Junior Tennis Ace Succeeds On and Off the Court

Name: Christopher Vrabel

Age: 15

School: Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology

Key to Awesomeness: Vrabel balances a challenging academic schedule with athletic demands.

For Centreville resident Christopher Vrabel, there’s a healthy dose of sibling rivalry on the tennis court.

His sister, Julie, is currently one of the top ranked junior players in the country, but Vrabel is coming on strong to reaching the heights of his elder sibling. Racking up three singles and three singles doubles titles last year, Vrabel now finds himself ranked No. 3 in the Boys 16-and-under division in the Mid-Atlantic Region.

“My dad introduced me to the sport when I was around three years old, but I began to take it more seriously a few years later when I was around 7 or 8,” said Vrabel, who's now 15.

After finishing classes for the day, Vrabel heads to the 4 Star Tennis Academy in Merrifield for two to three hours of practice each day, consisting of a mixture of group clinics and private lessons under the watchful eye of his coach, Bear Schofield, before going straight home to complete his homework.

When the school week ends, Vrabel spends approximately twenty weekends each year traveling to some of the biggest junior tournaments around the region, in addition to a select number of week-long national events.

While his schedule would be enough to intimidate most people, Vrabel said the workload no longer fazes him. 

“It’s a routine, but it’s something that I’ve gotten used to at this point,” said Vrabel.

Despite the impressive results in recent months, Vrabel said he is working on a number of areas with Schofield to elevate his game to the next level.

“We’ve been working on a lot of technical aspects like trying to stay closer to the baseline in rallies and lower to the ground when I’m hitting my shots,” said Vrabel.

Vrabel’s success on the tennis court also extends to the classroom. He is currently a sophomore at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, which was recently voted the best high school in the country by U.S. News and World Report. His sister also attends the school and is a junior there.

“You have to take a test and get teacher recommendations, but I really enjoy computer science and tech classes, so its worked out perfectly for me,” said Vrabel.

Although Vrabel is getting ready for several Mid-Atlantic tournaments in the next few months, in addition to a Super National event in April known as the Easter Bowl, he also has his sights set on helping out his high school tennis team this spring.

The team lost in the state finals last year, but also graduated four seniors.

“It’s more of a rebuilding year at this point, but our goal is to go just as far in states as we did last year,” said Vrabel.

Editor's note: In an earlier version of this article, we misstated Vrabel's age. The mistake has been corrected.