OhioTennisZone.com Interview
MONDAY,
OhioTennisZone Interview of Sycamore's Chad Miller
Today's OTZ interview is with Chad Miller. He is a senior at Sycamore.
This is the time of the season when high school tennis goals begin to look doable or not so much. After winning five matches in the Cincinnati ATP Sectional where he lost a total of one (1) game, Miller's singles game is absolutely ready to roll, and his goal for the team is looking even better. "I have two main goals for the rest of the season. The first one is for my team to win a State Team championship. I’m very fortunate to be on a team with a lot of talented guys who push me every day. We are very lucky with the team that we have, so hopefully we can make something special out of it this year. In addition, I definitely want to win individual State. [...] There are a lot of very good singles guys in the state this year so it should be a good challenge." Miller has had just three losses this season -- all to Mason's Vignesh Gogineni. The Sycamore team is undefeated and ranked #1 in the OTZ State Team Rankings.
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Chad Miller at the ATP Challenger- Click to enlarge |
Miller is one of four children of Steven and Robyn Miller. His brother, Tyler, works in Texas for American Airlines. His sister, Sydney, works in Chicago as a technology consultant. Another sister, Taylor, is attending Indiana University where she is majoring in recreational therapy. His father is in commercial real estate with Viking Partners, and his mother assists with a hospice organization.
Like many of the state's best players, Miller played numerous sports until he reached high school. Overall, he played six sports. He also played on select soccer teams and he even played freshman soccer on the JV-B team at Sycamore. "I started playing tennis around the age of seven and I didn't start playing tournaments [...] until around the age of nine. I think ever since I picked up a racquet, I just fell in love with the sport. I got started because my dad played tennis in high school [at Walnut Hills] and then strung rackets as well, but he never pursued tennis to the college level. My dad has definitely been the biggest influence on me for tennis growing up." In an interesting "behind-the-scenes" interview, his father was interviewed by Payers and Players Podcast on March 28, 2022.
This is Miller's second year of high school tennis. He played Court 1 for Sycamore as a freshman where he reached Districts. He could not play as a sophomore due to COVID-19. He also did not play his junior year because he wanted to focus on tournaments that would help with his college recruiting.
"One of the things I like the most about high school tennis is the team environment because you don’t get that too often in junior tennis. I think it really is a good way for me to get used to it before college. Another thing that is great about high school tennis is having all of your friends there to cheer you on and support you. I think it’s a great feeling and it makes it so much more fun trying to make your school proud and just enjoying the whole season with the guys on the team."
Miller is a highly ranked national player. In his age group, his ranking has ranged between 35th and 86th in the nation over the last four years. He is currently ranked 61st by TRN, #3 on OTZ, and his UTR is 11.67. He is a five-star on TennisRecruiting.net.
Miller has a well-rounded game, but there is one shot he likes better than the others. "My favorite shot is definitely the forehand and I feel like I use it as a weapon pretty well. When I get my feet in position I can hit forehands from almost anywhere in the court and I try to be aggressive with that and look to assert myself in the point." Miller participated in a ATP Challenger qualifier in January where he faced Nick Hardt, a player who was ranked 312 in the world. As expected, the score was one-sided, but Miller was able to go toe-to-toe with Hardt with his forehand. In addition to his strong forehand, Miller also sports a serve in the 112 mph range. The photo above is from the ATP Challenger match at Tennis Ohio..
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Chad Miller as a freshman - Click to enlarge |
Miller took five AP's at Sycamore with AP Stats being his favorite. His other AP's included: Physics C: Mechanics, Calculus AB, Computer Science Principles, and Psychology. He plans to major in economics in college. He is an OTZ-approved math-science guy.
After he graduates, Miller is Northwestern bound. "I chose Northwestern because it has an excellent tennis program with the goal of winning Big Ten titles, and it is also an unbelievable school. I was looking for a school that had a Top 25 tennis program and a top academic environment. I really love the coaches and I really clicked with all of the teammates. There wasn't anything I didn't like about the school, so that made the decision much easier. I was considering Ohio State, North Carolina, Virginia, Dartmouth, and a few other schools." He hopes to contribute in the line-up as a freshman, but the pandemic is still having a major affect on college athletics. While there are three seniors currently on the team, the NCAA granted players an additional year of eligibility because of COVID-19 so they are all staying for a fifth year. Northwestern had just one freshman spot available in their line-up, and Miller got that spot.
He is going to have a busy summer. He plans to start college early (June 21) so that he can start working out with his teammates. Northwestern is still on the quarter system so his class will finish near the end of July. In addition to classwork, he will play in the ITA Summer Circuit, USTA National Championships in Kalamazoo, and he plans to be a hitting partner with the pros at the Western & Southern Open in mid-August.
As for the obligatory question about OhioTennisZone usage, "I love to read the daily updates on OTZ and I like to look at the previous day's match results just to see how all of my friends from around the state are doing. .. It is such a jam packed season."
In terms of service projects, Miller has worked with Cleats for Kids. He described it as "an organization that takes used sports equipment and gives it to those who are less fortunate who need that equipment to help them in many ways in their young lives. I think I’ve been very blessed and fortunate to have gotten all of the resources that I’ve needed to be successful up to this point, so I think it’s important to try to give back to the community and to those who aren’t as fortunate." One of Miller's friend's mothers started this organization in Cincinnati.
As for social media, he uses Instagram and Twitter (@chadmiller3699).
Sycamore coach, Mike Teets, added, "Chad is an extremely hard-working player who never takes a day off when it comes to effort. He is focused and relentless when it comes to improving. It has been a pleasure coaching him during his senior season!"
Best of luck to Chad at Districts. The Southwest District takes place on Thursday.
