Jagger Leach made his SoCal Pro Series debut on Wednesday in just his second tournament in nearly a year following a serious elbow injury with his Hall of Fame mother Lindsay Davenport cheering him on.
The 19-year-old, who was born, raised and still lives part-time in Laguna Beach, came back to beat former Illinois star Alex Petrov, 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-3 and said after the match the tournament setup at the Biszantz Family Tennis Center on the campus of Claremont Mudd Scripps Colleges reminded him of playing an ATP Challenger ($50,000 and higher) event.
“The courts are incredible, the facility’s great, there’s a challenge system. I was just talking to my coach about it,” Leach said. “We were blown away. It feels like a Challenger-level tournament. I’m happy I get to come back tomorrow.”
Leach was commenting in the men’s locker room while icing his elbow and halfway submerged in an ice bath. He recently completed his freshman year at Stanford and helped the Cardinal to a 19-9 overall record and its fifth consecutive NCAA Super Regional appearance. He was named the ITA Northwest Region Rookie of the Year and a three-time ACC Freshman of the Week.
Besides a wild-card entry and first-round qualifying loss at the Indian Wells Masters 1000 event in March, Leach’s last match was the Wimbledon Junior doubles final. “Yeah, it has been so long,” Leach said. “I really missed it, too. I love playing tournaments. But I got injured and then got through the college season and it’s just the way everything worked out. But I’m so happy to be back, just playing matches again. I’m not taking it for granted at all.”
Leach is playing in his eighth career ITF pro tournament and hopes to play the final two SoCal Pro Series events in San Diego (Barnes Tennis Center) and Rancho Santa Fe.
The Tennis Channel commentator Davenport was just as impressed as her son with how the tournament was running and the SoCal Pro Series overall. “It’s honestly amazing,” Davenport said. “It just shows the USTA Southern California’s commitment to these kids. It’s really hard to navigate the pathway to the pros, and a lot of the kids have such big dreams to make it. But it’s not easy. There are not tons of opportunities, and it’s really expensive. So to be able to have something like this, where players can seamlessly move from tournament to tournament, and get these opportunities is amazing.”
Davenport added: “Of course, he wanted to play sooner, but he just wasn’t 100% healthy. So, we just waited. He had a horrible injury last year. He was out six months after Wimbledon with his elbow injury. He’s just really happy to be healthy and be able to play here.”
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