1 week Ago By Pat Ruff
ROCHESTER — Tej Bhagra will not be defending his state singles tennis title early this summer. The Rochester Mayo star junior is thinking bigger these days, his eyes toward a step he’ll take in two years, when he joins the Division I Brown University men’s tennis team. ADVERTISEMENT So, he made the difficult decision to forgo high school tennis this spring in favor of playing a host of much tougher national tournaments.
It was anything but an easy decision for Bhagra. Yes, abandoning the likelihood of him winning three straight state singles titles before he graduates was tough to pass up. But even tougher was leaving this Mayo team, one on which he’d built such tight relationships since joining the varsity as a seventh grader.
That’s where the debate in his head really existed, wondering if he really could leave a bunch of spirited guys who he’d fought alongside as Mayo reached the state team tennis tournament in each of his four seasons, finishing second the last two years. “It was a really tough decision,” said Bhagra, who’s ranked 34th in the United States among his 2026 graduating class. “I had great years with Mayo in grades seven through 10.
I played on great teams with great coaching and played some of the best tennis I’ve ever played with them. But this year, I talked with my Brown University coaches and there were certain types of tournaments that they wanted me to play. They are looking for me to play against more college-level guys.
” So, after consulting with what was an understanding Mayo coach, Jeff Demaray, and going back and forth in his own mind about what to do, Bhagra finally pulled the trigger on opting out of high school tennis and joining the rigorous, far-flung and time consuming mission of becoming a national player. A couple of months in, he’s happy with his choice. For a guy whose No.
1 wish is to test himself and develop his game as much as possible, this looks to have been the right move. “I just want to focus on development,” said Bhagra, who has played in four national tournaments the last two months, with stops in San Antonio, Atlanta, Mobile (Ala.) and Eau Claire (Wis.
), some of the tournaments lasting as long as a week and with it some school missed by this star student. “I want to get ready for the college game. I am playing against the bigger guys now.
But it is fun, for sure.” ADVERTISEMENT Bhagra, who’s usually accompanied by one of his parents on these trips, has gone from not only winning every match he played last spring — but every set — to tasting defeat as often as victory with his new set-up. He hasn’t minded that one bit.
He says it’s how he'll get better. Each round of each of the competitions, he says, is like playing in the finals of the state tournament, and usually more challenging than that. Through all of it, he's concentrating on building his game and refining his tactics.
Always one who relied on playing exquisite defensive tennis, the extremely quick and athletic Bhagra is working on becoming more offensive, with more powerful baseline shots. It’s all a work in progress. But progress is what it’s all about for Bhagra, and he is making plenty of it.
That doesn’t mean that he is free of angst. He misses his Mayo teammates and all that comes with high school tennis. There was a lot there.
“I always loved the bus rides; they were great with this team,” Bhagra said. “There was a really good sense of teamwork and bonding, and our team was really solid.” That said, he isn’t having second thoughts about his choice.
He’s appreciated this latest challenge and what it is doing for him. ADVERTISEMENT And he can’t help but think about what lies ahead. “Going to Brown, I think about that almost every day,” Bhagra said.
“I’m really excited to play college tennis. I love that team, the coaches and I love the environment.”.
