How this Rockford sectional tennis champion has gotten so much better in one year

Ben Temple has been playing tennis since he was 4. “I played baseball and basketball too, but tennis is what I stuck with,” he said.

At 6-foot-4, he has always been a popular basketball recruit. ”I still get the pressure today,” Temple said. That height, and being left-handed, also are big advantages in tennis for the Rockford Lutheran senior.

“I wish I was as tall as him and had a lefty serve,” said Branden Metzler, a former NCAA Division III runner-up who gives Temple frequent private lessons at Boylan. “The game has transitioned to taller players. It’s become a bigger game. You need that length. You also need that speed. You lose quickness and agility the taller you go, but you make up for it with height and length.”

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And power. Temple has always been able to blast a tennis ball. He can serve 100 miles an hour. He did win sectionals last year, helping Lutheran to its first sectional team title, but he’s never been a dominant local player.

Until, maybe, now. Temple is rapidly transforming into a new and better player.

Hononegah sophomore Braden Monson, the defending NIC-10 champion, is the top Rockford-area tennis player this season. Temple would be second — but might have the best chance at state next month because he plays in Class 1A while Monson is in 2A. The two practice together a lot in the offseason.

“Braden is one of my closest friends in tennis; it just feels right with him,” Temple said. “I met him four or five years ago in a group at Boylan. He just showed up. From Day 1, he was already hitting well. I was very impressed with him. He has that drive that I don’t think I could ever get, but I wish I could.

“He usually wins when we play. They are never blowouts, though. They are always close. And I’ve beaten him a few times.”

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And that’s in the past. Temple doesn’t know what lies in the future. Part of that is because his present is changing so fast. He began to get heavily involved in regional youth tournaments around the Midwest last spring and summer and recently made an equipment change. Add those two developments together and he suddenly looks like a new player in a game he has been playing his entire life.

“In the past year he has improved immensely,” Metzler said. “He has taken his game to another level. To do that, you need to play in tournaments outside your area. You’ve got to go to Michigan and face the competition out there. To learn about yourself and your game, you need to compete against those guys. He’s put in the work.”

And he’s become obsessed with tracking his progress. Temple’s Universal Tennis Ranking has climbed from 4.75 to 6.5 in less than a year.

“Usually you are only supposed to go up 1 UTR a year and I almost doubled that, which is insane,” Temple said. “It's a great feeling. Almost every morning when I wake up I check my UTR. I've become obsessed with it."

Temple began his tennis climb last June by stepping up his competition, his tournament schedule and his work in practice. He made another climb a month ago when he switched the strings in his racquet.

He had always strung his Wilson Blade with strings designed to give him more power. But he already had power to spare. The pros and college players usually string their racquets for more spin because they can already provide all the power they need. The key is to hit enough topspin to keep their powerful groundstrokes in the court.

Temple’s groundstrokes have become much more consistent since he changed strings a month ago.

“For years, I used power strings,” Temple said. “I finally took the time and did the research on different tensions and types of strings and decided on the Vokl Cyclone. It’s a spin string. And I immediately realized this was going to change something. I am developing way more power on my shots now. The spin strings develop the spin already, so you just need to bring the power into it. It’s made a huge difference.

“I am still working on my backhand. My backhand used to be hard and flat. There was no spin on it with those old strings. it was just flat. Switching to the spin strings, I’ve had to learn how to brush up on the ball. I am still working on that. A lot. But it has gotten a lot better. I’ve developed more of a topspin backhand now.

“It’s like customizing a car,” Temple said. “You want strings that go with your racquet. I have a (Wilson) Blade, which is a racquet you use for spin, so I need spin strings with it. You don’t put power strings in a spin racquet. And that goes along with the type of shots you hit, too. I had to redevelop my backhand.”

More topspin and more controllable power have given Temple the consistency he needs to grow his game. Lutheran coach Nick Born said Temple has also been learning to put himself in better position to hit his shots.

“A lot of times tall people don’t want to move their feet,” Born said. “Because of his height and reach, he wasn’t always taking the number of steps needed to be in a good position for the ball. That’s key. He has changed from a base-liner to more of an all-around player. He’s much better now at getting to the net and taking that short ball when it pops up instead of playing the long game.

“It’s extremely important to know when to be on offense or when to be in a neutral zone or on defense in tennis. If you are constantly on defense, points are going to be very long. Knowing when to come in, take a good short-ball approach at the net and open up angles on the court, that’s huge.

“He takes advantage of those opportunities now,” Born said. “That makes him a much-improved player. It’s been exciting to watch him grow and see him take his game to the next level. He has such a fun game to watch with the level he has achieved. He is still growing in-season. And I know he will keep growing.”

Contact: mtrowbridge@rrstar.com, @matttrowbridge or 815-987-1383. Matt Trowbridge has covered sports for the Rockford Register Star for over 30 years, after previous stints in North Dakota, Delaware, Vermont and Iowa City.

This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: How Lutheran sectional tennis champ Ben Temple has gotten even better