Community Corner
Whiz Kid Egor Ivanov: Tennis is His Game
As a sophomore, he's one of the best in District 11.
- Name: Egor Ivanov, 16
- School: Parkland High School, 10th grade
- Greatest Accomplishment: Being able to play in some high-level tournaments outside of school, and in the districts against the team from Southern Lehigh. “I think we played really well; I didn’t think we’d do that well,” he says. “Parkland used to be the best in the area, until Southern Lehigh moved from Division 2A to 3A. Now they’re our biggest rival.“ He also cites playing in the District 11 doubles final with teammate Richie Lichtenwalner against SoLehi’s Michael DiSanto and Brendan Ferraro as an outstanding moment. But his goal is to beat Southern Lehigh’s singles champ Eric Perez next year. “I lost to him in singles this year. He’s a junior and plays every day because his father owns a tennis club, so he’ll be really tough next year, but I’m looking forward to playing him.” Egor started playing the game when he was six. “At first I didn’t like it, but my parents are tennis fanatics and they persevered and kept after me to keep playing,” he says. Now he practices under the tutelage of Robert Risbosken at Brookside Country Club, who’s been coaching Egor for the past 4-plus years. “He thinks I have the potential to make it to the states, and he really encourages me.” Parkland High School head coach Julian Taibi also feels confident and encouraged by Egor’s continued growth. “Between his freshman and sophomore year Egor matured a great deal, not only physically, but mentally as well,” he says. “He has become much more consistent and patient in his game. He works hard to set up points and has become very effective in his ability to come to the net and end the point. In his upcoming years, I’d like to see him add a bit more pace to his shots, including his serve. In my opinion, that was the difference in the district singles final against Eric Perez. Eric hits with a lot of pace and is also able to use his accuracy to move Egor around and hit winners. Egor found it extremely difficult to get used to Eric’s game, whereas Eric became comfortable with Egor’s game within a short while. If Egor can add more pace and depth to his shots, he will be much more of a force to be reckoned with. Overall, I do think Egor played well in the singles final as well as the team final. He showed determination and relentlessness, which I hope are two traits he holds onto. Egor has been improving each year thus far, and I hope that he continues this rise throughout his high school career.”
- Key to Awesomeness: “That’s a hard question to answer,” he says, then adds that he thinks it’s his dedication to tennis. “I always go out with the intention of winning, and I have confidence in my ability to win.” Academically, he says he’s “doing well” in school, with current memberships in the Spanish Honor Society, Future Business Leaders of America and Key Club. Next year he says he wants to become a member of the school’s various honor societies, including the National Honor Society (membership is open to juniors and seniors only), and he says his favorite subject is math, with a career goal of becoming an engineer. He plans to continue playing tennis in college, and hopes to attend an NCAA Division 1 school with a good tennis program, possibly Lehigh University, Penn State University, Ohio State University or Duke University. Outside of school, like most teens, he enjoys hanging out with friends and playing other sports for fun.