CHAMPAIGN  When Cary Franklin needed a few tennis tips as a tot, all he had to do was walk out his bedroom door and hang a couple rights.

   That''s where Paul Annacone, now known as the coach of the world''s top-ranked men''s player, shacked up as a young, strapped-for-cash traveling pro.

   Nice guy to have around the house.

   "For my fifth birthday, he got me a brand new Prince graphite," said Franklin, a University of Illinois freshman from Atlanta. "That''s a pretty nice racket for a 5-year-old."

   For a kid trying to learn the game, hob-nobbing with Pete Sampras'' tutor has its certain advantages.

   "Paul impacted my career more than anyone," Franklin said. "When I was a teen-ager, I got to see the lifestyle of a pro tennis player, I got to go to all the tournaments with him, go in the locker rooms, meet the guys. Sampras, Agassi, all of them."

   Stuff that might come in handy someday, when Franklin gets a job.

   Some attend the University of Illinois because they want to be an engineer. Or an accountant. Or do something in agriculture.

   Franklin selected the university that''s 600-something miles away from his folks because he wants to be a pro tennis player when he grows up.

   And he thinks Illinois coach Craig Tiley can help take him there.

   "I know what it takes to be a top player in the world, I know what it takes to make a million dollars in the sport," said Tiley, who coaches a few pros when he''s not coaching the Illini. "Cary has the ingredients to be a world-class player."

   "That was the main reason I came here," Franklin said. "I thought that Craig could help me become a pro tennis player. He''s coached the best players, he knows the game, he''s probably the best coach in the country. ... And he said he wanted me more than anything in the world."

   Those are just a few of the lines Tiley served Franklin while trying to convince one of the country''s top 20-ranked junior players that Champaign-Urbana  cold, rainy, far-away-from-home Champaign-Urbana  was the place for him.

   At the same time, Notre Dame was trying to sell him on South Bend, Florida State wanted him to come to Tallahassee, Florida had him down to Gainesville for a weekend and Tennessee brought him to Knoxville.

   Only a few programs didn''t show a lot of interest in the three-time Junior Davis Cup champion.

   And Franklin remembers them all.

   "Stanford, Georgia, Ole Miss," he said. "I got recruited by pretty much everybody, but those schools didn''t give me much attention. They probably wish they paid a little more attention to me now."

   Tiley''s sure glad he did.

   The 6-foot-4 Franklin, the first freshman in Big Ten history to play for the conference''s indoor singles championship, is considered fifth-year coach Tiley''s biggest catch ever, a turn-the-program-around kind of recruit.

   He''s done it even faster than his coach expected, climbing to No. 1 on the UI''s singles ladder three weeks ago and not skipping a beat. He''s 27-7, the best player on the 18th-ranked team in the country.

   One of the Feistiest, too.

   "At Purdue, there was one guy in the stands, shouting real loud for the guy Cary was playing," Tiley said. "Cary just turns around and looks at him and says, ''Watch this.'' And he won three straight games."

   Set. Match.

   "He doesn''t let too many opponents intimidate him," senior teammate Jerry Turek said. "He just plays his game  and he''s got a big game to begin with. When he sticks to his game, he can beat anybody in the country."

   For now, he''d settle for anyone in the Big Ten. Just four Illini have claimed No. 1 conference singles titles, and the last champ, Eddie Luck, did it in 1932.

   The UI''s last Big Ten singles champ of any kind, Webb Hayne, did it in 1974, playing No. 4.

   The conference championships are set for next weekend in East Lansing, Mich. Then, the next week, NCAA meet.

   "My goal for him as a freshman was just to get him high in the lineup and get him ready to play as a sophomore," Tiley said. "My goal for him as a sophomore was for him to get All-American status.

   "He could be an All-American this year."