By Christopher Tremblay

Ashland’s Arjun-Preethi Nair was first introduced to tennis by his father at the early age of 5 years old.

 According to the now Clocker senior, tennis has gone back many years In his family, when it started with his great-grandmother playing the sport, so one could say tennis is in his blood.  

As his father trained him in the sport Nair eventually got involved with the United States Tennis Association (USTA) where he has continued to play up until this spring. In addition to the competitive platform of USTA, Nair also takes part in the Universal Tennis Rating or UTR.

When he first stepped onto a tennis court with his racket in hand a young Nair was not interested in the nuances of the game but just hitting the ball.

“In the beginning I just liked hitting the ball as hard I could. I really didn’t care if it was in or out as long as I was hitting it with all my strength,” the senior said. “I had found that hitting the ball hard was good stress relief and now that I am older, I use that to my advantage in a different way on the court.”

Along the way to learning the game of tennis, Nair meet some coaches who were very instrumental in his acceleration of his game development. Anton Nikolov, a former Ashland High School tennis player who later went onto play at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington, pushed Nair’s tennis career forward and grew his competitiveness. 

“Anton was a real factor in my growth on the court,” Nair said. “But there were also other coaches that taught me how to corral my emotions and accurately pinpoint my shot while gauging where to place it.”

Prior to his junior year at Ashland, Nair had found himself on a run in the USTA circuit taking part in four semi-finals and a championship match all being in competitive level 5 tournaments. With his USTA season going quite well Nair decided to join the Clocker tennis team after the urging of the Ashland tennis players.   

In addition to the Ashland players assuring him he’d be a success, Nair believed that he know had the time to take on the endeavor. Unfortunately, just as his high school career was to begin with his new teammates Covid struck and the season was cancelled before it could begin.

“Up until my junior year, I was very busy trying to improve my ratings. (Nair was currently at a 9 or 10 rating), but I felt at this time I was where I needed to be at the time so decided to tryout fort the high school team,” he said. “Covid was pretty disappointing as I was ready to play for Ashland and help them become better.”

Although he couldn’t pick up a tennis racket and participate in any type of tournaments, Nair decided that he would train harder while looking to improve himself physically as well as mentally. He would continue to focus on his studies while working out in his home gym until the Covid pandemic was no longer considered a threat. 

With all athletes being sidelined for numerous months Nair was hoping that things would eventually subside, and everyone could get back to taking part in athletics.  When and if they did, he would be ready. 

Finally getting the chance to play high school level Nair found himself to be more than ready. Coming into his first and only high school tennis season the senior had set some lofty goals for himself as well as the team.

“My number one goal was to become Ashland’s number one singles player while going the season undefeated,” he said. “I was also looking to help the team win a State Title, which is a very ambitious goal, but you need to set your standards high.”

Now that he has seen him play Ashland Coach Mike Roman is sad that Nair didn’t get to play for the team last spring.

“I knew that he was a very good player, but I never expected him to be as good as he has been. He’s an all-around great player with a strong one-handed backhand,” the Coach said.

Mid-way through the Clockers season, Nair found himself with an undefeated record and having to face Dover-Sherborn’s senior Dan Pomahac, who was also undefeated. Playing for more than two hours in 90-degree weather Nair emerged victorious keeping his pre-season goal intact.

“That match he was focused, disciplined and worked extremely hard. His serve was excellent, and he was able to cover the court well,” Roman said. “Both players left everything they had on the court; it was one of the best high school tennis matches that I have ever seen.”

Coming into the contest, Nair’s thought process was bouncing back and forth. The senior found that day to be very nerve racking as he was going up against a strong and undefeated player. 

“Will I do well or will he come out and blow me out of the water,” Nair thought. “Before the match I was talking strategies with my teammates, and they all assured me that I had this. Although I beat him 6-2, 6-2 the score didn’t tell the entire story of the match.”

The Clockers’ number one singles player had some difficulty in the beginning of the match with Pomahac’s intense serve, but as soon as he was able to grasp what the Dover-Sherborn player was doing he was ok.  

There are still a handful of matches left for Nair and his Ashland teammates, but when the season ends, he’ll get right back onto the USTA and UTR tournament circuit looking to improve his game which he is planning on taking to the collegiate level. 

“I firmly believe that my high school experience has definitely helped with my confidence and has furthered my game,” Nair said. “I’m hoping to continue playing competitive tennis on the college level. As a Computer Science major (at the University of Vermont) it will be a great difficulty balancing my school work with tennis, but I’m looking forward to seeing if I can handle my studies while still playing the best tennis that I can.”

With his college future still on the horizon, and if he’ll be able to handle both his studies and playing tennis, Nair still has things to deal with here in Ashland— like finishing up his only high school tennis season with an undefeated record.