Why oh why did Kosakowski go pro?

[jdubbs]

#1 at UCLA. Quits after his freshman year to go pro.
Gives up full scholarship worth another $200K, and a degree.

Horrible performance as a pro except for 1 tournament where he go to the round of 16 this summer in a challenger and 1 futures win.
Alright not completely horrible, but why not wait a couple more years, get more seasoning, and get your degree, go pro later? It's not as if the $20K you made this year will go very far.

I really don't understand this. This isn't the NBA where you get $1M+ guaranteed for going pro early. There are no guarantees in tennis, and its not as if he was going to make this money up anytime soon.

Anybody know his deal? I like the kid, but man, can't see why he would go pro and give up a nice scholarship like that.

[Tennishacker]

Originally Posted by jdubbs

#1 at UCLA. Quits after his freshman year to go pro.
Gives up full scholarship worth another $200K, and a degree.

Horrible performance as a pro except for 1 tournament where he go to the round of 16 this summer in a challenger and 1 futures win.
Alright not completely horrible, but why not wait a couple more years, get more seasoning, and get your degree, go pro later? It's not as if the $20K you made this year will go very far.

I really don't understand this. This isn't the NBA where you get $1M+ guaranteed for going pro early. There are no guarantees in tennis, and its not as if he was going to make this money up anytime soon.

Anybody know his deal? I like the kid, but man, can't see why he would go pro and give up a nice scholarship like that.

Daniel and his brother felt that it was now or never.

[SoCal10s]

maybe his dream is to be a pro tennis player,and he's just following his dream.. chances are if he stay at UCLA and tries to play tennis at that high level he wouldn't learn anything of from the classes anyways ,they miss too many classes all year round.. he can always go back to school anytime after does his thing with tennis.. DK is from SoCal and as resident student, UCLA doesn't cost $200K .. with all that aside..
I heard there was a thing with the coach B.Martin.... I had a feeling something was fishy when DK didn't show up at the Ojai tournament this year... if you're a Pac 10(12) top rank player,it's a long standing tradition you play Ojai...

[ClarkC]

Originally Posted by jdubbs

#1 at UCLA. Quits after his freshman year to go pro.
Gives up full scholarship worth another $200K, and a degree.

The final 3 years of in-state tuition, fees, room and board at UCLA is worth $200K?

[goober]

Originally Posted by SoCal10s

he can always go back to school anytime after does his thing with tennis.. DK is from SoCal and as resident student, UCLA doesn't cost $200K .. with all that aside..
...

Problem is that if he tries pro for say 4-5 years and then decides to go back he won't be on scholarship any more. He will have to pay everything out of his own pocket. If ends up like most low level pros with little money made after expenses, he may regret it.

[subban]

Originally Posted by ClarkC

The final 3 years of in-state tuition, fees, room and board at UCLA is worth $200K?

Lets see. tuition instate probably 10k plus another 3k for housing and meals. so 13k a semster or 26k a year. for three years 78k worth. Not really in the 200k but I think that poster was just exaggerating to make his point. I still agree with him though, the odds of playing professional tennis are very very slim. And most pros that make the atp start going pro after juniors and don't even go to college. Unless, your like a Isner type player with a huge booming reliable serve, its tough to go pro from playing US college tennis.

[Tennishacker]

Originally Posted by ClarkC

The final 3 years of in-state tuition, fees, room and board at UCLA is worth $200K?

I think UC shool's are about 28K for instate students, tuition, fees room and board.
Daniel is from Downey, Ca., so if he were to go back to UCLA, he would pay in-state tuition, plus I'm sure he would receive grants and aid.

[Clemson_tennis]

He has lost 2 very close matches to Strode and Farah the last 2 weeks. He is ranked 385. I think one more year at UCLA would not have hurt him but is probably would not have helped too much either.

