Hours of deliberation, countless e-mails, hundreds of calls and 10,000 miles brought Wei-Ming Leong to Syracuse.

Leong, who hails from Malaysia, is the latest in a long line of Syracuse tennis players to trek from overseas. Such a long journey might imply potential problems — homesickness, culture shock, shyness. But for Leong, the road has been relatively smooth.

Hours of deliberation by Leong, who needed to decide which sport to pursue, angled her onto this path. At age 11, she swam. She played badminton and ping pong. She dominated Cornette ball, an English variation of basketball.

‘I was good in other sports,’ Leong said. ‘I just didn’t like them.’

Leong prioritized swimming. She woke up at 5 a.m. to practice and swam until school started at 7:30. Weekend swimming sessions followed at a nearby country club.

The grueling schedule caused her to liken her coach to ‘a mean monster.’ She lost her passion for the sport.

‘(The coach would) make you do sprints, like a 50-meter dash,’ Leong said. ‘Then you jump up, climb on the platform, she blows the whistle, and you jump back down again. Back and forth. It was just plain tiresome. It was torture.’

So, at age 11, while agonizing in the pool, Leong saw a game of tennis at the far side of the club. Already sick of swimming, Leong picked up a racket and began playing the game most top players begin at 4.

‘You just get to a stage where you have to choose and become serious about a sport,’ Leong said. ‘I got into tennis, and I just loved it and picked it up really fast.’

Fast is an understatement. Within two years, Leong had won a state championship. In 1998, she won the national singles under-14 championship. She was a national singles under-16 semifinalist and doubles champion in 1999 and 2000.

Leong played tennis four hours a day for four years. Every day, she’d come home, eat a snack, do homework, call her coach and head to the club. Within two years, Leong became one of Malaysia’s top players.

‘I didn’t realize I spent a lot of time on tennis because I just enjoy it,’ Leong said. ‘Now, looking back, people thought I was crazy. I can see why.’

Countless e-mails, the first of which came years ago, is how Syracuse and Leong first met. Leong contacted SU head coach Mac Gifford so long ago, Gifford can’t even remember when it happened.

It must have been before her senior year. That much Gifford remembers. NCAA rules prohibited him from contacting her so early. So he let Leong continue writing, but he waited to respond until she became a senior.

Leong wanted to go to Syracuse. Her parents, Boon-Kwang and Kim-Ying, wanted her to go to Syracuse. They wanted her in SU’s School of Management. And, as Gifford put it, ‘In Malaysian culture, the father is the final word.’

So off she went. Out of the year-round 90-degree temperatures into Syracuse’s blistering cold. The welcome was warm, at least. Her brother, who attends the University at Buffalo, drove to meet her and Gifford at the airport.

‘My older brother actually made it really easy,’ Leong said. ‘I didn’t know what to expect coming to a new country. But I spent my first night here in Syracuse with my older brother, because it was a weekend for him.’

Leong felt fine those first few days. She never cried. She missed the food, though. Sandwiches, subs, hamburgers and pasta surrounded her. So she ordered out Chinese a lot.

‘You just don’t have too much to choose from,’ she said. ‘I used to live to eat. Now I eat to live.’

Hundreds of calls were exchanged during Leong’s senior year. The most important calls came from former SU player Shareen Lai.

Like Leong, Lai is Malaysian. Her grandparents live in the same village, Ipoh, as Leong. The two occasionally played when Lai returned to see her family. Never competitive matches, though. After all, Lai is six years older than Leong.

Lai pitched SU to Leong. Good coach. Good atmosphere. A chance to play for a Division I team. And, most important, a solid academic environment. That ultimately made the difference. Leong considered other schools, but SU offered the best education.

‘She was one of the top students in her school,’ Gifford said. ‘A lot of times, we want a player, but they just can’t survive here academically. Wei-Ming not only had the grades, but she and her family wanted her to go to a top school.’

Education was always a priority in the Leong household. Leong’s parents began teaching her English at a young age, knowing she would one day depart Malaysia’s poor education system for one overseas.

Leong attended a Chinese elementary school, where she became fluent in four languages — Cantonese, Mandarin, English and Malay.

‘It helped me relate to people over here,’ Leong said. ‘If I see someone who’s Chinese, I can talk to them, make them feel more comfortable. It’s a great way to talk with someone.’

Lai brought Leong closer to SU. Gifford never visited Leong, never saw her play, never even met her before last August. He relied on Lai for advice about Leong’s game. When Gifford narrowed his list of potential recruits to three, Leong’s connection to Lai ascended Leong above the others.

‘We go through hours upon hours of tapes,’ Gifford said. ‘In Wei-Ming’s case, she sent us tapes, and I could see she would be valuable for us. And I trust Shareen. She pushed for Wei-Ming.’

Ten-thousand miles separate Malaysia and Syracuse. Malaysia is considered a third-world country. It’s largely rural. With a 12-hour time change from Syracuse, the difference is literally night and day.

American tennis is much more competitive, too. At Malaysian tournaments, Leong faced the same small group of top players. In the United States, each opponent is a different challenge.

Leong has mostly played No. 6 singles for SU this year. She compiled a 4-6 record before recently hurting her right wrist. Now, she’s limited to doubles.

That’s what her game is suited for. She’s one of the Orangewomen’s best net players. Leong and sophomore Trine Lise Juliussen, who first teamed March 11 against Miami (Ohio), have gone 7-0.

‘She’s a superb doubles player, maybe our most valuable,’ Gifford said. ‘I can think of times when having a doubles player like Wei-Ming would’ve made life a lot easier.’

An easier life is now Leong’s. She’s where she wants to be. At Syracuse. In the School of Management. Likely taking the Orangewomen to the Big East tournament. The latest worldwide talent to reside in Syracuse. Her transition from the other side of the world was smoother than she thought.

‘When it came down to it, I said, ‘OK, let’s try the American system out.’ And I adapted really fast,” Leong said. “The girls are great. The weather sucks, but that’s OK. I’ve adjusted really well. I’ll put it this way: It could’ve been harder.’

Published on April 16, 2003 at 12:00 pm