Fair Lawn Tennis Player Advances in Flushing Tourney

On Saturday, Fredrick Zaretsky of Fair Lawn rolled through his first round match in the Boys 16-and-under division of the BJKNTC Junior Tennis Classic Championships in Flushing, overcoming a stern test in the opening set before advancing with a 7-6, 6-1 victory over Gabriel Lazar of Boca Raton, Florida.

“I just made a conscious effort after the first set to stay in the rallies longer and not go for winners so early on,” said Zaretsky, who will be an incoming freshman this fall at Fair Lawn High School. “Once I made that commitment, the match started to get a lot easier.”

Zaretsky was introduced to the sport at the age of 5 after watching his sister, a former No. 1 singles player at Fair Lawn High. He began to take up tournaments at age 9 and the sport has become a way of life ever since.

These days, he trains several days a week at Haworth Tennis Club with coach Boris Bogdanov, working on a number of on-court elements that will help bring his game to the next level. Zaretsky spends roughly 40 weekends a year traveling around the state for tournaments that feature some of the best junior players in the region.

“The biggest thing I need to start doing is building my points around my forehand and serve,” said Zaretsky. “The top players have a one-two combination that they use to get a lot of easy points, so I’ve been working on that mainly in practices with my coach.”

In addition, Zaretsky said he hopes to play on the boys varsity tennis team at Fair Lawn next spring, where he hopes to advance far in the individual state championships.

Also competing in Flushing this weekend is Lee Weisberger of Wayne, who advanced in the Boys 18-and-under division with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Sacha Singh of Brooklyn.

The finals of the BJKNTC Junior Tennis Championships are scheduled for Monday afternoon. To follow Weisberger and Zaretsky’s progress throughout the event, visit the tournament drawsheet.

http://tennislink.usta.com/tournaments/draws/EventDraw.aspx?T=108560&E=2