Ponwith happy to have the local support
Nathan Ponwith could feel the support from the crowd Wednesday morning. Applause from those gathered in the bleachers as well as shouts from those sitting opposite underneath the trees.
The 25-year-old somewhat sheepishly admitted he didn’t know many of the folks who had come to support him at Rebsamen Tennis Center’s Stadium Court in Little Rock.
But they all knew the same fan of Ponwith’s that he certainly knew: his dad, Jesse.
The encouragement wasn’t enough to lift Ponwith into the quarterfinals of the Little Rock Open, a part of the ATP Challenge, as he was routed by fourth-seeded Antoine Escoffier of France 6-1, 6-2 in the day’s opening Round of 16 match.
Yet the Arizonan relished the moment, having gotten to play two main draw matches in front of his family after initially expecting to have to go through qualifying to earn a spot in Little Rock.
“It’s definitely a special feeling having family be there for you and having someone in your corner,” Ponwith said. “In tough matches when the competition is so high, it’s always nice having family there and having some support in the tough moments.”
He picked up a wild card for the annual ATP Challenger Tour event — something he was plenty qualified for, entering the week with a career-best No. 387 ranking worldwide. Surely, though, it helped the selection committee that his owns The Tennis Shoppe, the area’s only tennis-specific store, not even four miles away in Cammack Village.
Jesse, 50, moved from the Phoenix area — where Nathan is still based — to Little Rock in 2019, joining his second wife, Lindsey, and having been a part of a tennis store out there since he was a teenager, buying The Tennis Shoppe was a natural fit.
But it meant not getting to watch much of Nathan’s collegiate career. His eldest son had started at Georgia in 2016, spending two seasons there before coming back home and playing at Arizona State.
Nathan and Jesse overlapped for one year, but Nathan continued on with the Sun Devils for two more seasons before eventually graduating in December 2021 and turning pro shortly thereafter.
Tuesday and Wednesday’s matches were the first time Jesse hadseen Nathan play in person as a professional.
“Even the first couple of days, just watching him practice was cool,” Jesse said. “He’s kind of known he’s wanted to [pursue professional tennis] since he was 11 years old. … He really understood pretty early that it’s a long process. It’s not instant.”
Such was the case against Escoffier.
On Tuesday, Ponwith was able to turn things around versus Christian Langmo, bouncing back from a 2-6 first set to win the next two by a 7-5 margin.
Escoffier, 31, however, took it to Ponwith from the beginning. After nearly breaking Ponwith in the match’s opening game, the Frenchman won nine straight to take a 6-1, 3-0 lead.
Ponwith was able to snap the drought after escaping three more break opportunities for Escoffier and winning on a fourth deuce, a moment which drew a little smile from Jesse.
But Ponwith would never get back on serve in the second set, as Escoffier ultimately broke one last time to close out the win.
Still, the day was special for the Ponwiths. Two of Jesse’s younger children — Penelope, 11, and Joseph, 13 — began the match as ball kids, with Olivia, 15, sitting beside Jesse in the bleachers.
“They’ll always ask where he’s playing or who [he’s against],” Jesse said, noting the challenges of keeping up with lower-level professional tennis.
For Nathan, at least in the grand scheme, the results matter less than the progress.
At the start of 2022, he was ranked in the high 700s. He climbed more than 200 spots last year and has gone up almost 200 more thus far in 2023.
If he gets to come back to Little Rock next year, he said he’ll be glad to play in front of family once more. If not, that may well mean he’s on the upward path he aspires to.
“If you’re always chasing the ranking and the points, never is it enough,” Ponwith said. “You just try to keep getting better.”