Double team

Saturday, Nov. 5, 2005 | 8:22 a.m.

Catrina and Christian Thompson

Notre Dame junior tennis players

* Born: Sept. 13, 1984

* High school: Bishop Gorman

* College: Defeated three top-10 teams en route to the Riviera/ITA All-American Championships finale, which they won, last month in Pacific Palisades, Calif. Both earned All-American status after their sophomore seasons. They are 54-24 as the Irish's top doubles team. Ranked second in the country in doubles, they are 20-13 against ranked opponents. They were the top-ranked duo in the country for two weeks in February.

Catrina Thompson

* Height: 5 feet 5 inches

* Resume: Ranked 27th in the nation in singles, where she is 48-27, including 17-8 at No. 1, in her college career. She has a 18-13 record vs. ranked opponents.

* Personal: Quiet, if not shy, off the court, she has a hard-serving, big-hitting, aggressive style between the lines. Unlike her sister, she enjoys playing other spots, such as basketball.

Christian Thompson

* Height: 5 feet 6 inches

* Resume: Has a 43-24 career singles record, despite being slowed by a knee injury as a sophomore. Has a 7-10 career record vs. ranked players, but beat 37th-rated Sabrina Capannolo of Arizona State on Oct. 4.

* Personal: Outgoing off the court, she complements her sister on it with a steady, conservative game. The neater of the two, she is enjoying living in her own dorm room this season.

The bickering between fraternal twins and Notre Dame junior tennis players Catrina and Christian Thompson hit a nadir, in Christian's view, early last season in Boulder, Colo.

Irish coach Jay Louderback had seen enough at the Colorado Invitational.

"If you continue this fighting, we'll switch you up with different partners," Louderback told the Bishop Gorman graduates during the match.

"Ninety-five percent of the time when we lose, it's because we're mad at each other," Christian said. "Not fistfighting, but verbal abuse."

For Catrina, a 5-2 team defeat to Northwestern in Evanston, Ill., in April didn't sink her spirit until she returned to Notre Dam, turned on her computer and clicked onto a story on the Wildcats' Web site.

The Thompsons had lost, 8-4, in the No. 1 doubles match to Audra Cohen and Cristelle Grier.

"One of the (Northwestern) girls said, 'Once (the Thompson twins) started fighting, we knew we had them,' " Catrina said. "I think that hit me. If opponents can see it and you're that obvious ... "

To help tone down their on-court behavior, the sisters moved into separate dorm rooms this fall. Constantly being around each other -- they also attend the same classes -- fueled some of their discontent between the lines.

Their top priority this season is being nicer to each other.

So far, the results have been magnificent.

The twins beat Lucia Sainz and Kathrina Winterhalter of Fresno State to win the Riviera/ITA All-American Championships in Pacific Palisades, Calif., on Oct. 9.

It was the first grand slam title for Notre Dame tennis players.

The 21-year-old Thompsons are the second set of twins to win a women's collegiate Grand Slam event. Tami and Teri Whitlinger of Stanford won the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships in 1989.

Catrina and Christian (54-24 in their Irish doubles career) are playing in the indoor championships, the second leg on the Grand Slam schedule, this weekend in Columbus, Ohio, where they are the first No. 1 seed in a Grand Slam event in Notre Dame history.

"They did a great job not getting on each other at the All-Americans," Louderback said. "That shows what can happen when they do that. They were down a couple of match points in the final, but it didn't bother them."

True to her nature as the more outgoing sister, Christian made the phone call to a writer seeking an interview with the twins.

"No way she (Catrina) would have called," said a laughing Christian, who also is happy about not having to pick up after her sister in a common dorm room this season.

"It was tough being around each other 24-7," Catrina said, "having a fight and then having to go back to the same room."

On the court, their roles reverse. Catrina is more aggressive with a racket in her hand, unafraid to hit big shots or aim for the chalk. Christian is a steady, dependable grinder.

Louderback has watched one serve without even looking to see what the other one, via a hand signal behind her back, will do on the return volley.

"That is amazing," he said. "They know what they're going to do."

When they were being recruited, the twins alternated taking phone calls from college coaches.

They nixed UCLA because the Bruins had only one available scholarship, and they picked Notre Dame -- Louderback promised years in advance he'd have full rides for both -- over Arizona State and North Carolina.

Cousin John Hudek helped recruit them. The son of Marty Hudek, who is the brother of the Thompsons' mother, Mary, John was a Notre Dame senior in 2001 when the twins made their official recruiting visit.

"He wanted us to go there from the very beginning," Christian said. "We spent time with him, and he showed us the campus."

Bob and Mike Bryan have helped the Thompsons, too. The 23-year-old Stanford graduates have overcome their own bouts of screaming and yelling to become the top-ranked doubles team in the world.

"They've gone through the same thing and have had to learn to get over it," Catrina said. "It's the exact same thing. They know what the other person can do, and when one would miss a shot the other one would get on him. With another partner, I'd never turn around and give her a look."

With Christian, Catrina wouldn't hesitate to turn around and bark. She now takes the blame as the chief instigator of their verbal spats and vows to be kinder and gentler, especially after the victory in the Riviera tournament.

"It was mostly me," Catrina said. "She's pretty positive and keeps me up. I was the more negative one. It's easy to correct, and it was causing losses. I've focused on not getting mad this year.

"And it worked at the All-Americans."

Rob Miech can be reached at 259-4087 or miech@lasvegassun.com