Amongst the variety of spring sports Franklin has to offer, the men’s tennis team is a noteworthy one. The team practices every weekday after school at Mt. Tabor Park. It’s there where the team improves their skills while building team chemistry. “It’s not a crazy big team so I feel like we all know each other pretty well,” says Asher Blair, who has been nicknamed the “Blairwolf” by his fellow teammates. Blair, a junior, has been a dedicated member of the team since his freshman year.
Over the years, this team has made many memories that have kept them coming back year after year. “My favorite memories [are] practicing at Mt. Tabor for hours. The courts are nice, and the surrounding area is beautiful,” says Blair when reflecting on his past seasons.
“I love it when we play Grant because it’s fun for me as a competitor … but to be honest more of the mundane moments with the boys if they are just fooling around and saying ‘what’s up’ to me [stick] with me,” claims head coach Kasi Muthu.
Tennis matches are played with two different events: singles and doubles. Singles — as it sounds — is a head-to-head match with one player from each team. Doubles are different as each team has an extra player on the court, and because of this, the line boundaries are expanded to allow for more space between the players. For a high school varsity match, there are four players who do singles and eight players who are paired up to play doubles, so there are twelve varsity players total. If a team has any extra players, they play doubles at the junior varsity level. Because there are only four singles matches, most teams select their four best players to be entered in those matches. This makes it so many players aim to get a spot, including Blair, whose main goal for this season is “to make singles.”
This year, the team’s youth will show more than ever, as they expect to have zero senior players. Muthu doesn’t find this problematic though, saying, “[We have] more youthful energy, more love for the game, and less pressure.” With all these younger student-athletes getting more experience this year, it should only help their team in the upcoming years. Blair shares this opinion: “I think not having any seniors is cool [because] we are only getting better [for] next year.”
Despite not having the experience many other teams in the conference and state will have, the team still has high expectations for this season. “I think … all but one [player] got to state this [past] year,” says junior Isaiah Honl-Toledo, who has been playing the sport since eighth grade. Qualifying for state is no easy task for any sport, but this team feels connected and determined to do whatever it can to reach its goals.
Tennis is an outdoor sport which means that the majority of the time athletes are playing in the sunshine. Tennis is a great team to join if you’re looking for a sport that you can play while enjoying mother nature. However, when rain causes the courts to flood, the team hits the weight room. Muthu advises students to “give [tennis] a shot, but we do ask that you are committed. If you don’t intend to be committed, I’d recommend you look elsewhere.”
Men’s tennis can fly under the radar when talking about the multitude of sports available at Franklin, but it shouldn’t. Tennis provides a great balance between exercise and rest while getting to practice and compete out in the spring weather. These things combine to make a great sport that Franklin students should consider joining. The future is bright for Franklin men’s tennis as they push to make their season the best it can be.
