This year’s men’s tennis team is supposed to be one of the best in school history. Following last year’s undefeated season, expectations for the team this year are high.
On Aug. 24, Head Coach Mike Bostic said via email, “We have set very big team goals this season. At the top of the list is the State championship. Close behind are winning the John Shirley Invitational, the Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference (MIC) Championship and going undefeated at the varsity and junior varsity levels.”
So far the team has met some of its goals, such as winning the John Shirley Invitational. Last year’s team set high expectations for this year, but Mihir Kumar, co-captain of the varsity team and senior, said he is not worried.
Kumar said, “We’ve worked hard. Our team has a lot of talent. We’ve practiced a lot. And we believe in ourselves. So I think that we will be able to live up to the expectations.
“Although each person on the team has individual goals,” he said, “this year we are trying to focus a little more on team bonding. It’s pretty good that tennis is a year-round sport because most of the guys on the team are already pretty good friends, and we are just getting to know each other better.”
Even though last year the team was undefeated, Kumar said he thinks this year’s team is even more competitive than last year’s team. “The younger guys have really been stepping up this year, and they have had to step up their play a lot to try to get a spot on the team. It’s really competitive since everyone is trying as hard as they can to make the team.”
The expectations that others have for the team are high, but some of the members of the team also have set high personal goals. Elliott Yee, a captain of the varsity team and senior, said, “Personally, I want to be a key member of a State championship team, singles or doubles. As a team, we hope to win State, win games with dominance—like not losing a match—and establish a dynasty.”
This year, some of the seniors have stepped into a bigger leadership role for the team.
“It’s good to see how the team has grown the past few years that I’ve been on it,” Kumar said. “This year I’ve had to step up as a leader since I am one of the seniors, and it feels pretty different.”
Although the team has to follow in large footsteps, according to Bostic, the team this year is possibly the deepest, most talented team he has ever coached.
Yee said he agrees with Bostic. “This year’s team is definitely one of the best, if not the best team that I have played for,” he said. “We have a lot of really improved players and some great new freshmen too.”
Despite the fact that the players on this year’s team are supposed to be some of the best yet, they have not really changed their training routines. According to Bostic, the coaches are all approaching the season the same way.
“We are going to approach this season with intensity, focus, determination and most importantly a team-first attitude,” Bostic said.
Yee said, “We had conditioning for a couple of weeks to prepare, and we are playing a lot of matches now to stay competitive.”
According to Kumar, the team this year hopes to go undefeated once again, but some particular matches carry more weight to him than others do. He said, “I’m looking forward to the Park Tudor match since they have a pretty good team and we are always looking for a challenge.
“Also, their number-one guy is one of my good friends, and of course I want to beat him. Also, we are always looking forward to playing North Central since they are our rival, and there is definitely no love lost there.”
Yee said he is also looking forward to playing North Central and Park Tudor since those games are at home, and the teams are the biggest competitors for State this year.
Even though the tennis team last year was undefeated, Kumar said that not too many fans showed up.
“I want tennis games to become a bigger event, something like football games are like right now at our school,” he said. “I really hope more people come out this year and give us some more support, and as a team we will try to make it a lot more fun to come out to games this year.”
Kumar is not the only one who thinks that more people should come out to tennis events. Yee said, “People need to come out to the games so that they can really see how good we are. We want the games to be loud and exciting. Plus, I’ll be on court.”