Spotlight on Alex Wagar - a JTC success story
When Alex Wagar was nine years old, he entered his first tournament and was certain that he would win it. Much to his surprise (and a big blow to his ego), Alex won only one match in his flight of four boys - and that was to a player who was worse than he was. The other two players in his flight wiped Alex off the court, beating him “at love” in one match and 6-1,6-0 in the other. Realizing that he had a lot of work to do, Alex made the decision right then and there that he would focus solely on tennis. He enrolled in Junior Tennis Clinic on a mission to become Number One in New England. The best new england junior tennis athlete.
Alex totally dedicated himself to the sport. He spent hours on the court and off. He worked on fitness, played hundreds of practice matches, drilled for hours, worked on his strokes and technique in private lessons with his coach, learned how to eat right and prepare for matches, attended sessions on mental toughness and dealing with adversity in matches and played a tournament almost every weekend from age 10 to 18.
Even though he did all that work, Alex didn’t start to win right away. He took his lumps (lots of them actually) and had some discouraging losses along the way – some so severe that he wondered at times whether he had made the right decision. “I was a really good soccer player. If I’d stuck with that, I know I could play in college. I don’t know why I’m playing tennis.” But with the support of JTC and its superb player development program, Alex kept practicing, drilling, working out and competing. Then, good things started to happen. Alex began to win tournaments. His first was in Vermont, and it remains one of his most cherished tennis memories. He was 10 ½.
Alex began to accumulate wins. He started to beat high ranked juniors and climbed the New England junior tennis rankings. Until one weekend, he played a first round match against the second seed at an important tournament in Massachusetts and beat him 6-4, 6-2. A breakthrough at last! That win vaulted Alex’s ranking into the top 10 in New England and he never looked back. By the time Alex was in the 16-Unders and 18-Unders, he was ranked in the top five in New England and also was ranked nationally. He made the USTA Zonal and Intersectional teams, qualified for the USTA National Clay Court Championships and was a designated alternate to the 16-Under National Hard Court Championships in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Alex played in college and capped off a strong four-year tennis career by playing #2 singles and #1 doubles for his nationally-ranked team, earning records of 28-6 and 20-15, respectively. Wagar helped his college team tally a 20-8 overall record, finish second in the conference and advance onto the NCAA Team Championships for the 17th-consecutive season.
When Alex looks back on his junior tennis career, he says it was one of the best experiences of his life. The lessons learned on and off the court (dedication, discipline, sportsmanship, and hard work) are invaluable. The friends he made through tennis, the agony of losing and the joy of winning are all precious gifts he received from this sport and will remain with him for life.
Alex plays tennis today with many of the friends he made as a junior and is still competing for an occasional club championship now and then. Most of all, he has fun on the court and often says he has JTC to thank for helping him achieve his tennis goals.
