Senior men’s tennis player Kenta Miyoshi is fresh off a season of triumph, in which he earned All-American honors, was named Big Ten Player of the Year and made it all the way to the Sweet Sixteen in the NCAA singles championships. He entered this season highly regarded as the ITA preseason No. 6 player in singles.
While Miyoshi takes pride in his prior successes, he also acknowledges that they add pressure coming into this season. Regardless, Miyoshi said he has high expectations for himself and is looking forward to reaching his goals.
“I need to find the balance of, ‘Alright, this is the right goal,’ and staying in the present moment,” Miyoshi said.
Miyoshi recently qualified for the NCAA singles championship for the second consecutive year. To earn this qualification, he defeated multiple ranked opponents at the ITA Men’s All-American Championships in late September.
Last year, Miyoshi qualified for the NCAA singles championships through a regional tournament. Qualifying through the ITA championships should help Miyoshi get a higher seed.
Because of this improvement, his preparation for the NCAA singles championships has been different from that of last spring.
Miyoshi has been playing in challenger events all across the country this fall; in challengers, he competes against professional players, rather than student-athletes.
According to head coach Brad Dancer, despite the NCAA singles championships being just over a month away, they are not the main focus for Miyoshi or the team.
Dancer wants Miyoshi to think in the present and take the season one day at a time, focusing on the current tournaments instead of thinking solely on the championship.
Dancer says that their goal is to work toward the next event and “not concern ourselves so much with NCAAs but (take) the next step from where we are right now.”
Challenger struggles
While Miyoshi knows the jump to professional-level tournaments is tricky, he is not seeing nearly as much success as he would like. Miyoshi was eliminated early from his last two professional events and failed to place.
“It’s definitely a challenging time for me, especially looking at my results,” Miyoshi said.
Miyoshi lost in straight sets to Strong Kirchheimer at the Lincoln Challenger on Oct. 12. He also lost to Quinn Vandecasteele at the Fairfield Challenger just the week before.
“It’s definitely not where I want to be, but I also feel like I need to keep playing those events and overcome those challenges,” Miyoshi said. “I need to keep my head in the right direction and face … these challenges.”
According to Dancer, Miyoshi will likely compete in two more challengers, either the Charlottesville Challenger, Sioux Falls Challenger or Knoxville Challenger in late October and early November.
Dancer says the specifics are currently unknown, and they will have internal talks about which tournaments will be best for Miyoshi. This will give him the opportunity to bounce back on the professional stage and further prepare for the NCAA singles championships in late November.
Future goals
Miyoshi is well into his senior campaign for the Illini, which means that this spring will be his last time competing in the orange and blue.
Dancer has helped Miyoshi become the player he is today and will continue to do so throughout Miyoshi’s professional career.
“I’ve been talking to him,” Dancer said. “He’s got big, lofty goals, and that’s really important.”
Miyoshi will have some tough competition this season as he competes at both the collegiate and professional levels. He hopes his successes this season will set him up nicely to fulfill his goals and be a full-time pro come the summer.
