Tennis: I have only been a full-time tennis player for the past two and a half years. Before that I mostly played travel soccer, baseball and basketball.  However, during the Covid pandemic I began to play more tennis and fell in love with the sport. I finally convinced my parents to let me try a tennis academy in 2022. Ever since I have been entirely focused on two things – excelling at school and improving my tennis game. During the week I wake up every morning before six, commute an hour to JTCC, and then train for four or more hours. I then have another hour-long commute before I can begin my school day. Despite the long hours and time away from my friends, there is no hesitation to my response when my parents ask if I want to continue pursuing tennis. I am completely dedicated to becoming the best player I can be.

Unfortunately, my tennis journey has not been without setbacks. I did not hit my growth spurt until after most of my peers – I was barely 5’2” tall until late 2023. I have since grown 10 inches, but all that growth in a short period of time made it difficult to train regularly and forced me to withdraw from several tournaments. In particular, for the past year I have battled Osgood-Schlatters and related growth plate injuries to my Achilles and chest. However, while I still have room to grow, those injuries are behind me (knock on wood). And, despite those injuries, I have still managed to massively improve my game over the past year, and, as a result, my UTR has jumped up two points.

Although I am still sixteen, I am currently ranked 570 in the nation for 18U, and won four 18U tournaments over the past six months. In tournament play I beat a 5 star recruit and also took an 11 UTR to three sets at a Junior ITF. Although I am process driven and try to stay focused on how my game is improving, I am also just so excited to be healthy and ready to compete in tournaments again. I will continue to update my tournament tracker (below) as the season progresses.