Ashton Rames is one of the many seniors on the boys tennis team and he brings lots of talent to the team. He often plays No. 1 singles in duals and No. 1 singles with his partner, Owen Wahl. He has played tennis for four years starting his freshman year. Tryouts for tennis his ninth grade year was really the first time that he had ever played.
“I had hit a handful of times before my freshman year but honestly tryouts freshman year were the first time I’d ever really played tennis,” Rames said.
Many different people have many different reasons for playing a sport, but for Rames, it was just the fact that he wanted to play a high school sport. He chose tennis in the end because he had a great person to help coach him and learn how to play the game.
“My dad was a professional-level tennis player and I’d always looked up to him so tennis felt like the right pick for me,” Rames said.
When comparing Rames’ game from his freshman year to now, coach Bart Jeseritz says that he has become a much better player in every aspect. Jeseritz shares that he works hard every season to become better than he was before.
“[He] really fell in love with it once he got involved with it at Westside. Since then he has worked incredibly hard each year. Each season he has shown up significantly better than he was the year before,” Jeseritz said.
Even from a teammate perspective, one is able to see how Rames has improved his game. Teammate Owen Wahl highlights the skill that he believes Rames has enhanced throughout the season.
“His serve has gotten a ton better since the start of the season,” Wahl said.
Reflecting on himself, Rames shares what he believed his weaknesses were in the beginning of the season and how he was able to improve them. He shares that in season, there isn’t much time to focus, so setting small goals, like he did, are the best way to improve his game.
“My weaknesses going into the tennis season were my volleys and my mental game.[…] I’ve been taking some lessons for my volleys and now I feel they’re much improved and enough to win a state championship with,” Rames said. “And my mental game has been simple, have fun and don’t worry. If I do this I find it easier to have a good day than a bad one.”
Flipping to the other side, Rames’ biggest strength this season may seem like a small thing, but it is very important to have. He shares that his strength is the consistency in his games and explains how big of an impact it has.
“My strengths have been my consistent game. I’ve never had a bad doubles day, which is huge because if you can’t trust your doubles partner then your game will suffer,” Rames said.
With doubles this year, Rames’ main doubles partner has been Wahl. Though this is their first year playing doubles together, they have been playing well as they have a winning record against other doubles teams. Wahl shares why they are able to play so well when they compete against other schools.
“We understand each other’s game well and have great communication on the court,” Wahl said.
This year, though Rames is not a team captain, he is still able to lead the team in a couple of ways. Wahl explains how Rames impacted the team throughout the season.
“He brings a lot to the team talent-wise. His best attribute is consistency and getting the ball that nobody expects him to get,” Wahl said.
From a coaches perspective, Jeseritz shares what he sees from Rames as a leader on the team though he isn’t a captain.
“He is a lead by action person. He is going to take every drill all out, and use every opportunity he can to get better,” Jeseritz said.
Recapping on his four years of tennis, Rames can remember one moment specifically that has stuck to him that he considers his favorite memory. Rames shares what this memory is and why he remembers it.
“There have been a ton of great memories from the tennis team and I encourage everyone to try it. But if I had to pick one it would probably be this year when I took the top freshman in the state to a tie breaker to secure my number two spot on the team,” Rames said. “I don’t think anyone was expecting this since just last year I’d have been happy to have gotten one game off him.”
When this happened, Rames shared how his teammates and coaches were so happy for him and that is what truly made it such a great moment for him.
“Seeing the broken expectations of my teammates and coaches was one of the best feelings I’ve ever experienced,” Rames said.
As the boys tennis season comes to an end, that means that metros and state are beginning to happen. This time in any sports season can be stressful. Rames takes the perspective that all that is needed is to be confident in what you have.
“If you’ve played tennis long enough you know that when it’s competition day you’ve got to play with what you’ve got. You don’t have time to change anything so there is no point getting frustrated,” Rames said. “I know that with my hours on the court I can be confident that there is nothing in high school tennis that is out of reach, not even the state championship.”
Looking into the near future for Rames, he will be graduating this year and he hopes to play tennis at the collegiate level. Rames explains the options that he had for the next step and how he will be able to get there with his skill set.
“Where I will be is undecided but I know I will in some form.[…] Schools like Creighton are the ones that I might just want to play for since I could make their team if not freshman year then sophomore year,” Rames said.
This is only one set of goals that Rames has, but he hopes to get onto a team, like TCU’s team, with hard work. He aspires to get onto that specific team at some point.
“With my skills level I may be able to squeeze onto a lower D1 team but schools like TCU are appealing to me and, considering they’re national champs. Getting on their tournament team outside of possibly my senior year of college might just be impossible. That would be a six UTR jump to make their team and one UTR improvement a year is typical.” Rames said.
As Rames’ high school career comes to an end, they only have a few more games left till his time at Westside comes to a close and it is all in the past. Be sure to support Rames and the tennis team at state.
