How Tess Bucher went from a 5-year-old amusing her mom to a high school tennis monster

Tess Bucher remembers her mom playing tennis with a friend.

"I was 5 years old," Tess recalls. "I said, 'I want to try that.'

"I started playing and they said, 'Oh … she's kind of good.'"

They were kind of right.

The grown-up Tess is one of the best high school tennis players in the USA as she aims for her fourth straight OHSAA final four.

Tess now?

Watch her against an ordinary No. 1 singles player. The match goes quickly.

Watch her against a better player. They exchange a few shots. Bucher's come back like flying chess pieces. The opponent takes her best shot. Bucher returns that shot with a better one. The match goes quickly.

Bucher and Bridget Fink captain a North Canton Hoover team wrapping up a stellar Stark County sports story.

Top-ranked Hoover's Ryan Shaffer recently became the winningest high school tennis coach in Ohio history. Bucher has won more high school matches than any girls tennis player in Stark County history.

The season hit the OHSAA district tournament stage Thursday, when Bucher played singles while two Hoover duos — Addison Sheil and Ema Papcke, and Fink and Nyla Spangler — played doubles.

A dream year kept flying when Bucher and both doubles tandems won two matches apiece to gain automatic state berths and advance to Saturday's district semifinals.

"These kids have worked unbelievably hard and gone through a meatgriner of regular-season matches unscathed," Shaffer said before heading to dinner Thursday night. "I am very proud and happy for them."

As to Bucher's brilliance, Joe the pro saw it coming.

Tess Bucher's tennis lessons started at 5 years old

Joe Concialdi, 68, is a guru to the stars in Stark County tennis. He started giving little Tess lessons when she was 5.

"You can kind of tell when somebody that age is going to be special," Concialdi said. "The main thing at that age is that they enjoy the game and want to keep playing.

"She enjoyed it. By the time she was 8, she won Canton's 10-and-under city tournament.

"The USTA uses tennis balls in that age group that were smaller than regulation. I didn't want Tess to regress, so I kept her out of those tournaments.

"When she returned at age 11, and she made the finals of a tournament at Cleveland Racquet Club, spectators were saying, 'Where did she come from?'"

Tess Bucher was a multi-sport athlete

Tess "retired" from basketball at age 12 but stuck with softball and tennis.

She played infield as a Hoover sophomore on a state final four team. Hoover's hall of fame head coach Jerry Goodpasture saw major-college softball potential.

"I really enjoyed softball, and we were a very good team," Bucher said. "Some of my best friends were on the team."

Bucher fell in national tennis rankings but fought to keep her game up.

"She'd have a softball practice or a game and then come do a tennis lesson," Concialdi said. "She might be a little tired, but never was there a day when she didn't try hard."

Working to be elite in softball and tennis was a bear.

"I would be on the courts to get some reps in until almost 9 every night," she said. "That was a lot."

The fond farewell to softball preceded her junior year.

"I was going into a summer time when college recruiting was starting in tennis," she said. "It was the right decision."

Tess Bucher shifted full focus to tennis, her ranking climbed

Her subsequent stellar high school tennis season restored national tournament invitations.

"She had good success in the tournaments," Concialdi said. "Her national ranking got higher and higher. She caught the eye of Notre Dame, Arizona State and a lot of recruiters."

She committed to University of Kentucky tennis early this year.

She played a big tournament in San Diego in early August.

Hoover practiced for the 2023 season without her. Ohio Tennis Zone put the Vikings atop a preseason poll.

"The flight home from San Diego left at 6 a.m. on a Friday," Bucher said. "I woke up at 6 Saturday morning to travel with the team and open our season.

"I felt like I needed a break, but it was more important to be with my high school team."

No jet lag was apparent when she won three matches in two days by scores of 6-0, 6-0.

The 2023 season has whistled by. Left are OHSAA districts in Fairlawn and states in Wooster, along with the state team tournament.

Bucher makes weekly trips to Cleveland to hit with a pro, Michael Rubin, who won 1999 and 2000 boys state singles championships for Canton Central Catholic.

"She gets a good workout with Michael," Shaffer said. "There's no one in Stark County, boy or girl, who can give Tess what she needs on a day-to-day basis."

"Her goal is to win a state championship," Rubin said, "and if she plays as she's been playing, she's capable of accomplishing that feat."

"Tess is unbelievably talented," said Marc Thomas, whose New Albany team was ranked No. 2 when it lost to No. 1 Hoover. "There are no holes in her game."

Tess Bucher nothing short of dominant on the tennis court in 2023

Try to find a Stark County high school sports figure from any year whose performance was more commanding than Bucher's in 2023.

The mere math is a monster.

She boosted her 2023 record to 30-0 with Thursday's district wins; she crushed opponents by a combined game score of 356-7.

GlenOak head coach Chris Porter, a former Ohio State No. 1 singles player, said, "No matter who Tess is playing, she doesn't want to lose a point."

"I take each point as seriously as I can," Bucher said.

"She has the tools to play at a high level in college," said Porter.

Bucher stands to face other star seniors at district and state. Avon's Natalie Smitek in district semis, Westlake's Amara Brahmbhatt in district finals, Centerville's Clara Owen next week.

Bucher's 2022 season opened with a loss to Smitek. She didn't lose again until the state finals. She beat Smitek 6-2, 6-4 in quarterfinals. In finals, she fell 6-2, 6-1 to Mason's Shyla Aggarwal, now a college freshman making waves at Yale.

"Shyla was a tremendous player," said Rubin. "She had to face Tess again the next day in the team tournament. Shyla won again (6-3, 6-4), but Tess played her quite a bit better.

"Tess has been working hard ever since. She's a little bit better in every area of her game."

Stark County's other OHSAA tennis district qualifiers

Stark County players in addition to Hoover's in the Division I district tournament include Perry's Haylee Fearon and Jackson's Alessandra McCann in singles and two Jackson doubles teams — Anisha Rawal and Isha Nagajothi, and Ashley Helle and Alexis McCann.

Fearon, a sophomore, and the freshman duo of Helle and Alexis McCann went 1-1 Thursday to remain alive in a possible match for fifth place Saturday. The others bowed out in the first round.

Vying in Friday's Division II district first round, also in Fairlawn, are Canton South's Marissa Zaleski in singles, and Emily Thompson and Rowan Laughlin in doubles, and Central Catholic's doubles team of Isabel Lombardi and Grace Finefrock. The Division II opening rounds are Friday.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Hoover tennis champion Tess Bucher dominates Ohio, ranked in USTA