Rendon’s unconventional path leads to success

PHOTO:  Junior Mathias Rendon goes for the ball in the Delta League doubles tournament at the Laguna Creek Racquet Club on April

By Jackson Chelius

BlueDevilHUB.com Staff–

Davis High junior Mathias Rendon is the tennis team’s top player. His path was far from typical.

Rendon began his tennis career at 4 years old while living in Peru. While in Peru, he had a chance to play for the Peru youth national team where he improved his skills. 

“The competition over there was really competitive and made me a better player,” Rendon said. 

Rendon moved to Davis at age 11 and took a break from tennis to adjust to his new surroundings. 

“Life was super different here so the break was partly just to adjust,” Rendon said.

In the latter half of quarantine, Rendon picked up his racket and began to play the sport again. He quickly reignited his passion and was able to improve on his old skills to make the varsity tennis team as a freshman. 

Rendon faced adversity his freshman year when he injured his hamstring. 

“I couldn’t run or play tennis so I just focused on watching tennis at all levels,” he said. The upside? His knowledge of the sport and how it’s played increased.

“Tennis is a tough sport because it’s just you and there’s nobody else to rely on,” Rendon said.

When competing against other high schools, the team plays six singles matches and three doubles matches with each game being worth one point. 

The top four teams in the league advance to sectionals while the top two teams get to go to NorCal.

The team is ranked so each top player will play the other team’s top players. 

“The team helped me make a lot of friends and meet people before getting to high school,” Randon said. 

He has also been able to meet new people through competitive tournaments outside of school. 

“A lot of the time, the same people will be at different tournaments so I get to meet a lot of people from all around California,” Rendon said.

These tournaments give Rendon a chance to play with high schoolers who he wouldn’t play during the season. It also provides him with a chance to boost his ranking.

Rendon is currently ranked at 903rd for male high school tennis players in the nation out of a pool of around 187,000.

He hopes to play in college and has begun the recruiting process.