Local youths to participate in tennis competition
By: Bob Nuse
Playing at the USTA Northeast Zonal Championships is a bit different than playing in your ordinary tennis tournament.
For one, you’re playing for more than just yourself.
"There is more pressure because you don’t want to let your teammates down," said Princeton resident Matt Ullmann, who will be playing for the Middle States team at the USTA 12s Northeast Zonal Championships, which begin Wednesday in State College, Pa. "It will be fun, but you want to win."
Ullmann will be joined on the Middle States 12s team by West Windsor residents Emma Levy and Sarah Eid. The Middle States team consists of 20 players, 10 boys and 10 girls, and matches will be held in singles, doubles and mixed doubles. All three players have played in tournaments for the past couple of years, but this will be a new experience playing in the team setting.
"I’m excited to be going," Levy said. "We’ll be playing Singles, doubles and mixed doubles and you play as a team, which is different than usual."
The Zonal tournament includes age group teams from various sections of the USTA. Ullmann, Levy and Eid are part of the team that will represent the Middle States section. They will play other teams from sections around the country during the course of the tournament.
All three players have been playing tennis for the last three or four years, during which time they’ve begun to play more and more tournaments. Ullmann, who just returned from a week-long camp at Blair Academy, won the recent Boys 14s Division of the Princeton Junior Championship at the Princeton Racquet Club.
"I did something like this before where they had a district tournament and I was on the Hopewell (Tennis Club) team," said Ullmann, who also enjoys playing basketball in addition to tennis. "It’s fun to play with other people on your team."
Levy and Eid, who attend school together in West Windsor, have played a full tournament schedule all year. Levy has also spent a majority of the summer at the Nike Tennis Camp at Lawrenceville.
"My dad is my coach and he got me into tennis," Levy said. "In the summer I play every day and the rest of the year I play four or five days a week. I also play softball, but my big sport is tennis."
Levy and Eid play a lot of tennis together and are practice partners. Like Levy, Eid has gradually gotten more and more into the competitive aspect of tennis.
"I just started off playing with my friends," said Eid, who won the Hempfield Open in Pennsylvania in February. "Then I won a tournament and I’ve been playing more since then. I like to play both singles and doubles."
All three players should enjoy the experience of participating in the zonal tournament.
"I’m looking forward to being out there being part of the team," said Ullmann, who is currently ranked 10th in the Middle States 12s. "It should be a good experience."
Other Packet-area players will be playing in other Zonal tournaments this week. Princeton residents Ilia Shatashvili and Chris Hoeland and West Windsor’s Jackie Wong will represent the Middle States in the 16s in St. Louis.
Angela DiPastina of the Hun School will play in the Intersectional 16s, while DiPastina, Victoria Vaynburg of West Windsor and Alexis Jacobi of Princeton will play in the 18s Junior Davis Cup.