Saratoga Tennis Players Make History, Head to State Championships
Saratoga Springs varsity tennis players Ian Hill, Kevin Rosas, Liam Chartrand, and Ryan Clancy at their high school’s tennis courts during a practice session on Monday afternoon. Photo by Jonathon Norcross.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — For the first time in Saratoga Springs High School history, two of its varsity tennis doubles teams will compete in the state championships at the iconic USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens, home of the US Open.
On Monday afternoon, doubles partners Ian Hill and Kevin Rosas (who finished 2nd in the Section 2 tournament last week) and Liam Chartrand and Ryan Clancy (who placed third) were participating in one of many practice sessions leading up to their trip to New York City, working on their volleys.
“It’s incredible,” Chartrand said about playing at Billie Jean King. “Playing on those courts is like night and day. You get to play on courts that professional players play on and you get to play in front of kids from every single high school combined. It’s a bigger stage.”
“You’re surrounded by seats so it’ll echo,” Hill said. “It’s really loud when you hit the ball.”
“Yeah, that’s another big part,” added Chartrand. “When you hit a serve, it echoes for about a second after. It’s kind of crazy.”
The booming Blue Streak serves can be heard during this weekend’s tournament, when first-round doubles action kicks off on Friday morning. There are only four doubles teams representing Section 2, and two of them hail from the Spa City.
The tournament is poised to be a memorable final hurrah for Hill, Rosas, Chartrand, and Clancy, all of whom are seniors who have been playing at the varsity level for at least five years.
“I think we know that the competition is going to be harder than we’ve ever played against. I know that there are kids in there that are committed to some top colleges; there are some top players in that tournament. But we don’t have any pressure on ourselves, because our whole goal was to get to states,” Chartrand said.
Nonetheless, the Blue Streaks still firmly believe they could upset one of those top teams if they play to the best of their abilities. In this historic season, anything is possible.