Canon-Mac junior handles pressure on and off court
Chris Gladden relishes being the top-ranked junior tennis player in Pennsylvania, but he’s also discovering the pressure that goes along with being No. 1.
“It’s a really good feeling, but I feel like every match it’s on the line,” said Gladden, a Canon-McMillan singles player. “I feel like you have to work for every point and it feels like, every match I play, it’s someone behind me at like 2-3-4. I wish I could be like Chad Kissell [of Latrobe] because he’s so calm and just hits winners and I wish I could be like that and … I’m really cautious.”
Gladden is the top-rated junior prospect in the state, according to tennisrecruiting.net, and had received looks from such diverse schools as Navy, Lehigh, Penn State, William & Mary and Bucknell. Dealing with everything in his life, with tennis and school has added to the pressure he feels on the court.
“It’s so nerve-wracking because you think about school and the SATs and, when you think about it now, everybody’s good and everybody’s smart, “Gladden said. “You have to keep the academics up and do well in the sport and now I have to up my SAT score.”
Gladden has improved his game from last year when he lost in the WPIAL Class AAA semifinals to eventual champion Adam Blasinsky of Central Catholic, then dropped a third-place consolation match in straight sets to Blasinsky’s teammate, Michael Santa-Lucia.
“He’s just one of those players who’s just the sum of all parts because he doesn’t have a superstrong serve or forehand like some players, but he’s very consistent and puts subtle pressure on you all the time throughout the match,” Canon-McMillan coach Jim Kochanski said,. “When you add up all those little things, you have a strength and he’s proven over the last year that he never says die and I would say that’s a strength as well.”
In this year’s WPIAL singles tournament, Gladden was taken to task in the second round by Pine-Richland Ben Vinarski, before escaping an upset with a 10-8 victory in the pro-set format. A sophomore, Vinarski gave him all he could handle and led, 8-7, before Gladden ran the table on the last three games to move into the semifinals.
“Ben is a very consistent player, he’s very good and I knew it was going to be a tough battle,” Gladden said. “I just had to win a serve and I felt that, once I won his serve, then I had a chance to serve it out after that.”
After the scare, he took the 20minute break between matches and settled in again. He then took Court 3 at The Club in Monroeville and earned his first berth in the PIAA Class AAA tournament at Hershey Racquet Club on May 2223 with a 6-0, 2-1 (retired) victory over his section rival, Upper St. Clair’s Fernando Escribens, in the WPIAL semifinals.
Escribens, the No. 2 senior in the WPIAL behind Kissell, had to stop the match because of an injured Achilles’ tendon. Only the top two finishers in Class AAA move into the state finals and Gladden wasn’t about to apologize for getting a walkover into the PIAA tournament.
He was scheduled to play Kissell Wednesday for the WPIAL title.
“We were both tired and he’s been injured and you could tell because we normally have close matches, so I knew when I won the first set 6-0, there was something wrong,” Gladden said. “Getting to states is a huge accomplishment now and, last year I felt that I was right there and I lost to Adam Blasinsky in the semis, and now to make it is a good feeling.”