Athlete of the Year for Boys Tennis: Alex Wallace, Union High School

Alexander Wallace was named the Columbian's Boys Tennis Player of the Year after finishing third in the 3A state tennis championships last weekend. June 8, 2009. (The Columbian, Troy Wayrynen)

Alex Wallace capped his freshman season at Union by placing third in the Class 3A Boys Tennis Champion-ships, and even came within a point of ousting eventual state champion Lance Wilhelm of Peninsula during the state semifinals. The loss to Wilhelm was the only match Wallace dropped last season. He is also currently the fourth-ranked 16-under boys player in the USTA's Northwest Region.

What was your most memorable moment from the season? I had a lot of fun this season. Coach (Dave) Heitsch and everybody, they're really great. It makes it a really fun environment. I really just liked hanging out with all my friends. Even though I'm with all my friends during local tournaments and national tournaments that I meet over there and stuff, you don't really get to stay with them and spend a lot of time with them like you do in these types of tournaments. I had a lot of my teammates, we were pretty good friends, especially at regionals and state, and they were very supportive. It's a very different environment than what you get in the local and national tournaments, because it's more like a soccer or football game than a tennis match.

What's one thing that most people don't understand about tennis? My (biology) teacher, Mr. Burris, he always gives me a hard time because he says tennis is a non-contact sport. He's the coach of the soccer team, and I always give him a hard time about how soccer people fake their injuries. So we always go back and forth on that. Tennis, a lot of people mistake it for a game that people play just because they don't want contact. It's really hard on the mental. I still have problems with my mental aspect of the game, before and after and during my match. It's hard because it's individual and you have to be out there and you have to think for yourself and you have to do pretty much everything for yourself. That's one of the hardest aspects of the game and one of the things that makes tennis unique. You have to learn to analyze correctly what you did, you have to learn how to manage yourself out there, and it takes a long time to learn and improve in that. You can improve your physical game, but if you don't have mental fortitude and you kind of break away, then you'll lose to someone that can. And I think people don't see how hard, mentally, tennis is.

Do you play any other sports? I did play basketball. I did swim. But I just play basketball recreationally now, and I don't think I played any other sports than that. I did play tee ball when I was little. I pretty much just play tennis and basketball recreationally. Sometimes I play other sports with my fitness trainer because he believes in cross training.

What is one goal that you want to accomplish in tennis in the next few years? It's mainly improving my game. There are a lot of goals that I set — maybe nationally or locally — about winning a tournament. I don't ever think of it as really trying to win that tournament. I think about, 'How can I improve my game as much as possible.' Because winning, if I keep striving to work and I keep striving to improve, it's all a process for me. Winning is not as important as building my game right now. And as my coaches always tell me, my prime is still yet to come. We want you beating those kids you lose to now when you're 20, as opposed to beating them now and losing to them when you're 20. So you've always got to have the big picture in mind, and that's really my No. 1 goal.


What's one big goal away from tennis that you want to accomplish in the next few years? I want to get out of school with a 4.0 (GPA), and I want to get accepted into Stanford. They're high (goals), and if I'm a little lower, that's OK. It gives you something to work for, and it gives you something to keep your eyes on. I know that if I work hard enough that I will get there. And I've done that well so far. I still have a 4.0, and hopefully I'll get there.

Are there any hobbies that you're enthusiastic about? I enjoy just sitting back at home after I've had a long, gruelling day at school and practice. I will confess, I do play video games a lot — the (X-Box) 360. I play UFC Undisputed a lot. ... I do like spending time with my family alot. We often sit down and watch a movie or go out to eat a lot. I do enjoy that. I enjoy spending time with friends — I go to my friends' house often when I have time, when I don't have a tournament on the weekend. I have some things I like to do. I really like to fish. I wanted to go into marine biology for a long time. I memorized nearly every fish in Hawaii, and we went to the Aquarium more than the tour guide. So marine biology may be a field that I want to look into when I grow up.

What will you remember most about the season? It was my first year of high school tennis. It's a completely different atmosphere. I love the fact that you have so many people there to support you. It's almost like a team sport when you play high school tennis. And I think that's something I'm going to remember for a long time, and something that I'm gonna remember from my first year of high school. I didn't ever play anything like high school tennis, ever. I maybe got close to, like, a tennis team or something like that, but in high school, you've got other kids you're rooting for. You're really got to have each other's backs. And I really enjoyed the team spirit, the backbone that you have with high school tennis.

What advice would you give a younger player? What I would tell them is hit the ball and don't lose faith and practice hard. As a little kid I was 5-foot-2 when I was in sixth grade, and maybe 130 (pounds). I was pretty chubby. And I really loved tennis. My mom and dad, they didn't really play tennis — they were familiar with the game, but they just went to VTC (Vancouver Tennis Center) and they saw the tiny tots and they said, you know, sign him up. Get him doing stuff. And I've liked tennis since then and I've really kept at it and I really wanted to work hard. I never push the ball, I always hit the ball. And sometimes I lose to kids who just get everything back in tournaments. And that would be kind of devastating. But I kept working hard and kept practicing — I never really gave up. And I always had belief in myself that I would get over that hump. And I have to this day, and I'm really happy that I stuck with it. So I'd tell them, don't get discouraged if you lose playing your game, if you lose hitting the ball, because it will pay its dues later on.

