Tennis: John Jay’s Crystal Reaches States

To qualify for the states in any sport regardless of what class you are in is a special honor. It’s especially gratifying when one achieves that honor as a sophomore.

That’s a claim that John Jay sophomore Nick Crystal can make as his second-place finish in the sectionals enabled him to qualify for the state tournament at the United States Tennis Association Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing this past week.

Crystal split his two matches at the states and while he would have liked to won more, just making it as far as he did is quite an accomplishment.

“It’s pretty special to make states as a sophomore for sure, especially if you are coming from Section 1, where you have so many good players,” Crystal said.

For Crystal, tennis is a life-long passion as he has been playing the game basically his entire life.

“I have been playing tennis since I was two and a half, probably 13 years,” Crystal said. He turns 16 in June.

Crystal is following the lead of his twin siblings, brother Jimmy and sister Catherine, who both made the states as seniors while playing for John Jay in the 2007-08 school year.

Both older siblings went on to play college tennis at the Division I level, Jimmy at Brown University and Catherine at the University of Richmond.

“My brother and sister are five years older and they started when they were 8,” Nick Crystal said. “Naturally I wanted to follow in their footsteps.”

Following them in their footsteps showed that playing high-level tennis can lead to great things outside the court.

“They influenced me a lot, going to all the national tournaments all over the country with them and seeing how far in life tennis can get you, how it can help you get into great schools and meet a lot of great people,” Crystal said. "Following them showed me that tennis is more than just a game.”

He has been playing in national tournaments since he was 11 years-old and is ranked in the USTA rankings.

While Crystal enjoys playing in tournaments across the country, he says that playing for John Jay is still very important to him.

“It definitely means a lot because I am able to represent my school and try to help benefit the John Jay tennis program, which is pretty good," he said. “We were 11-0.”

What he also enjoys about playing at John Jay is the opportunity it gives him to be able to play with some of his closest friends.

“It’s definitely fun playing with my friends on the team,” Crystal said. “I have friends in nationals but I am not as close with them as I am with my friends at John Jay so it’s nice to be able to play with them.”

Crystal says that he would like to continue to play in college at the Division I level but says academics are very important to him as well. Stanford, Virginia or Southern California, are just three examples of schools he would consider going to.

USC defeated Virginia for this year’s national championship, the Trojans third in a row with Stanford also being ranked in the top 10.

The Trojans became the first team to win three national titles in a row since Stanford won four in a row from 1995-98.

For some, considering a California school wouldn’t be an option since it’s too far away. For Crystal however, going to college in California would be like going home.

“California, my family grew up there,” Nick Crystal said. “My brother and sister were born there. I was there for three weeks in April for tournaments. I am there probably 10 percent of the year. California is like my second home. I would rather go out west, actually.”