Tennis is a very hard sport to play. You need to have fantastic accuracy to get the tennis ball in the left or right square of the court. You need to watch the other player’s movements as well, the way they are going to swing their racket is the way the ball is going to go so keeping track of the opponent’s movement is very important. Isaac Hood (10), Eli Park (11), and Philipp Amann (11), all members of the Tennis team, explain how important tennis is to them. 

When the tennis team practices, Park is always there because he wants to become a great tennis player. The work he has put into these practices has paid off due to the recent domination against Maryville. 

Park went to the game against Maryville and played his heart out against their opponent’s team.

“Well, even though I’m not the best against the other really good tennis players in Knoxville, I still try my best!” Park said. 

Hood shares what he was thinking when he was volleying the ball as well as his tactic during the game. 

“My thought was ‘just hit the ball back one more time’ and ‘keep the rally going’,” Hood said.

Hood wanted to keep the volley going and win the point to ultimately win the match. Hood’s strategy was watching the ball closely and hitting the serve back as best as possible.

“My tactic during the game is always to have the best return possible on a serve, and I had to change from a full stroke to just a block in order to get the ball back over the net,” Hood said.

While Amann was playing, he was excited and nervous at the same time. He wanted to play well and did so.

“I was really nervous to be playing Maryville but I learned quite a lot from the game,” Amann said.

What these players have shown is that they love the sport of tennis. When they think that they are not doing well, they still go on the court because of the fact that they want to be better at the sport and are always looking for the bright side of the game. They all want to keep playing tennis while having a great time playing; continuing to grow while getting better at the game.