How does it feel to be named the Columbian's Player of the Year? I really appreciate that. There's a lot of kids who may not be as recognized, but I believe that they're great kids too. It could've been anybody. And I really just want to say thanks for the title, but I'm just saying there are a lot of other kids that are great.

What does the sport mean to you? Tennis is so much more than just a sport. I don't see it as needing to win or anything like that. I've learned so many life lessons just from playing this game — from my mom and dad, from things that I've done and things that I've lost. I gave up once and my dad said, 'Never do that again. You can't do that and be successful in life.' I think that was very valuable to me, and that was important to show me, you know, really, 'Don't do that.' And even though I lost the first one (the semifinal match at state), that's what I play tennis for. I want to play tennis to get that great match against a kid that's just as good as me, and a kid that I'm really pushed to my limit against. And even though I lost the match, of course I was disappointed after, but you have to give it to Lance. He was down match point and he came up with a great pass, and he took the match from me. I'll remember that match. I'm really happy for him to finally win it. I love playing tennis for those moments, those big moments where everything is on the line and you just have to give it your all, and you can't move back. And, I just enjoy it as a sport, and I'm always working on improving my game. I'm not so much tied up in the winning deal or do anything to win as much as I am just improving my game and wanting to play a good match. And I think that's why I don't get tied up in many of the gamesmanship or anything like that. And that, I think, really keeps the sport fresh for me.

Who was your most influential coach? I can't answer that. I have so many supportive coaches in my life. So many people who have helped me along the way. I can't put any of them above the other. Coach Dave Heitsch, coach Todd Spike, coach Aaron Gross at UP (who runs The Academy tennis program at the University of Portland), coaches like John Heim who coached me at VTC, all those coaches have really helped me in some way or another. Without any one of them I wouldn't be the same person that I am today.

What does it mean to you playing for Union? Well, I love the school. I like the kids, I get along with everybody on my team. We're really close as a team, as opposed to other teams I've seen that are in little groups. We interact pretty well, and that makes it a much funner experience to play for high school. And that's something I enjoy about it so much. I love Union. I love the school. I think it's great. I like coach Heitsch — I think he's the best coach I could've gotten. They do as much as they can to support me and give me a great experience. And I really appreciate that. I wouldn't want to play for any other school.

How did you get started in tennis? My mom and dad, they were at VTC just hitting, and they saw this little group, like 4- or 5-year-olds. And they put me in it and they just said, 'Go take a tennis racket and go try it.' I wouldn't really call it tennis. I'd call it trying to hit a ball around and make contact. But I moved up the little lesson ranks, and it drove me to become more motivated. And I met one of my best friends to this day there — his name's Kent (Andreasen), I saw him the first day at tiny tots. And I've been playing since then — I've been playing since I was 4 — and I started practicing harder as I was able to actually hit the ball over the net, and really I started playing competitive tournaments around 9-years-old because my mom and dad — I really wanted to, and finally they said, 'I think you're old enough to try a few now.' And of course I had to fight my losses and get back up from them and try to strive to get over them, and I've been doing that to this day, and that's what I love about this game.

What's the most embarrassing moment that you've experienced in tennis? Just happened recently: I was getting ready for my Kevin Kosanke match in the quarters (at state), and I had my coach from UP there, and another guy, and I was getting ready for the match with him and trying to get in the zone, and I was called. And so I go upstairs and I get my balls and everything and I go tell Roman (Borvanov) — the other guy, you know, the coach — and my other coach that I'm going on. And it turns out I forgot to tell Heitsch that I was going out on the court. That was pretty funny, and we look back on it now and we laugh. But someone else had to tell him that I was out. So he gives me a hard time about that.

Who is your favorite teacher? I really like all my teachers at Union right now. The teachers there right now are Mr. Burris, Mr. Cate, Mrs. Dulak, Ms. Perazo, Mr. Campbell, and there has to be one teacher from Shehala (Middle School) that I have to give thanks to: Mr. Parsons. He was probably my favorite math teacher to this day. He was a great guy. I was his TA, we had a great time, and he was a really great math teacher. He taught me a lot about math. He just recently came to support me at state — I hadn't seen him for the whole year. He's a great teacher.

Have you ever met any famous people? I met Wayne Bryan, Bob and Mike Bryan's father, and I met Mike and Bob Bryan — the No. 1 doubles team in the world. And I'm trying to think of, I met some Korean superstar, but I don't think anyone would know who they were except maybe my friend. I don't even remember (their name); I just wanted to put that out there. And then I met James Blake — he's one of the top singles players in the world.