OhioTennisZone.com Interview
WEDNESDAY,
OhioTennisZone Interview of St. Xavier's Charlie Temming | Lexington and Findlay Finally Take the Final Final Four Spots
The second OTZ boys interview of the season is with Charlie Temming. Temming is a senior at St. Xavier in the Southwest District.
Temming has one state championship under his belt and he is looking for another one in singles. He teamed up with Preston Stearns [photo] to win the OHSAA Division I Doubles Championship in 2019 [pdf]. "My goal for senior year is to win States of course, I am the two seed coming out of my district, but I still believe I have a very good chance at making a deep run into the state draw."
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St. Xavier's Charlie Temming - Click to team page |
How is he going to get there? "My favorite shot is clearly my forehand, which is also my weapon. My forehand is my best shot by far because I am able to hit it in anywhere in the court with extreme power and control - making it deadly when on."
He sports an impressive 4-Star ranking [link] on TennisRecruiting.net and a Universal Tennis Ranking of 11.65. His national ranking is 80 for his age group. The last time he checked his serve speed, it clocked in at 109mph.
Temming started playing tennis at a relatively early age but he also played other sports until 7th grade. "I started playing tennis when I was 8 years old mainly because my mom and her whole family played tennis in college, so she had me try it out to see if I enjoyed it." At one point, his mother, Heidi, held the all-time record in singles wins at Xavier. His aunt, Kim Pacella, is the coach at Toledo's Notre Dame Academy. Temming started devoting more time to tennis because he also excelled in it.
Temming's father is Andy, and he is a financial advisor at Renaissance Investment Management. Heidi works at a Loveland Middle School, helping kids with disabilities. His sister, Libby, is a sophomore at Ursuline Academy. She does not play tennis. She golfs.
In addition to the tennis skills, Temming also benefits from his mother's Italian heritage with Wolverine-like sideburn growing skills. [Exaggeration alert.] He can grow full sideburns in half an hour (or about twenty minutes if he concentrates)..
Temming is a math / science guy and he plans to major in finance in college. He took two AP's in high school - Macro Economics and US History. He enjoyed the economics course the most.
Temming will be playing college tennis this fall. "I chose Xavier because both my parents attended Xavier, so I have known a lot about the school since I was a little kid. Plus I liked the close to home feel. I was considering Notre Dame and Boston College, but chose Xavier because it was less expensive and I would be able to play freshman year. (....) I'm super excited. It seems like a great fit for me and I am very happy with the choice that I made."
As for the obligatory OTZ usage question which players are forced to answer, "I enjoy reading the player rankings weekly because it allows for me to see where I stand against other kids in Ohio competing for the same goals I am. Plus it gives me some motivation to play better so I can try and move up in the rankings because who doesn't love to be number one?"
Temming has played high school tennis for the last four years. "The best thing about high school tennis for me is the team atmosphere. Tennis is an individual sport, and the tournaments I play throughout the year are all by myself, so high school tennis gives me a different feel with the team and makes it much more fun to play knowing I am surrounded by people who all have similar goals for me and want me to succeed."
For his service project, "I do community service at Matthew 25 Ministries through St X because I am very fortunate with the life I was given, so I believe the least I can do is volunteer my time to help others who are struggling."
As for his social media vices, "I mainly use Snapchat and Instagram just so I can keep in touch with my friends outside of school. I have a Twitter account @TemmingCharlie but I rarely go on it."
He hopes to play at the USTA Boys National Championships in Kalamazoo [2019 photo] this summer and that will likely end his USTA tournament play. He is also looking forward to hitting with the professional women players at the Western & Southern Open this August. This opportunity is given to D1 players with high UTR ratings. Mason grad, Niraj Komatineni [photo], did this in 2019.
St. Xavier Coach Joe Jackson provided this quote about Temming, "Charlie’s tennis acumen and competitiveness are benchmarks for St. X tennis. He was a key member of a series of deep and talented St. X teams. Charlie is one of those rare players whose tennis IQ and abilities match his drive to win. It’s quite remarkable to have that kind of talent in our program."
The quote that Temming provided was "focus on what you can control, do not worry about the other side of the net, only your side". We'll see how far that philosophy takes him at States. His first round opponent is Solon's Niko Romanov.
