OhioTennisZone.com Interview
TUESDAY,
OhioTennisZone Interview of Chagrin Falls' Andrew Zimcosky
There will be plenty of tennis content early this week as Ohio tennis wraps up the season. Today's update begins with an OTZ interview with Andrew Zimcosky. Zimcosky is a senior at Chagrin Falls and he is a two-time State D2 Singles Champion.
His road to those championships were quite different. In 2019, he had a tough, 3-set match with Preble Shawnee's Pierce Elliott in the semi's but then received a walk-over in the finals when both players in the other semi-final match were unable to continue. They both battled with heat-related health issues. In 2021, he had a tough draw where he defeated Welllington's Griffin Biernat, Seven Hills' Avi Mahajan, and Orange's Ben Pomeranets on his way to the singles title.
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Zimcosky at NE Districts - Click to enlarge |
As for this year, "My goals were a lot different this season compared to the last couple seasons. Coming into this season my goals kept changing until it was basically just to be healthy for States. I’ve had a wrist injury that has kept me from playing consistently since December and then my back was hurting for the past three weeks since I’ve come back. Ultimately, I would like to be able to compete for another State Championship this year. That’s always been my biggest goal." He will need to get through some talented players, including Avi Mahajan and Orange's Chika Nwaozuzu. He would then have a possible rematch with Ben Pomeranets in the finals.
His parents are David and Leslie and his sister is Sydney. Sydney will be a junior at Ohio University and she majors in Theatre and Marketing. His dad works in robotics at Sherwin-Williams, and his mother is a speech pathologist at Cleveland Clinic.
Other than running cross country as a middle-schooler, Zimcosky has stayed focused on tennis . "I started playing tennis pretty much when I was born. My grandpa played and introduced me to it when I was about 4. He got into it when he was about 30 and loved it, so he wanted me and my sister to try it out." Zimcosky's parents did not play but they have learned a great deal about the sport through Andrew.
Zimcosky is a highly ranked national player with a national ranking that has ranged from 113 in the nation to 154 over the last four years. He is currently ranked 114. His UTR is 11.10 and his serve is in the 115 mph range. As for his shot making, "my volleys are probably my favorite shots. I love hitting forehands and serves, but I feel much more comfortable at the net and have always loved volleying. I feel like my net game has always been the best part of my game."
Why play high school tennis? "My favorite part is the atmosphere. High school tennis is so much different than tournaments because most of it is local, so there are always some more people that come to the matches. A lot of my friends are able to come support me which always makes it more fun. I love having teammates and representing a school as well. I take a lot of pride in my matches when I’m representing Chagrin Falls."
In terms of classwork, he liked his AP Computer Science "A" class the most. "I’m definitely a math / science guy. I’ve loved math and science so much more and am happy to be studying computer engineering next year. I took all the math classes that Chagrin Falls has to offer [...]. I’ve always liked the critical thinking that happens in those classes as well as all the computer science classes I’ve taken." He took a total of ten AP classes. His others were World History, United States History, Calculus AB, Physics I, Calculus BC, US Government, Spanish Language and Culture, Physics II, and Statistics.
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Zimcosky at 2019 States - Click to enlarge |
His strong junior credentials will give him an opportunity to play in college. "I will be attending Cleveland State University this fall. [...] I narrowed it down to Toledo, Navy, and Case Western Reserve University last fall and had a tough time choosing between those schools. I knew a big part of my college was going to be the tennis program because I’ve always loved playing and I wanted to play for a school that would compete and grow its program. All the coaches I talked to were great coaches, but I thought Cleveland State was the best fit. I like being in the city, the tennis program was great, and I thought I could make a good name for myself academically. I was fortunate to be selected for their honors college as well, so I thought that would be an amazing academic opportunity." He hopes to be able to get in their line-up quickly.
This summer he plans to play ITA's to prepare for college tennis with his future college teammates.
As for the obligatory question about OhioTennisZone usage, "Honestly, the biggest thing is that it covers tennis. Tennis doesn’t always get the most attention, so to see the daily updates and to see something covering all of high school tennis is pretty cool. There aren’t a lot of places where you can find individual or team records, it’s pretty amazing. I think a lot of coaches still use pen and paper to record the matches."
For his service project, he primarily volunteered for Habitat for Humanity Restore.
He does use Snapchat and Instragram, but "I try not to use them too often since I tend to get addicted to them a little too easily." "I play a lot of basketball and football with my friends at our high school field or at some courts near my neighborhood."
Zimcosky starts the defense of his title on Friday.
