The Monster On The Tennis Court

SEATTLE- Senior John Nishimoto is tennis player who plays for the fighting Irish tennis team and has been a key player for them this season.

Nishimoto started his tennis career in his sophomore year and starting off wasn’t really that easy.

“I started playing tennis in sophomore year, and back then they had split practices so jv and varsity split off at different courts, so I didn't get a whole lot of good experience against good players,” said Nishimoto.

On the junior varsity he had a hard time adapting to the game which isn’t a surprise because it’s his first ever playing competitive tennis.

“On jv I hardly got any instruction on how to play so I just relied on my past sports experiences to navigate me through the game of tennis.”

As time has gone by Nishimoto developed into a much better tennis player and especially this season, he didn’t expect to start off strong.

“I have performed a lot better than I expected the reason for that is because this year I got taught a bunch of new techniques and styles of playing, and I picked up the techniques pretty quickly and I saw immediate improvements. In general, I have played much better than previous seasons.”

The way he usually wins his tennis matches is through his experience and aggressiveness.

“I describe myself as unorthodox meaning I don't play like a normal player, I am more aggressive and at the net than most players and that's how I win games.”

Now the fighting Irish tennis team have a 3-3 record in metros and are 8th place and are hoping to make a playoff spot.

Nishimoto knows that the job isn’t done and hopes to win all of his matches before the metro playoffs start.