Xavier Deckard '25 Recruiting Profile

My name is Xavier Deckard. I am a seventeen-year-old in the class of 2025, and I am interested in taking my tennis to the collegiate level. I started playing tennis in the sixth grade for my middle school team and I have enjoyed it ever since. That said, I have battled numerous injuries--notably in the last two years--that have restricted my ability to train consistently. An elbow growth plate issue sidelined me for the spring and summer of 2022. four months later, I broke my wrist and had to have surgery, further keeping me out another three months. I recovered well from both of these injuries and played a few tournaments, but this was also interrupted by a broken leg going into the summer of 2023. I have now fully recovered from these injuries and am looking to start playing tournaments regularly again. Despite these setbacks, I truly believe that dealing with these injuries has built my character and confirmed my determination to continually excel at the game that I enjoy. In addition to this, these injuries have also enabled me to explore activities outside of tennis that helped me become a more well-rounded person. I am specifically talking about my academics, for my competitive spirit carried over to school and helped skyrocket my class rank, GPA, and willingness to learn. I am now an academics-first athlete, but I believe this to be a good thing because of the work ethic that it instills in my tennis game. I know that my competitiveness and determination to learn and grow will allow me to become a better tennis player and continuously make improvements to my game.