When Ethan Quinn was three years old, his parents handed him a tennis racquet and tied a ball to a string, hanging it from their patio.
“I just remember hitting the ball and feeling the ball. If I missed it would hit me in the face. That’s about as much as I can remember about it,” Quinn told ATPTour.com. “I think it’s just the thing that grasped my attention the most. I was never a kid who played video games or anything like that.”
For hours, the Californian would stand, swinging at the ball over and over before his parents would took him inside. Just before Ethan’s fifth birthday, his family moved to a new house. Hitting the ball hanging from the patio is the only memory he has of their old home.
That young boy, who simply enjoyed swinging his racquet is now one of the brightest young talents in American tennis. On Monday, the 2023 NCAA men’s singles champion will make his main draw debut at the US Open against Spaniard Bernabe Zapata Miralles.
To understand the 19-year-old’s rise is to look back at his roots in Fresno, California. The new home his family moved to was two blocks from Fig Garden Swim & Racquet Club.
“As a five-year-old kid, you were just like, ‘Oh my god, I can easily go walk that or ride my bike there,’” Quinn said. “I would do that as much as I could.”
Quinn played soccer until sixth grade, basketball from fifth until eighth grade, and skied when he was younger. But tennis was always the sport for him.
“I was good at soccer until fourth grade, and then everyone caught up to my size. And I was just like, ‘Well, this isn’t fun. I’m not faster or bigger than anyone or have good ball skills,’” Quinn recalled. “So I think I just had the most talent at tennis. I just enjoyed being out there at the tennis club. It was so close to my house that it was like a home away from home actually, just being so close.”
While the club was a quick walk from home, Quinn’s parents had heard of an academy with top-level players run by Brad Stine, who had coached former World No. 1 Jim Courier. It was not in the nicest facility, though. In fact, it was moreso known for its gym.
“To be honest with you, I think one of the things that was great about the academy, especially for the elite training group, was that we trained at a s***hole,” Stine said. “We used to tell the guys all the time, ‘You’re never going to play any tournaments at some place worse than where we trained. It’s always going to be an upgrade, it’s just going to feel nice. If you can train and work hard and do your best and become a better player, practising and playing on these courts in this environment, going to tournaments is going to be like a luxury for you.’”
There were several players in the elite training programme who went on to enjoy distinguished college tennis careers, including Billy Griffith of the University of California, Cameron Klinger of Vanderbilt University and Logan Staggs of UCLA. Quinn was younger than the group and was forced to earn his place in the elite training group.
“Ethan obviously stood out just from the standpoint of his technique, and also his commitment,” Stine said. “He was basically a gym rat back at that time. He loved to come and he would do his session, which was our afterschool programme for local kids, because a lot of my kids were not necessarily from the area. We had a local programme also.
“And basically, when he kind of outgrew that group, from the standpoint of his ball-striking capabilities and everything, is when we moved him up. That was kind of a big deal for him to be able to be part of that group.”
Stine was adamant that the older, stronger players should not lower their level to accommodate younger players. Instead, Quinn and another kid his age were made to rise to the level of their opponents and scramble to make extra balls back into play to continue points. Age was not an excuse.
Stine ran the academy for three years before working for the USTA and then returning to the ATP Tour to coach Kevin Anderson and his current charge, Tommy Paul. The American has become a mentor to Quinn, who earned his place as one of the best juniors in the country and as a top-ranked prospect enrolled at the University of Georgia.
This past season, his redshirt freshman year, he overcame early struggles, losing nine of his first 12 completed matches of 2023. From then on, Quinn completely turned his season around. In the NCAA men’s singles event, he saved match point in the first round against Luc Fomba of Texas Christian University and saved four match points in the final against the University of Michigan’s Ondrej Styler.
The victory earned him a wild card into the US Open. Shortly thereafter, he spoke on the phone with Stine, who urged him to turn professional.
“Definitely I was a little bit intimidated. I never had the plan of really leaving early. I always wanted to get my degree, win an NCAA Championship, which I guess I did individually. I wanted to win a team one, but life works wonders in mysterious ways,” Quinn said. “So I was presented the opportunity. Brad immediately after winning NCAAs, me and him chatted on the phone. He was like, ‘I really think for you as a tennis player and where you want to go, I think it would be best to turn pro.’”
Quinn began his journey on the ATP Tour in Newport, where he claimed his first tour-level win. He still has been taking classes online and is keen to earn his degree.
“I’ll have a life after tennis once my career is over,” Quinn said. “So I find it very, very important for me to get that… I feel like having that accomplishment is very special.”
For now, Quinn will focus on his opportunity at the US Open, where he will play 26-year-old Zapata Miralles, who is competing in his 10th major main draw.
“We talked about from a very early age with Ethan that he was to never use age as an excuse. His age, being younger, or playing someone else older,” Stine said. “Obviously he played up a lot when he was younger. So I was like, ‘You can’t use it as an excuse that you lost to someone because they’re older than you. You’re a tennis player, and they’re a tennis player, and your goal is to find a way to beat them.’”
Quinn will try to do just that Monday with a potential showdown with 23-time major winner Novak Djokovic looming in the second round.
