Camarillo’s Allegre Has a Lot to Be Happy About These Days : Amateur tennis: Now 16 and playing girls two years older, she’s gotten a grip on her backhand and her game has become more consistent.

CAMARILLO — Her name means “happy” in French, but one of the most important memories for tennis player Monique Allegre is perhaps the most unhappy time of her life.

Allegre can’t forget an age-group tournament 18 months ago in Orange County in which she was ousted by an unseeded player.

Allegre was humiliated. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she boarded a van and started the long ride home.

“She cried the whole way back to Camarillo,” said Wayne Bryan, Allegre’s coach and chauffeur that day. “I was afraid she was going to get dehydrated.”

Allegre, 14 at the time, was competing against more-experienced players in the 16-and-under division. Her official year-end ranking by the Southern California Tennis Assn. was 13th.

Most girls her age would be thrilled with No. 13. For Allegre, that wasn’t good enough.

It was time to stop playing inconsistently, time to stop losing to unranked players such as Sarah Denson of Newport Beach, the 13-year-old who defeated her in a three-set match in December 1992.

“I think I was crying for like three hours,” said Allegre, who laughs about it now. “I took that one pretty hard.

“But I think that was the turning point. I was determined, I guess. It just made me want to fight even harder.”

Allegre began practicing with Bryan three hours a day--every day--at the Cabrillo Racquet Club in Somis. She changed her style--switching to an unconventional one-handed grip on her backhand stroke--and learned to attack.

By the end of 1993, Allegre was among the nation’s top 50 in the 16-and-under division. She has continued to improve and to take on new challenges. Although she won’t turn 17 until December, Allegre has jumped to the 18-and-under division.

Entering the 92nd Annual Southern California Junior sectional championships in Orange County that starts with qualifying rounds today, Allegre is seeded 11th.

Her goal is to reach the quarterfinals.

If she reaches the round of eight and moves up in the SCTA seeding system, one can bet Allegre will set her sights on a new goal.

“I’m never satisfied,” she said. “There’s always a better level.”

Allegre has been obscured by better-known players in the area who also play 18s. At last July’s USTA national championships in San Jose, Ania Bleszynski of Thousand Oaks, Krissy Hamilton of Agoura Hills and Meilen Tu of Northridge all reached the round of 16. At the same time in San Diego, Allegre, entered as an unseeded player in 16s, was knocked out in the first round.

Allegre finally grabbed some attention last fall. With Bleszynski, Hamilton and Tu not playing for their high school teams, Allegre was brilliant for Camarillo High in the Southern Section individual championships.

Unseeded, she stunned third-seeded Laura Ruben of Mater Dei in the quarterfinals, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. Ruben, a top junior for several years, had won 51 consecutive sets during the high school season before losing to Allegre.

“This was kind of a breakthrough,” Allegre said. “I had only one good win that year. I had consistent wins, but no big wins. It just boosted my confidence. It showed me I could play with anyone.”

Allegre’s previous breakthroughs had always come after an unexpected loss and a major crying session. Bryan capitalized on those episodes when Allegre got fed up with her game and was willing to make changes.

The biggest adjustment came last September, when Allegre switched her stroke.

Most young female players prefer to stay on the baseline, content to return backhand shots with a two-handed grip. But Allegre has the athletic ability to run the court, attack the net, and do it with one hand.

“She runs really well,” Bryan said. “She’s very coordinated and she’s got a clean game--which made the change possible. The one-handed backhand is very rare for a girl. You’ll see it maybe in one out of every 50 players.”

Bryan attributes the two-handed stroke’s popularity to Chris Evert. The three-time Wimbledon champion won 18 grand slam tournaments with a two-handed backhand. Nearly every girl player in the country has since copied it.

“Evert was not particularly fast and was not an unusually great athlete,” Bryan said. “But she was patient and mentally very tough. As a result, better athletes adopted her style.”

In doing so, some of those athletes shortchanged themselves. Allegre was one of them.

Breaking the two-handed habit understandably leaves Allegre feeling awkward at times.

“That was tough and it still is,” she said. “All the other girls are already solid and grooved in their stroke, while sometimes I’m struggling with my one-hander.

“But it’s getting a lot better every day, and I look at it as long term. It’s going to be better in a couple of years. And when it does, it’s going to be big.”

Her victory over Ruben was a glimpse of the future. Ruben, like most females, was unaccustomed to being attacked at the net.

“She didn’t like that,” Allegre said. “She didn’t like the moving around. She didn’t like the pressure. Most girls don’t.”

Even in losing, Allegre has found she can compete against opponents who once walked all over her. After upsetting Ruben in the Southern Section tournament, Allegre lost to second-seeded Pam Trump of Arcadia, 6-3, 7-5, in the semifinals.

But Allegre led, 5-3, in the second set before Trump--headed to USC on a tennis scholarship--could adjust and win the final four games.

“To tell you the truth, that caught me by surprise--to know that I could (play with Trump),” Allegre said. “When I got up, I started playing a little looser and a lot smarter. I came out of it thinking, ‘God, I should have beat this girl.’ ”

Her one-handed backhand also made an impression last March at the Easter Bowl, a national tournament in Miami. Allegre lost in the second round to 10th-seeded Megan Miller of Bradenton, Fla., 7-5, 6-4, after breaking early to lead the first set, 4-2.

Moving to the consolation bracket, Allegre won two matches before falling to eighth-seeded Liliah Osterloh of Columbus, Ohio, 6-1, 6-4.

“I’m not only playing every day, but concentrating every day,” said Allegre, who appears to be riding a wave of little successes that could lead to something big in the sectional. “My goals are higher, and I’m doing better because of it.”