Adam Ketefian '23 Recruiting Profile

Hi! My name is Adam Ketefian and I am a 15-year-old rising junior from Washington state. I played multiple sports through elementary and middle school, including basketball, soccer, and tennis, but I eventually narrowed it down to solely tennis, the sport I was most passionate about. When I was 12, I started taking tennis more seriously, training multiple days a week and competing in and winning many local USTA tournaments in both singles and doubles. Before the pandemic shut down tennis in the rainy Pacific Northwest for the second time last fall, my game was peaking after I won two consecutive tournaments, defeating 10+ UTR opponents along the way to the championships. After a few months of very limited tennis due to Covid closures, I am now working extra hard to make up for lost time and am in the process of significantly improving my game.

Now a bit about my game... Ever since I was little, my game has always been based on power. I love to hit hard! I have a big first serve and a high, spinny second serve that comes to the opponent with a lot of movement on it. My backhand comes naturally to me, and I have a rocket down the line shot. I’m also very athletic and love to fly around the court and hit winners. I don’t want to brag, but it’s rare that I come across an opponent who can match my power and speed. However, in the past year, I have been adding more skills to my game. High and heavy shots with a good amount of pace are now my main shots from the baseline. I also have learned to integrate angle shots, drop shots, slices, and net play into my game. I’m working on creating a full arsenal of weapons so that I’m better prepared against elite-level competition, especially in national-level tournaments, which I’ve started competing in this year. The biggest thing that I have been striving to improve upon, however, is my mental game. In the past, missed shots, lucky shots by opponents, and other small things used to frustrate me, throwing me off and affecting my performance in matches. I have been improving in this area greatly this year, turning my self-critical thoughts of “What are you doing!” to all the more reason to reset, focus, and start over on the next point, giving me even more encouragement to outwork my opponent.

My goal for college is to play at a school that will challenge me academically while maintaining a very competitive tennis environment. I have always loved computers, coding, and playing with software, and I’ve started multiple online eCommerce businesses in the past two years and generated enough income to pay for most of what I need on my own. Thus, I would like to study Computer Science in college with a minor in business, with a longer-term goal of starting my own business in the future. Therefore, schools with a solid Computer Science department along with a top notch tennis program would fit me perfectly.