Sports
Gruppuso Upsets No. 2 Seed at West Side Tennis Championships
Bayport native advances with a 7-5, 6-0 victory
It’s typically hard to ask a teenager to draw from their experiences, but Bayport’s Stephen Gruppuso did just that in his second round match at the West Side Tennis Championships yesterday afternoon.
Competing in the 14-and-under division at the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills, Gruppuso, who is coming off winning two tournaments in a row earlier this month, reeled off 11 games in a row in upsetting No. 2 seed Ananth Ragavan of NYC, advancing to the quarterfinals with a 7-5, 6-0 victory.
“This is my sixth match in four days, so I’m definitely match tough at this point,” said Gruppuso, who is currently an eighth grader at Laurel Springs Online Academy.
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After going down 5-2 in the opening set, Gruppuso said he began to alter his game plan against Ragavan.
“I knew I was going to have to make more balls in the court, so I started going more down the middle and he began to make a lot of errors from that,” said Gruppuso.
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The plan worked out beautifully, with Gruppuso reversing the lead and hitting a strong forehand winner to wrap up the opening set. Ragavan became visibly frustrated throughout the second set after blowing the lead, committing numerous unforced errors. A backhand sent well long wrapped up the match for Gruppuso in just over an hour of play.
Tennis is serious business for this 14-year-old. He recently spent a year at the world renowned Nick Bolletieri Tennis Academy in Bradenton, FL, training several hours a day with some of the best junior players in the world.
“They definitely helped a lot with my serve and my conditioning,” said Gruppuso. “They compare your game to a certain professional player and tell you the areas you need to fix in order to model your game after theirs.”
Despite the added benefits of playing several hours a day year round, Gruppuso said he wasn’t sure whether he was ready to permanently call Florida home yet.
Gruppuso is scheduled to play his quarterfinal match today at 2:30 pm against Raizada Vaid of Old Westbury. To follow his progress throughout the event, visit the tournament drawsheet.
