Prep of the Week: Tej Bhagra
(ABC 6 News) – The Mayo Spartans are looking to sustain a level of consistency, led by their sophomore phenom Tej Bhagra.
“It feels good to see like my hard work paying off, but obviously the jobs not finished,” Bhagra said.
He joined the Spartans tennis team in 7th grade and quickly rose the ranks to be an ace they can rely on.
He recently won his third straight section 1AA title and is ranked as the number one tennis player in class AA this season.
“I knew it would take a lot of practice to maintain my form and perform in those big matches and I’m just glad that I did perform in those big matches, especially against some tough competition in the sections.”
Bhagra plays plenty of offseason tennis to which prepares him for the season. His work ethic and leadership trickles down to the rest of the team.
“He’s really energetic, really good leadership, he’s a good role model, whatever he does we try to follow him,” teammate Ian Li said.
Bhagra credits his mental game and speed as a big reason to his success. No moment is too big for him and he tries to remain composed.
“He is always focused on that next point, he does a great job, even if he’s frustrated of taking a little extra time going to his towel, going to his racket, he just comes back and battles,” Spartans head coach Jeff Demaray said.
With only being a sophomore, Bhagra has a high ceiling.
After finishing runner-up to Wayzata last year in the class AA state championship, he only has one goal, to win.
“We kind of know what the atmosphere is like, what we’re expecting, sort of the players too, we played Wayzata a couple times last year and this year as well, so we’re going to be well prepared especially with the experience last year.”
The Spartans are prepping for the state tournament that will take place next week from June 4-7.