Player who didnt play tennis until 9th grade and later played Challengers

[jcgatennismom]

I think this is the board where the question has been raised about how late can someone start tennis and still play pro tennis. This article shares the story of a guy on his way to football tryouts who was convinced to try tennis in 9th grade, ended up playing college tennis and then Challenger events. Now this guy played in the 70s but still it is an example of how a player found success just playing a lot of matches without attending an academy. Later on an adult coach mentored him which helped prepare him for college. You would never guess what the article was about by the title.

https://blog.universaltennis.com/2017/09/08/lessons-taught-at-40-love/

The article does note that the player was an excellent athlete. I know of players who started at 12,had excellent work ethic, trained fulltime, had the best coaches, and still were barely 4 stars and did not reach their goals of playing D1 tennis at a ranked school. If someone is starting late, they have to have good hand eye, agility, endurance, mental toughness, etc to have a chance.

 

[Dartagnan64]

If someone is starting early they need to have all those things too. As much as people like to think they have control and can work themselves to athletic success, its still largely under control of you genes. You have to be born with superior athleticism and a "stick to it" personality and competitive drive.

 

[norcal]

One of the talking heads on ESPN said Carena Busta didn't take tennis seriously until age 16. Hard to believe but I guess it depends what 'seriously' means.

 

[Dartagnan64]

One of the talking heads on ESPN said Carena Busta didn't take tennis seriously until age 16. Hard to believe but I guess it depends what 'seriously' means.

Yeah. He was probably still playing many hours a week.

 

[justinmadison]

According to the article he started playing in junior high and got a membership to a local tennis club in the 9th grade.

In tennis today 13 or 14 is too late. There is just too much competition. To be on track for a ranked D1 team you have to be the equilivant of a USTA 5.0 man by 14. I am a 4.5 and my son could crush me when he was 13. I played Dane Web and Colin Altamarino when they were 13 and they would just toy with the 4.5 guys. They could beat 5.0s

The reason most kids have to go to an academy is because they cannot find people who can compete with them at home. When your 15 and no 5.0 can make you break a sweat it does not help you to play with the seniors at your local club.

Depending on where you live if there is a local junior group with high level play and execelent coaching It is just possible to make D1.

 

[justinmadison]

One of the talking heads on ESPN said Carena Busta didn't take tennis seriously until age 16. Hard to believe but I guess it depends what 'seriously' means.

He was winning ITF events at 16 and played all the grand slam events as a junior. It would be interesting to hear his definition of "seriously". He was #6 in the junior world rankings.

 

[norcal]

Maybe this was the context:

Pablo's mom: "Pablo, you are 16 and playing tennis 12 hours a day. Maybe it's time to give up on your dream of becoming an astronaut and focus on tennis."

Pablo's obnoxious younger sister, eyes rolling: "Seriously."

 

[travlerajm]

I was a late starter. Started playing in high school at age 15. Played first half of sophomore year on JV, until I convinced the coach to let me play a challenge match for a spot on varsity. Ended sophomore season 5th in the league in singles. Started playing USTA the next year. The year after that, placed 3rd in state in high school doubles and finished USTA season ranked 22 in PNW section 18s.
However, even then, I couldn't hit a forehand to save my life. The only reason I won matches against ranked juniors was because I self-taught myself a powerful high-kicking jump serve (I landed 5 feet in the court) that overwhelmed most junior opponents, even though their groundstrokes were much better than mine. I served and volleyed every serve, first and second. Later won prize money in open tourneys despite still having a sucky 4.0 level forehand.
Ironically, 20+ years later, my serve now sucks, but my ground game is solid 5.0.

 

[Bluefan75]

Maybe this was the context:

Pablo's mom: "Pablo, you are 16 and playing tennis 12 hours a day. Maybe it's time to give up on your dream of becoming an astronaut and focus on tennis."

Pablo's obnoxious younger sister, eyes rolling: "Seriously."

Wouldn't his Ben Affleck looks have had him thinking acting instead?

 

[ChaelAZ]

I think Taylor Fritz was a late starter as well, though I have never found the whole story of his. I would assume he was exposed to tennis early, but I believe he was focused on other sports until is was a teen.

 

[GrassCourtFan]

According to http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/players/taylor-fritz/fb98/bio , Fritz started playing tennis at age 2.

Unsurprising, considering his dad was a tennis coach and his mom was a former top 10 WTA player.

I think that a lot of people refer to when they started playing tennis "seriously", by which they mean when they stopped splitting time with any other sports and only focused on tennis.

 

[ChaelAZ]

According to http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/players/taylor-fritz/fb98/bio , Fritz started playing tennis at age 2.

Unsurprising, considering his dad was a tennis coach and his mom was a former top 10 WTA player.

I think that a lot of people refer to when they started playing tennis "seriously", by which they mean when they stopped splitting time with any other sports and only focused on tennis.

Yeah, kinda figured that was going to be the back story there. Thanks!

Very similar, I had both my boys playing tennis early (before 7), but they both did other sports that were their main focus. Now my oldest "started" tennis at 13 and some people assume he has only been playing 3 years, but really has years before that as a base. He just didn't get serious until 13.