U-Hi’s Smithgall minds his tennis game

Kyle Smithgall decided he wanted to be good at tennis.

“The first time I saw the elite players (in the Greater Spokane League) was when I was a freshman,” the University High senior said. “I was playing No. 4 singles and I had never played tennis before. I saw guys who had played so much tennis and I decided that I wanted to be like them. I wanted to be able to compete with them.

“The next year I was No. 1 and I was playing them.”

There is a chasm in high school tennis. On one side are the elite players like the ones who inspired Smithgall, players with a wealth of tennis under their belt and a lengthy resume on the youth tennis and USTA circuit. On the other side are players like Smithgall – players with talent but who don’t play the game year-round.

Smithgall is doing his best to bridge the chasm.

“It’s kind of a big gap, but it’s good to have those people in the league,” Smithgall said. “They’re one of the reasons why I’ve excelled. I have not done as much training as those big-shot guys. I do some training over the summer and during the winter, and that allows me to maintain my consistency. But I try to treat tennis as a game. That’s allowed me to kind of develop my own style.

“What I think helps me the most right now, though, is my experience and my maturity.”

That personal style combined with experience works for him. Saturday he captured the No. 1 singles title at the Tri-City Invitational tournament.

Smithgall beat Mead’s top singles player, Edward Liu, in the finals.

“I know him and I know what he likes to do,” Smithgall said. “But in his defense, he played a monster match in the semifinals. I’m looking forward to playing him in a league match and see how that goes.”

Now in his third season as the Titans No. 1 singles player, Smithgall tries to play his cards close. He hates to tip his hand.

“You see guys lose it all the time,” he said. “If things don’t go their way, they just break down. They have high expectations for themselves and if things don’t go their way, they can’t handle it. It’s hard to lose to someone you think you should be able to dominate.

“If I were to shout something like ‘My forehand is so lousy today!’, I’m just telegraphing how to beat me on a given day. But guys do that.”

But he keeps track of his opponents and what strategies have worked for him.

“I’m an analytical kind of guy,” he said. “I remember what’s worked and what I’ve seen.”

Smithgall tries to keep the game in perspective and is careful not to let his expectations for a given match get away from him.

“The key for me is to understand that tennis is a mind game,” he said. “It’s about having some stability and constancy in your game and continuing to drive forward.”

As a program, University has worked hard to narrow the gap between itself and the GSL tennis elites – witness the Titans fourth-place team finish at the T-C Invite out of 16 teams.

“We’ve always had a pretty deep team, even though we have guys who are just learning the game,” he said. “We’re not at the top of the pack, but we’re better than the middle of the pack.

“Part of our challenge this year is that we lost about half of our team to graduation from last year. The same thing is going to happen because we have a lot of seniors this year, too.”

Smithgall’s sister, sophomore Katie, is the No. 1 singles player for the girls team – a source of pride to the family, and especially her big brother.

“I’m really proud of her, and I think it’s been good for both of us,” he said. “We’re able to go out and hit around with a quality opponent, and that’s always good. Katie can be really good if she wants to be, but she has to make that decision for herself. She just has to develop that drive to get better.

“That’s the great thing about our family. That decision is always left up to us.”