Although he has never played for LT, Alex Ross ‘15 has dedicated a large portion of his life to tennis, and plans to continue to do so at Vanderbilt next year.

“It’s tough. It’s hard work. Yeah, it’s fun to win. The pressure is what makes you play—how you perform in the big moments,” Ross said.

In early September, Ross committed to Vanderbilt, one of the top-20 ranked college tennis teams, after being scouted and promoting himself throughout junior year, when his ranking reached a high of 45th in the nation, according to the official tennis recruiting website, www.tennisrecruiting.net.

“It’s a huge relief [now that I’ve committed] because over junior year it’s very stressful for a tennis player because that’s when you start unofficial visits with coaches,” Ross said.

Ross has played tennis ever since he could hold a racket—when he was 2-years old. According to Ross, his dad, David Ross, played tennis and he wanted his kids to enjoy the game.

“Tennis happens to be a sport that can be enjoyed at all ages,” David said. “I was excited to gift my sons a sport for life.”

David played tennis for both his high school and college. While Alex has not played for the high school team, he has still followed in his father’s footsteps.

“This was the perfect sport for me because I am small in stature, but a smaller individual can still be competitive in tennis,” David said. “I expected my children to be small as well so I [had] both my sons playing tennis at an early age.”

Currently, Alex practices at the club Score Tennis and Fitness under Head Coach Robbye Poole. The Score philosophy emphasizes working hard to achieve your goals.

“Experience the thrill of victory, but learn to manage the anger and frustration of defeat,” the Score club writes. “Learn that hard work pays dividends. Recognize your limitations and learn to reach beyond.”

Although, from Alex’s perspective, he didn’t take the game seriously until when he was 11 or 12 and began to play four hours a day.

“As I got into high school, it was substantially harder,” Alex said. “I wouldn’t get home until 10:30 p.m. and homework was tough. It was hard on my health.”

In order to handle the workload, Alex and his brother Gianni Ross ‘13 both started taking online school and increased their practice hours.

“Players that I know that are going to go professional are all online students,” Alex said. “Even if you were at a tournament, you could catch up and finish a week of school in one day if you really focused.”

Both the Ross brothers are back in school this year, but they each leave school early. Alex leaves school after fifth period for tennis practice.

“I’m an athlete-student, not a student-athlete,” Ross said.

Despite the hours he puts into tennis and his focus on athletics, Ross wants a degree because it’s safer to have something to fall back on.

“My dream job is to be a surgeon like my father. It’s going to be difficult managing that goal and tennis,” Alex said.