A guttural cry echoes throughout the Atkins Tennis Center. The shout that bounces off the high ceilings and hard courts belongs to Scott Oudsema, who is fighting though his first singles match of the 2005 United States Tennis Association Challenger of Champaign-Urbana against two-time All-American Todd Widom. The match is one of two first-round main draw matches being contested.

Although the first set has not yet been decided, each athlete knows he will face a tough test in the other. Each man has had success during his short career and would like to improve his world ranking. Widom, who turned pro after his sophomore year at Miami (Fla.), reached the second round of the main draw at last year’s challenger. He would like to improve on that finish, a tournament run halted by Illinois’ lone NCAA singles champion Amer Delic. First, he will have to get past rookie pro Oudsema, who is playing his first tournament in Champaign.

The first set is tied at six points each. Neither athlete has been able to gain the much-needed momentum to win the set. Instead the men exchange longer and longer points. Their low-pitched grunts grow louder as they try to force each other to make a mistake. Cries of frustration and shouts of excitement after well-played points increase the tension, creating a backdrop of anticipation as the tiebreaker continues. Oudsema quickly wipes his face with the lower edge of his white polo shirt. His deep emerald green eyes narrow as he refocuses on the upcoming point.

“Come on! Come on!” he cries, his head jerking dramatically.

Pressure is mounting in the match, but the pressure Oudsema feels now is minimal compared to the pressure he faced in fall 2004. As a senior at Portage Northern High School, Oudsema had a tough decision to make. He could either attend college or make the jump to the professional ranks. It was a choice a decade ago he would not have been forced to make. However, as more tennis players are experiencing unprecedented success at younger ages, top juniors are turning pro without going to college.

Rafael Nadal, 19, of Spain won the French Open last year before finishing the year as the world’s No. 2 player. Great Britian’s Andy Murray, 18, won the SAP Open last month. In 2001, at the age of 20, Lleyton Hewitt won the U.S. Open. American athletes are also experiencing success at younger ages. Andy Roddick, who skipped college to turn pro, was 21 when he won the U.S. Open in 2001. Other notable American tennis professionals who have skipped college and had positive success include Mardy Fish, the 2004 Olympic silver medalist and Taylor Dent, who, last year, reached a career-high world singles ranking of No. 21.

“Tennis is becoming more of a younger sport every day,” Oudsema said. “If you really want to get up there (in the rankings) one day, you’ve got to put in the work at an earlier age than you used to.”

The decision to turn pro was not any easy one. Oudsema was comfortable at home, enjoyed attending classes at his high school and had many friends. Unlike some tennis prodigies, who attend special academies to fine-tune their tennis skills or travel almost exclusively, finishing their high school education through online courses, Oudsema elected to take classes at his public high school until he became a full-time tennis player. By December 2004, it became obvious that Oudsema’s once long-range goal of becoming a professional tennis player became attainable earlier than he could have anticipated when he was a five-year-old just beginning to play tennis. Which is why, he signed with SFX, a top-tier management firm to begin his professional career.

He was not alone in his decision. Phillip Simmonds, Oudsema’s doubles partner in Champaign, also bypassed college. Brendan Evans, Oudsema’s doubles partner when he won the Australian, Wimbledon and U.S. Juniors doubles titles in 2004, never had any intentions of going to college. By the time they won the doubles crown at the U.S. Open Juniors tournament, Evans, then 18, had already been playing professionally for three years. Scoville Jenkins, who topped Oudsema at the USTA Boys’ 18s National Tennis Championships, opted to skip college too.

In fact, Illinois sophomore Ruben Gonzales is one of the few doubles partners Oudsema has had recently who chose to compete at the collegiate level. As doubles partners in the 10-through 16-year-old age divisions, the men were quite successful, winning the 14-and-under Easter Bowl and Super National Hard Courts tournaments. In the 16-and-under division, they reached the semifinals of the Easter Bowl, finished third at the USTA Super National Championships and were finalists in the Super National Championships.

Ultimately, the athletes parted ways when Oudsema chose to travel more and more, building his confidence and world ranking.

“It turned out that I had a shot of making it as a pro; so, I went that (professional) route and Ruben went the college route; which is just different. It’s not better or worse.”

Back at the Atkins Tennis Center, emotions surge as the athletes struggle to gain an advantage. The traditional tiebreaker is not long enough for the winner to emerge; however, as the first set draws to a close, Oudsema takes control. He strings together the last two points to surge to a 7-6 (12) win, letting out a deep shout, springing upward, throwing his fists into the air.

Bill Oudsema, who has driven from Michigan to Champaign, is watching his son’s match unfold. Several USTA High Performance coaches, who travel with and train top up-and-coming professionals to help them reach their full potential, carefully dissect various aspects of Oudsema’s performance.

Few athletes linger in the upstairs players’ lounge, analyzing matches, sitting in groups of four playing hearts and dozing on one of the blue couches – more men will join the group relaxing as the days’ matches progress. But it is still early and many athletes are warming up on surrounding courts to prepare for later matches. Oudsema is not distracted by those nearby as he looks to take control of the match against Widom, but the former Hurricane will not have it.

Widom did not fight his way through two qualifying to be eliminated in the first round of the tournament’s main draw. Instead, Widom has battled back with the composure of a seasoned professional.