OhioTennisZone.com Interview
FRIDAY,
OTZ Interview with Ben Martin
The third and final interview for this season is with Ben Martin. Martin is a senior at University School, which is located in the Northeast District.
 |
University School's Ben Martin - Click to enlarge |
Martin has been involved with tennis for most of his life. "I started playing when I was seven or eight when my dad would take me to our local courts and hit with me. The more I kept playing, the more I enjoyed it. Soon enough I was going to lessons and playing in leagues and tournaments. I started regularly playing USTA Midwest tournaments around the age of 11. My dad (Scott) has played tennis mostly his whole life but my mom (Sue) only started playing after I took up the sport."
For his tennis goals, "At this point, my goal is to win States. I have qualified for States in singles and my whole team just qualified for the State Team Final Four. I know it might seem like a stretch to win States but I always reach for the stars." It actually is not a big reach. Martin is a TennisRecruiting.net 4-Star [link] and he is ranked 165 in the nation in his age group. His ranking has steadily improved over the years - from 243 in 2018, 200 in 2019, and 170 in 2020. His Universal Tennis Rating is 10.79.
While his opponents may not share the same level of enthusiasm about Martin's tennis strokes, Martin says that, "My favorite shot is my inside-out forehand, and I'd say it is also my weapon. Slapping a high inside-out forehand for a winner gives me so much satisfaction."
While he has enjoyed tennis, he has really liked high school tennis. "I love the team atmosphere. In USTA tournaments and most other matches, tennis is an individual sport. Now in high school tennis, you have a whole team cheering for you and sometimes even more people in the crowd. An audience can really make a difference in close matches and help push you over the hump when you need it the most. In addition, I made so many new friends for life from playing high school tennis."
Martin will continue to play in college. "I committed to attending and playing tennis for Case Western Reserve University. When looking for colleges, I looked for one that had a strong engineering program and a Division 3 tennis team where I would fit in well. I think CWRU is a good fit because it has both of those. On top of that, it is not too far or too close from home, so I will be able to still see my family often. I was also considering RPI."
Martin stays busy with classwork. He is also a math / science guy, and he has taken six AP's. They were: Calculus BC, Chemistry, US History, English Literature, Physics C, and Statistics. He enjoyed calculus the most. "In college I plan on majoring in Chemical Engineering. Ever since I was little I always loved math and was better at it than other subjects. I enjoyed it more because there always was a clear and concise answer to each problem. I would compete in math competitions such as MathCounts as well as join math club at school. I think part of the reason for this is because my father was an engineering professor and would always help me out on my homework to make sure I understood it."
His father is a retired Youngstown professor and his mother was a financial advisor. Both of his parents were engineering grads in college.
Martin started school in the Canfield school system, but moved to University School after his freshman year for academic and athletic reasons. University School soldiered on during COVID-19 and they had in-person school the entire year.
Coaches who are not analytical may benefit from having Martin on their payroll. When asked about his usage of OTZ, he shared. "I read the articles on OhioTennisZone every morning during tennis season. I like to keep up with tennis in the state and see the results of people I know every day. I also use it to look at teams we may face in the future and figure out what lineups would work best against them. Because I like math, I enjoy considering different lineups and looking at the odds in order to give our team the best chance to win."
For social media, he uses Instagram and Snapchat. His Instagram username is ben_martin_tennis.
For his community service work, he has continued to be involved with tennis. "I used to be involved in inner-city tennis in Cleveland, where I helped introduce and coach kids about tennis during a summer camp. I had to do 15 hours for school but I decided to do more because I enjoyed it so much."
Coach Adam Atwell offered this about Martin. "It is rare for a player as talented as Ben to be as humble as he is. Ben is the best kind of captain. He cheers for his teammates. He listens to coaching and he never asked for special privileges.
Martin begins his run at States in the first round against Olentangy Liberty's Vishnu Bodavula.
