished second in the Harper Ink Memorial Junior Championships in the 18-and-under division. The United States Tennis Association tournament is one of the top junior events in Southern California.
Rouse has an 11.04 Universal Tennis Rating, the second-highest number among local juniors who are playing high school tennis.
The 5-foot-5, 140-pound Rouse compensates for his modest size with dogged determination and quickness.
“He’s a ferocious competitor,” said Steve Adamson, Rouse’s coach who runs an academy at the Barnes Tennis Center.
“When he gets locked in, he refuses to miss balls, and finds a way to win. He doesn’t have a big serve, doesn’t have offensive groundstrokes.
“But he’s a tough out, a tough player to put away. He makes players win point after point. Players tire out mentally, and he’s able to triumph.”
Rouse’s style drives opponents crazy.
”He’s really scrappy and doesn’t like to give up,” said Point Loma High’s Nicholas Lilov, another top local junior player. “He fights for every point. He likes to run down everything. It makes me have to hit an extra ball, and that’s really annoying.”
Oskar had other peculiar behaviors when he was young, like flashing his fingers in front of his eyes when he got excited. When Oskar was 5, he was diagnosed with autism.
“I think it’s good that people understand more about me,” Oskar said. “Autism raises awareness. My story’s unique. Tennis is kind of like therapy.”
Rouse said tennis “gives me, like, a sense of purpose. It’s a social setting, and I burn a lot of energy.”
Rouse works out three times a week at the Barnes Tennis Center. Another two days a week, he practices with friends or plays matches. His weekends are often filled with tournaments.
“Tennis gives him structure,” said Richard Rouse. “Every week, he begs us to take him to some tournament. He always wants to compete. He’s like those old guys you see playing pickleball every day at the Barnes Center. There’s something about hitting the ball he loves.”
When he began hitting the ball hanging from a tree in his backyard, the position of the branches made it easier for Rouse to hit the ball from the left side. And so he became a lefty.
Fellow lefty Rafael Nadal is his favorite player.
Richard spray-painted a scaled-down court on the cul-de-sac near the family home, put up a net. He and Oskar created their own game.
“We’d play every day. It was crazy,” said Richard. “It was great for his footwork and super fun.”
Oskar advanced to the singles quarterfinals of last year’s CIF San Diego Section individual tournament, falling to eventual champion Robert Freedman of Torrey Pines. His goal is to advance deeper in the draw next month.
There is one facet of his game that Rouse is working on, and it has nothing to do with stroke development. His temper sometimes soars out of control. He broke two rackets when he lost at the CIF individual tournament as a freshman.
Asked how many rackets he has busted in his lifetime, Rouse paused, then said, “Probably a hundred.”
Told that 100 seemed like a stunning number, he said: “At least 30.”
“Probably more,” said his father.
“He can go into destructive behavior,” said Adamson. “When he gets unfocused, he berates himself and kind of goes crazy on the court. He has his own battles. He’s not an angel on the court all the time.”
Said Rouse: “Sometimes I do have outbursts when I’m losing. I get angry and show a lot of emotion.”
Adamson said those outbursts are becoming less frequent.
”He’s a great kid,” said Adamson. “He’s very likeable, and he has got a great smile. He’s an easy kid to root for. He brings a lot of character and energy to the academy. We love having him out here.”
