Getting to Know Men's Tennis Newcomer Evan King
9/1/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Standing in the middle of the practice courts inside the Varsity Tennis Center on a rainy Friday, freshman Evan King (Chicago, Ill./Laurel Springs Prep)surveys the scene, his workplace.
Amidst games going on over all four courts, King runs his left hand across his face, relishing the final days he has with his beard.
He's gone weeks without shaving, but that's about to change.
"Coach is making me shave it," King says. "He says it's all about representing Michigan. He doesn't want me to look like a bum."
Still, he looks right at home.
The 6-foot-1, 165-pound tennis phenom has played all over the world, including tournaments in England, France, Canada, Belgium, the Netherlands and Mexico. He is widely considered to be one of the top junior amateur players in the nation, as evident by his No. 1 ranking in the USTA Boys' 18-and-Under group and is perhaps the most heralded tennis recruit in the history of Michigan men's tennis.
Playing on the big stage is nothing new to King, who plans to miss the first week of classes at Michigan to compete in the U.S. Open Juniors during the week of Sept. 6 after travelling overseas to compete in the Junior French Open and Junior Wimbledon earlier this summer.
Some might say that's a lot of pressure for a kid who isn't even 18 years old yet, but he doesn't feel it at all. His new coach, Michigan head man Bruce Berque, doesn't feel it either.
"Evan comes in with a lot of expectations surrounding him, but he's lived up to them," Berque said. "He's won at every level and I don't expect that to change in college. His addition instantly makes our team better and everyone is very excited to have him join the Michigan family."
King has already met with his teammates and they've welcomed him and his classmate/roommate, Chris Cha (Eureka, Mo./University of Missouri High School), with open arms.
"The energy he brings, the excitement C it will rub off on our guys," Berque said. "One person can influence beyond their position. He plays with a lot of enthusiasm on the court and has fun. He will show leadership just by his nature."
King has been around the game of tennis since he was three years old. He eats, sleeps and lives the sport. He won his first tournament trophy when he was seven and loved the feeling so much that he decided to make a future out of it.
Ten years and dozens of tournaments later, the trophy case is getting full.
King grew up in Chicago, attending Walter Payton College Prep as a freshman and sophomore in high school. He won four Boys' 16-and-under singles titles as a freshman in 2006, including the USTA National Winter Championships in Phoenix and the USTA National Open in Grand Blanc, Mich. The next year as a sophomore, King was singles champion in the state of Illinois.
With every win, King's name became more recognized. The USTA took notice, too, and they invited him to their High Performance Training Center in Boca Raton, Fla., prior to his junior year in high school.
While it was difficult to make the move from the Windy City to the Sunshine State, King knows the risk was well worth it.
"It was tough to leave Chicago, my friends and my high school," King said. "I wanted to improve my tennis game and that was a great opportunity I couldn't pass up."
The environment at the Training Center was strict and controlled. Most days started at 6:30 a.m. and consisted of two four-hour practice sessions, sixty to ninety minutes of fitness and strength training and three hours of study. To keep up with his studies, King took online classes with Laurel Springs Prep, like current Wolverines Drew Daniel and Mike Sroczynski did before him.
Despite spending the last two years living amongst the sunshine rays and high temperatures, King always kept the Big Ten in mind when choosing where to go for college. He narrowed down his choices to Michigan, Ohio State and Illinois. But it was the relationships he developed with Berque and associate head coach Sean Maymi that cemented his commitment to the Michigan tennis program.
"Coach Berque showed me where he wanted my tennis game to go and I was sold," King said. "The coaches complement each other real well and the team was more together here than in other places."
King grew up with Maize and Blue in his blood as his father, Van King, is a Michigan alum. While he openly stated his father "jokingly" pushed him to Ann Arbor, he maintains the decision was entirely his own. Still, the influence of his father, the one who taught him the game of tennis, sticks with King.
"He's the biggest Michigan fan I know. "Hail to the Victors" is his ringtone," Evan said of his father. "He would always be like, Go to Michigan'. Then I went to Ohio State for my visit and that was the only one he didn't go to."
Even with playing against professionals across two continents, King doesn't consider himself one, at least not yet. As for when King decides to make the jump to the pro circuit well, it's a wait-and-see approach.
"If I become ridiculous in like a year, I think I could go," King said. "But as of now, I plan on being here four years."
Those have to be welcome words to Berque and the rest of the tennis team, who figure King to be a mainstay atop Michigan's singles and doubles lineups through the 2013 season, when King is projected to exhaust his NCAA eligibility. He still knows he has to improve his game but he believes his experience at Michigan will give him the tools to get where he wants to go.
"When I am on the court, I just need to stay focused because that is when I'm at my best," he said. "If I have a goal or a specific thing to work on, I can't be afraid to take one step back if it means taking two steps forward."
Berque's suggestions are more focused on King's technical side of the game.
"I think his serve can be a bigger weapon," Berque said. "I know he wants to develop it more. I also want to see him be more aggressive. He has to cultivate his game to the point where he attacks his opponents, because if he doesn't, they are going to attack him. And we've already started to see that."
But one piece of hardware that King wants more than anything is something for his ring finger C a Big Ten Championship ring.
"Yeah, I want a ring," King said, with a wide grin on his face. "That would be sick."
"When it comes to the whole package, he gives us a very good chance to win," Berque added. "He will have his share of struggles as he adapts to different style of play, but he is capable of playing at the highest levels of college tennis. I have no doubt about that."
Michigan last won the Big Ten in 1995 behind the play of Malavai Washington, someone who King is very familiar with. When he was10-years old, King met and was able to hit with Washington for thirty minutes in what he called "a great experience". King says he hopes to get together with Washington down the road, possibly at the Michigan men's tennis alumni reunion in October.
As for the here and now, King's future goals are as lofty as they've ever been.
"I want to be a top professional," he said. "I want to play tennis and travel all over the world. To me, getting paid to play tennis is as good as it gets."
Contact: Brad Rudner (734) 647-4237
