Two years ago, current freshman Andy Zhou was not on coach Dave Fish’s recruiting radar for the Harvard men’s tennis team. But Zhou’s rapid development as a player in his junior and senior year of high school attracted attention. By the time he arrived on campus, Zhou shouldered high expectations, along with the usual bags and athletic gear.
His freshman season did not disappoint.
In the final match of the year against No. 38 Dartmouth, Zhou claimed the lone victory for Harvard, ending a rocky season on a high note with a five-match win streak and a team-high 17-11 record under his belt.
“Andy came in as a player we knew and hoped would be a real contributor to the team,” Fish said. “He didn’t let us down.”
With high hopes riding on the team entering the season, the Crimson endured a bumpy campaign where every match counted, and Zhou’s consistency on the court was an important asset. As the team struggled as a whole to clinch doubles points, Zhou consistently managed to pull through in contested matches.
Zhou performed particularly well in dual-match situations. In January, Zhou clinched the deciding point in a 4-3 victory over William & Mary before crushing his Boston College opponent the same day. Zhou had a repeat performance in March, claiming the deciding point against Old Dominion before sweeping Amherst.
But the season wasn’t always smooth sailing for the freshman, and it took a particularly trying contest for Zhou to adjust to the dual-match structure of college matches. After going down in a particularly tough battle against his Memphis opponent in February, Zhou found himself needing a moment to reset and evaluate his mentality.
“I went out there and just was not in control of myself,” Zhou said. “My opponent was a decent player, but I really felt like I discounted my performance that day…. I just felt like I had no spirit. I gave up on myself that day.”
Zhou didn’t give up for good, however.
Two days later, with a new mindset, Zhou went on to overcome a more experienced Vanderbilt opponent in a tight match. That result provided a confidence boost, setting up the rookie for his late-season success.
“It really felt like I was resurrecting myself a little bit,” the freshman said. “Even though I didn’t win all my matches from that day on, I definitely felt like there was a turnaround from the way I was approaching my matches. I was finally getting used to the dual-match culture of tennis, and that was a really a key moment for me.”
That mental toughness stems from Zhou’s upbringing in tennis-crazy California. He played for the rival high school of co-captain Nicky Hu, and this experience surely primed him for the rigors of higher-level competition.
From a coach’s perspective, Fish attributed much of Zhou’s success on the courts to Zhou’s exceptional drive and mental determination.
“He’s brought a huge amount of energy and ferocity,” Fish said. “A lot of the time freshmen are a little bit awkward about how hard to go, but that’s never been a question for Andy. He dives into every match, every practice match, with the mentality ‘I just want to win.’”
For Zhou, building the competitiveness that gives him an edge in his matches has taken time and training. He pointed to the fact that, as a kid, he lost a lot of area matches—and that such short-term failure paved the way for long-term success.
But it is also Zhou’s ability to improve his game and translate his skills in practice onto the courts that gives him an edge, from his development in high school to his improvement throughout freshman year.
“Andy has a really high ceiling,” Fish said. “We’ve been pushing him to develop his forehand as a weapon, to dominate a little more. He’s a very hard worker, and he’s made really significant improvements. At the end of a year, he was really on a tear.”
Finishing with the win over the Big Green, that tear technically continues into the offseason, as Zhou enters summer training on a five match win streak. Whether he can pick up where he left off, extending the streak to six, is a question that will have to wait until next season.
But after watching Zhou’s strong first season, Fish has high hopes for the freshman over the next three years.
“We think that he’s going to continue to be a real contributor in singles and doubles in the future,” Fish said. “There’s no limit on what we see for him.”
–Staff writer Jamie Chen can be reached at jamiechen@college.harvard.edu.