CT’s Visser caps off historic week with National Championship
WESTPORT, CT - Alexander “Aya” Visser, New England’s No. 1 ranked player in the Boys’ 18s division, is coming off the week of a lifetime. On Wednesday, November 24, the high school junior from Westport, CT, announced his verbal commitment to play NCAA tennis at Duke University. Just five days later, Visser captured the USTA Boys’ 18s National Indoor Championship in Overland Park, KS as the top overall seed, earning his first career Gold Ball.
“I definitely felt a lot of pressure and expectations being seeded one, but the fact that I had just committed really helped me with the nerves and took some of that pressure off,” Visser said. “I took it match by match and it was an amazing feeling when I won. I‘m hoping to get another one soon.”
Visser, a former New England Sectional Champion, won six consecutive matches over four days to claim the title, including a second-round win against his tournament doubles partner and club training partner, Douglas Yaffa (New York, NY). In the final, he rolled past No. 9 seed Dean Kamenev, of Hinsdale, IL, 6-4, 6-4, capping off his memorable run.
“Everybody at this tournament blew me away with the level they were playing at, especially some of the guys I wasn’t expecting with lower rankings. I had a really tough time getting past some of them, but I think that made the win a lot better,” Visser said.
Visser earned Gold despite not having played a tournament since competing at the USTA National Championships in Kalamazoo in August, as he dedicated the better part of the fall to training, schoolwork and the NCAA recruitment process.
The No. 10 ranked player in the country prior to his decision, Visser had his pick of the litter in terms of where to continue his tennis career. But deep down, he always hoped he’d end up in Durham.
“I have always been a huge fan of Duke because my dad played tennis there and I know a lot of guys on the team. I talked heavily to some Ivys and a couple of the bigger programs like USC and Texas, but I never got too serious with them because I always knew in the back of my mind that Duke was the place for me. And then when I went on my visit a couple weeks ago, that really confirmed my decision,” Visser said.
Visser will be joined at Duke by fellow New Englander and current No. 2 player in New England, Teddy Truwit, who is a year ahead of Visser and will be enrolling next fall.
Aya Visser won National Indoors and verbally committed to Duke University.
Aya Visser won National Indoors and verbally committed to Duke University.
Aya Visser won National Indoors and verbally committed to Duke University.
Aya Visser won National Indoors and verbally committed to Duke University.
Aya Visser won National Indoors and verbally committed to Duke University.
- Aya Visser won National Indoors and verbally committed to Duke University.
- Aya Visser won National Indoors and verbally committed to Duke University.
- Aya Visser won National Indoors and verbally committed to Duke University.
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“I’m super pumped for Teddy. I practice with him every day and we’ve gotten really close, and we’ve had a little rivalry going on for some time now. He wasn’t able to take his official visit due to Covid, so we actually took our visits together,” Visser said.
While Visser has posted impressive singles results in 2021, including earning Bronze Ball at the National Level 1 in Indiana in May, reaching the finals at New England Sectionals in June and playing his way to the round of 16 at National Clay Courts in Delray Beach, FL in July, National Indoors was the push he needed to help achieve his future junior tennis goals ahead of college.
“It's definitely a huge confidence booster, and moving forward my main goal is to play the Junior Grand Slams. I want to do well at as many ITFs as I can, and hopefully I’ll be able to qualify for the slams from there,” Visser said.
Following his win at National Indoors, Visser jumped from No. 10 to No. 2 in the National rankings.
Visser currently trains at both Solaris Racquet Club with coach Patrick Hirscht and at Intensity with Mike Slattery.
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