[socaltennnis]

Originally Posted by SoCal10s

maybe his dream is to be a pro tennis player,and he's just following his dream.. chances are if he stay at UCLA and tries to play tennis at that high level he wouldn't learn anything of from the classes anyways ,they miss too many classes all year round.. he can always go back to school anytime after does his thing with tennis.. DK is from SoCal and as resident student, UCLA doesn't cost $200K .. with all that aside..
I heard there was a thing with the coach B.Martin.... I had a feeling something was fishy when DK didn't show up at the Ojai tournament this year... if you're a Pac 10(12) top rank player,it's a long standing tradition you play Ojai...

naw. dk left the team on good terms with the coach and teammates. last year, he had been playing all of the usa futures in between his college matches, skipping most of the fall tournaments including last year's ITA All-Americans. at ojai, even though most top pac 10 players play, typically ucla's top players (kohloffel, abid, srugo) in years past do not compete, often playing only in the doubles draw or not at all. basically it was always dk's plan to go pro and thats why he played all of the american futures while in college. the question was when he should move on. and for dk, he is really dedicated to tennis and he sees tennis as something he wants to do for a long time. for those talking about if dk will need to pay for tution if he goes back to school, i dont see dk going back to college either. he left cause he wants tennis to be his career.

[jdubbs]

Originally Posted by socaltennnis

naw. dk left the team on good terms with the coach and teammates. last year, he had been playing all of the usa futures in between his college matches, skipping most of the fall tournaments including last year's ITA All-Americans. at ojai, even though most top pac 10 players play, typically ucla's top players (kohloffel, abid, srugo) in years past do not compete, often playing only in the doubles draw or not at all. basically it was always dk's plan to go pro and thats why he played all of the american futures while in college. the question was when he should move on. and for dk, he is really dedicated to tennis and he sees tennis as something he wants to do for a long time. for those talking about if dk will need to pay for tution if he goes back to school, i dont see dk going back to college either. he left cause he wants tennis to be his career.

Fair enough. But realize that for 98% of players on tour, its a money-losing proposition. It costs a lot to compete year after year. And then you come back and that scholarship is gone.

I dunno, an education worth, lets call it $100K, fine, is still worth a lot. UCLA room, board, books etc is pretty pricey.
Degree would come in handy when trying to get a real job in a tough job market when tennis doesn't work out.
Trying to go back to college at 28-32 years old and pay full boat...well, good luck with that, most don't do it. He'll end up a country club pro at best. Nothing wrong with that...I guess.
You're telling me he couldn't compete in 3 more years? Didn't hurt Isner..at all. Young could have benefited from it too.

Anyway, it's his life. I get it. But its not now or never. Let him grow physically, learn the game more, play top collegiate players. Just seems shortsighted.

[jdubbs]

Plus you've got successes like Devvarman, Kevin Anderson, Isner. All saying that you can't physically compete at 19 with these 25 year olds out there on tour.

“[College] was the best preparation in could have ever asked for,” Isner said. “In those four years [at Georgia], I had unbelievable coaching with Coach Diaz. I learned so much mentally, and I got so much stronger physically. Coming out of high school I was tall, skinny, and gangly, not strong and not mature. I was none of that. I had to go to college and get stronger. I had to start growing out instead of up.”

http://www.itatennis.com/AboutITA/Ne...sInThePros.htm

[SoCal10s]

Originally Posted by jdubbs

Anyway, it's his life. I get it. But its not now or never. Let him grow physically, learn the game more, play top collegiate players. Just seems shortsighted.

physically he's there.. the other stufff about learning the game... he's better off learning while on tour.. tour players hit and think different from college players.. staying at UCLA ,even competing with the best will only make him the best college player,which doesn't often lead to a exceptional pro career .. you have to be out there doing pro stuff to know what pros do.. it's a grind,it's an attitude,it's not pretty but then one day hopefully everything sort of clicks..

[mad dog1]

Originally Posted by socaltennnis

naw. dk left the team on good terms with the coach and teammates. last year, he had been playing all of the usa futures in between his college matches, skipping most of the fall tournaments including last year's ITA All-Americans. at ojai, even though most top pac 10 players play, typically ucla's top players (kohloffel, abid, srugo) in years past do not compete, often playing only in the doubles draw or not at all. basically it was always dk's plan to go pro and thats why he played all of the american futures while in college. the question was when he should move on. and for dk, he is really dedicated to tennis and he sees tennis as something he wants to do for a long time. for those talking about if dk will need to pay for tution if he goes back to school, i dont see dk going back to college either. he left cause he wants tennis to be his career.

