Scott Gerber photographed the action photos and most, but not all, of the state qualifier group photos.

OhioTennisZone.com Interview

WEDNESDAY,

OTZ Interview with Mason's Niraj Komatineni

At the beginning of each boys season OhioTennisZone interviews Ohio's top senior players. The first interview this year is with Mason's Niraj Komatineni.

Komatineni has excelled in the Southwest District for the last three years and this year should be no exception. When asked about his team goals, he stated, "The goals for this season are sky high. As defending team state champions, I am hoping we can make it out of the Southwest, back to the final four, and become back to back state champions. Before that however, we want to win the Coaches Classic and then the GMC. Our team is young, but I think we have the leadership and the talent to give us a shot at it."

For his personal goals, "My goals are to push everyone on my team to keep improving and hopefully help the underclassmen grow as people and tennis players. I also hope to win the Coaches Classic and the GMC tournament at first singles, as well as making it back to the OHSAA Singles State Tournament. There are a lot of great players in the state, especially Robert Cash from New Albany, but my goal is still to win the state tournament."

Mason's Niraj Komatineni
Mason's Niraj Komatineni - Click to enlarge

Komatineni has been a fixture at States. As a freshman (2016), he teamed up with Sean Reid to place fourth in doubles. He reached the second round in singles in 2017, and he was a finalist in singles last year (2018). Each run at States has been thwarted by that same player mentioned above. Click on the above years for the draws.

Tennis is a family thing for the Komatineni's. "I've been playing tennis since I was really young. My dad, brother, and I would go to our neighborhood court or a nearby park and hit a few balls. However, I didn't start actually practicing till I was 8 or 9 when I started taking private lessons with Lynn Nabors McNally. My dad plays tennis about twice a week and he loves to watch the game. My brother played two years of high school tennis and retired as captain of the JV team." His father, Venkat Komatineni, is with GE Power and his mother is Mona Bhatia. She works with Cintas. His brother, Suraj, is a freshman at Ohio State, pursuing a degree in biomedical science. Komatineni trains at Harper's Point and he regularly hits with Lynn's daughter, Caty McNally, when she is in Cincinnati.

He considered a number of schools prior to selecting Brown University. "I chose to play tennis there because when I visited I really loved the coaches and the team. They were really accommodating, and they were people I could see myself being around and being happy with for the next four years. I was looking for a competitive academic school where I could get both a world class education as well as continuing to play tennis at a high level. I looked at other schools in the Ivy league like University of Pennsylvania and Columbia as well as some Big Ten schools like Ohio State, Northwestern, Michigan State, and Indiana. Part of my college selection process was realizing that I probably only have four years of tennis left and I wanted to go somewhere I could make an impact in the lineup almost right away." His plans to play early-on in Brown's line-up certainly look achievable. Komatineni is ranked 46th in the nation on TennisRecruiting.net and he currently has a UTR of 12.45. Just three players on the current Brown roster sport higher UTR's. Click for the current Brown roster and their UTR's.

Komatineni @Zoo
Komatineni @Zoo '17- Click to enlarge

As for the OTZ question "Are you a math/science or humanities guy?" Komatineni answered the question correctly. "I am definitely more of a math and sciences guy. At Brown I plan on doing Applied Math - Economics. It's one major that is towards mathematical finance. In high school I have enjoyed the math and sciences classes a lot more. I have taken 12 AP Courses throughout high school with five of them being math/science. My favorite AP's were AP Chem, AP Calculus and AP Micro and Macroeconomics. To me, math and sciences have just come more natural to me and I like looking at numbers and stats when it comes to sports and maybe that's rubbed off on me a little."

While using OhioTennisZone, he said, "I like to see the top players results you put on OTZ after every match day. I think it's neat that you rank all the players, and if I'm being honest, I looked at the rankings every week since my freshman year to see if I moved up or not."

As for tennis shots that we are likely to see from Komatineni this year, he's been working on attacking more with his forehand and following it into the net. When asked about his weapons, he replied "I would say my biggest weapons are my speed and my serve. I also feel like my composure on court has helped me a lot over the years. Rather than getting mad after missing a few balls I like to think that I can regroup and make adjustments." His serve speed clocks in at approximately 100-110mph.

For service-related activities, "I volunteer regularly with Buddy Up Tennis, an organization that assists people with down syndrome in physical fitness and in learning tennis. I've been volunteering with them for three years now and it's been a life changing experience. I have been able to watch the kids grow and develop their coordination and fitness." He does this volunteer work at Harper's Point.

Mason coach, Mike Reid, offered this about Komatineni. "Great kid. Hard worker. Always striving to improve. Makes everyone around him better. He really gets high school tennis."

Following their spring break, the Mason team starts their season on April 2 against Oak Hills.