Tennis on the high school level in the St. Louis area has seen its fair share of outstanding players and teams over the years. Over the past two seasons, St. Louis University High School has had one of the best players in not only the area but in the Midwest as Gus Tettamble has been atop the charts.
Tettamble was the state runner-up in Class 3 last year at the Missouri State High School Activities Association State Championships as a junior and is looking to improve upon that with the state title this year.
He started playing tennis at a young age when he was a kid that had a lot of energy and one of the ways to expend that energy, was his dad took him to the park to hit tennis balls.
“I had an interesting start to the game,” stated Tettamble. “When I was in preschool, my dad and I would be home alone and I was an energetic kid so he wanted to get me out of the house for a little bit, so he took me over to the park with two tennis rackets and we would just hit the ball against the handball wall. I have two older brothers, so my hand-eye coordination was pretty good, so my dad took note of that and started to bag about that. My brother’s best friend’s father was a tennis player in college, so I started to work with him. He started to work with me, and his son was playing at the time as well, so it was good for me to see him play in high school. He taught me everything that I know.”
Photo Credit – St. Louis University High School
Growing up, Tettamble played every sport, even once he started walking the halls at SLUH, he was a multi-sport athlete. Playing multiple sports has helped him get to where he is now as a top-flight tennis player.
“In high school, I played basketball for two years, which is rare for a tennis player,” said Tettamble. “Most of the time when people play tennis, that is all that they do. Some people thought that I was at a disadvantage playing a bunch of other sports, but it has put me at an advantage because now you see guys getting burned out, whereas, for me, I am just getting going and it is fun and exciting as a lot of the multi-sport stuff goes well.”
Being a tennis player is just like many sports as you need to put in the time in practices and in workouts to be successful. Plus, balancing all of that with the academic workload at SLUH, Tettamble has proved that it is all worth it.
“In the summer, I am on the court for a while,” stated Tettamble. “It is not strange for me to hit two or times a day, upwards of four to five hours. I would get up, get some good food in me, and hang out with my family, so I like to be at home as much as I can. I would then go and work out for an hour with someone to feed me balls and work on some drills. Then, I try to get a match in or someone to just hit with me. I do like to get out on the court, but I also know that I need to take care of my body. My mom has to remind me about that as I like to be on the go. If I could, I would be on the court six to seven hours a day, I get reminded by my mom that I need to take it easy on my body. During the school year, it is a little trickier because, in the winter, we don’t have a facility that other places do, so all winter, I must drive out to Chesterfield for practice. It is a lot of late nights and on top of that, I am a student as well, so I have to make it work.”
The fuel that drives Tettamble this year is falling just short in the state title match last year. For the first time in his career, he had a hand injury that plagued him for most of the season, but that did not stop him from getting to the final.
“It was the first time in my life that I had been hurt,” stated Tettamble. “I tore a ligament on the pinky side of my wrist, so that was tough for me as I could not set the expectations as high as I wanted, but I kept telling myself that I was going to win state. That is all that I have wanted to do over the past four years. It motivates me, but I don’t need something to motivate me, it all comes from within. Tennis is an individual sport, and it is very personal for me.”
Tettamble will continue his tennis and academic career at Tulsa next year as he enjoyed the recruiting process, but once he saw their facilities, he was hooked.
“The process was really good for me and my family,” said Tettamble. “It was cool to be wanted by a bunch of nice schools and it shows that your hard work has paid off. I put some feelers out in my sophomore year and during my junior year, they came to watch me play at some national tournaments as this was the first time that I was playing tennis year-round. It gave me some awesome exposure. This year was stressful, but the tennis part was easy as I was looking at schools and locations. I went on a lot of visits to some great schools. Tulsa came in late in the process as I met someone that had connections to the Tulsa program, and he put me in contact with the coaches and I am glad that did. It was an easy decision as they have some of the best facilities in the country and their head coach is one of the most experienced coaches in the NCAA.”
Congratulations to Gus Tettamble, our HSSC/Scoops with Danny Mac Student-Athlete of the Week and we wish him the best of luck in the spring season.
Jim Powers has been covering prep sports in the St. Louis area for 15+ years and a part of the Missouri State High School Activities Association Championship Broadcasts for the past 11 years. Powers is also a part of the Fox 2 Verlo Mattress Prep Zone Friday nights at 10:10 during the football and basketball seasons. If you have a prep sports story, please contact Jim at japowers2421@yahoo.com. Follow Jim at @hssportscaravan