Originally Posted by SoCal10s

maybe his dream is to be a pro tennis player,and he's just following his dream.. chances are if he stay at UCLA and tries to play tennis at that high level he wouldn't learn anything of from the classes anyways ,they miss too many classes all year round.. he can always go back to school anytime after does his thing with tennis.. DK is from SoCal and as resident student, UCLA doesn't cost $200K .. with all that aside..
I heard there was a thing with the coach B.Martin.... I had a feeling something was fishy when DK didn't show up at the Ojai tournament this year... if you're a Pac 10(12) top rank player,it's a long standing tradition you play Ojai...

i did a double take...initially, i thought this was the same person with a bipolar personality carrying a conversation with himself in the thread. then i looked at the usernames again and realized they're the "same" name but "different"!

[SoCal10s]

I'm the original ,but I don't mind imitations .. hahaha and I'm not Brad...

[cmb]

Originally Posted by jdubbs

Fair enough. But realize that for 98% of players on tour, its a money-losing proposition. It costs a lot to compete year after year. And then you come back and that scholarship is gone.

I dunno, an education worth, lets call it $100K, fine, is still worth a lot. UCLA room, board, books etc is pretty pricey.
Degree would come in handy when trying to get a real job in a tough job market when tennis doesn't work out.
Trying to go back to college at 28-32 years old and pay full boat...well, good luck with that, most don't do it. He'll end up a country club pro at best. Nothing wrong with that...I guess.
You're telling me he couldn't compete in 3 more years? Didn't hurt Isner..at all. Young could have benefited from it too.

Anyway, it's his life. I get it. But its not now or never. Let him grow physically, learn the game more, play top collegiate players. Just seems shortsighted.

His family probably worked out some sort of sponsors from somewhere. LOL this attitude is why americans are behind at tennis...you are telling someone who is currently ranked 385 that he should have stayed in school? are you kidding me.
My advice would be for DK to get out of the states for tennis. This is the only country where if you are 385 that you are losing money. If I was in his same shoes I would move to Argentina, they have 15-20 futures a year just there, also u have Brasil, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile where is very cheap to travel too. The Cost of living in argentina is really cheap, with the 15k he makes in Prize money he can easily cover his expenses and travel down in that region. And since the tournaments are close to home compared with the states. You don't need to pay hotel when you lose, u drive 3 hours and you are back home. Another way us americans are bent over when trying to go pro.

But Im glad to see him go pro. for me, if you can make it to 400 on your first year, and only 20 years old...you should go for it,

Mi dos centamos...

[Clemson_tennis]

You could travel all around to the easiest futures each week. Those tend to be in southeast Asia. Challengers too. That's why you see players like Ito,Soeda in the top 100 with their limited talent

[socaltennnis]

Originally Posted by jdubbs

#1 at UCLA. Quits after his freshman year to go pro.
Gives up full scholarship worth another $200K, and a degree.

Horrible performance as a pro except for 1 tournament where he go to the round of 16 this summer in a challenger and 1 futures win.
Alright not completely horrible, but why not wait a couple more years, get more seasoning, and get your degree, go pro later? It's not as if the $20K you made this year will go very far.

Just wanted to add that he also won qualifying for the LA Countrywide classic tournament in July, beating Denis Kudla in straight sets. He then won 1 round in the main draw, beating Tim Smyczek. Thats two americans pros that he beat who didn't go to college. If you look at just the younger americans, only young, harrison, kudla, and sock are ranked higher at the moment.

Edit: he also beat kudla again in the US Open Wild Card tournament in August.

[Shaolin]

Originally Posted by jdubbs

#1 at UCLA. Quits after his freshman year to go pro.
Gives up full scholarship worth another $200K, and a degree.

Horrible performance as a pro except for 1 tournament where he go to the round of 16 this summer in a challenger and 1 futures win.
Alright not completely horrible, but why not wait a couple more years, get more seasoning, and get your degree, go pro later? It's not as if the $20K you made this year will go very far.

I really don't understand this. This isn't the NBA where you get $1M+ guaranteed for going pro early. There are no guarantees in tennis, and its not as if he was going to make this money up anytime soon.

Anybody know his deal? I like the kid, but man, can't see why he would go pro and give up a nice scholarship like that.

It's called following your dreams.

[Tennis_Stringman]

I think he has a better shot at making it than Jack Sock. He moves so much better and hits a clean ball. He is mentally stronger than Kudla. It was time for him, all or none so be it.

[jaggy]

Theres more to college tennis than tuition room and board etc. Throw in strength coaches, trainers, coaches court time travel, equipment and other incidentals and it creeps up.