USTA Nationals
Konduri Sweeps 14 Hard Court Titles After Sweeping Clays
by Sonny Dearth, 16 August 2023
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Coming off a dominant performance earlier this summer, Tanishk Konduri knew he'd have a hard act to follow at the USTA Boys' 14 National Championships at Mobile Tennis Center in Alabama.
Tanishk Konduri Swept the Singles and Doubles Titles
© Contributed Photo
He said it got even harder when "I tweaked my left wrist and wasn't really able to hit a backhand for my first three-and-a-half-ish matches. I had to find some way to maneuver around it."
Did he ever.
The recent phenom from Cupertino, California equaled his Clay Courts feat by capturing the singles and doubles titles. The third seed pulled away to beat No. 4 Erik Schinnerer 6-3, 6-0 for the singles title -- winning all 14 sets he played in the week.
In doubles, Konduri joined Colin McPeek of Carmel, Indiana, for a 6-4, 6-1 win in the final over top seeds Navneet Raghuram of Port St. Lucie, Florida, and Joseph Nau of Brentwood, California, the player Konduri accompanied for the doubles gold balls at the Clay Courts.
Living in a relatively cool climate, Konduri "came into the tournament putting in a lot of extra work, a couple hours extra a day in fitness. I knew Mobile would be really tough conditions to play in. The humidity was really high, and it got up to 100 or 102 (degrees) a couple of days. It added three or four pounds of sweat to you."
Amid the stifling weather, Konduri was taking extra steps to run around his suddenly weak backhand.
"My forehand, I had a lot of confidence in it," he said. "The farther I got into the tournament, the better it got. As soon as I saw a lot of the top seeds withdrawing and losing ... I relied on sheer determination and will. I wanted to win the tournament so badly, the pain kind of went away and I was able to hit my backhands through the round of 16 and quarterfinal matches."
Konduri's confidence paid off handsomely in his semifinal. He won the first set 6-3 but trailed in the second set to fifth-seeded Safir Azam of Bellevue, Washington.
"I went down 2-5 in the second set, he started playing a lot better and I got a little bit nervous," said Konduri, who rallied for a 6-3, 7-5 victory in his closest match of the event. "I was really able to push it through. That was a huge accomplishment, getting five games in a row against a quality opponent.
"Once I got to the final, I didn't feel like I had much burden."
Schinnerer, from Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, and ranked 21st by TRN among rising ninth graders, took a 2-0 lead but managed just one game the rest of the day as Konduri -- ranked 10th among incoming freshmen -- pulled away.
"Once I got into the groove, I played one of the best matches I ever played," he said.
Doubles Champions Konduri & Colin McPeek
© Contributed Photo
In doubles, playing early with the compromised backhand, "I was just trying to run around everything, lobbing everything with one hand. My partner really picked it up and played some great tennis. I give a lot of credit to Colin for that."
The only set defeat Konduri incurred all week was in a doubles semifinal, when he and McPeek prevailed 4-6, 6-3, 6-0 against Andrej Markovic of Fountain Hills, Arizona, and Nicolas Pedraza of University Park, Maryland.
Konduri credits Gorin Tennis Academy, including coach Galnura Fattakhedinova, for the superlative preparation, joking that "sometimes I'm not very happy when they're killing me every day, but it's worth it after all the gold balls this summer.
"They've been putting in a lot of effort as well,” he said. “They're really invested in my success. They're really great role models."
Soon, Konduri will head back to the Harker School in San Jose for traditional academic pursuits.
"It is very tough to keep up with these guys who are online," he said. "I'm really able to manage it with quality over quantity. Maybe I'm not putting in as many hours as them, but I'm really putting in the intensity."
Other Results
Third Place Singles: James Andrew Ross of Frisco, Texas def. Azam 0-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Fifth Place Singles: Anish Poojari of Stilwell, Kansas def. No. 1 McPeek, 6-4, 6-2.
Next Up - Girls 14s
More coming this afternoon - this time from Rome, Georgia, where the Girls 14 Nationals were contested. Keep an eye out for more coverage - as TRN continues to celebrate junior tennis with Championship Week.
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About Sonny Dearth
Sonny Dearth is a writer and copy editor, primarily for the sports
section, at the Daily Press newspaper and
dailypress.com Web site in
Newport News, Va.
Dearth has more than 40 years of experience in tennis. He is a
former state high school champion who has served as a volunteer
assistant coach in Virginia, where he started for four years at
James Madison University
in the late 1980s. He has competed in a few USTA national junior and
adult events.
