How J.L. Mann High School's Sanjeev Undamatla found 'best way to close out' tennis career
If this is how competitive tennis ends for J.L. Mann senior Sanjeev Undamatla, and that’s his plan, what a way to go out.
Two days after leading the Patriots to the high school Class AAAAA state championship, Undamatla won the 54/4A individual title Tuesday with a comeback victory in Florence against Jerome Falcon of Spartanburg.
Undamatla lost the first set, 3-6, but rallied to take the second set, 6-2, and the tiebreaker, 10-8.
“A lot of kids dream about this,” Undamatla said, “winning something with a team and then coming back within 48 hours to do the same thing but by yourself.”
Undamatla’s scholarship offers for athletics didn’t quite match his target schools for academics, so he will attend South Carolina in the fall and give up tennis.
"It’s the best way to close it out,” he said.
STATE CHAMPS: J.L. Mann boys tennis dominates Summerville, wins second straight high school state title
WOULDN'T MISS IT: J.L. Mann back to win another state title in boys tennis, this time with its best player
SPRING SPORT PLAYOFFS: Follow here for Greenville area high school spring playoff scores, schedules
Undamatla has played individual qualifying tournaments away from the J.L. Mann team during state finals and was not with the Patriots when they won last year. This was also his first time playing for the singles championship.
It gives J.L. Mann two champions in the past three years. Nikhil Kulkarni took the title in 2021.
“We got (Kulkarni) on the phone right before Sanjeev’s final match,” J.L. Mann coach John Armstrong said. “There were a few words of encouragement.”
Undamatla had two matches on Tuesday, first beating Rintaro Saito from River Bluff in the semifinals to earn a spot against Falcon.
“I think he talked to Rintaro after I beat Rintaro in the semis. They were chatting a little bit right before I played Jerome,” Undamatla said. “I think Rintaro gave some suggestions and they actually worked in the first set. In the second set, I was like, ‘I’ve got to change something.’
“He was playing a lot to my backhand. There were a lot of high balls to my backhand. I started slicing almost every backhand. I just put it in the middle of the court. I think he got a little frustrated because he wasn’t sure what to do.”
Undamatla and Armstrong talked through the fence about the strategy change after the first set.
“Momentum kind of switched,” Armstrong said. “He did exactly what he had to do to win the match. He won the big points and came out on top.”
Christian Holloway of J.L. Mann finished fifth.
Todd Shanesy covers high school athletics in the Greenville area for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at todd.shanesy@shj.com or @ToddShanesySHJ on Twitter.
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: J.L. Mann's Sanjeev Undamatla wins high school boys tennis state title
