MyTennisHQ Interviews: Petros Chrysochos


Quick Facts

  • School: Wake Forest
  • Year Graduated: 2019
  • Current Job: Professional Tennis

Bio

Petros Chrysochos, of Cyprus, achieved a career high ATP ranking of 378 in December of 2018. He currently sits at a ranking of 419. As a junior, Petros reached No. 19 in the world and was named Tennis Europe Under 16 Player of the Year in 2012. He participated in all four junior Grand Slam events.

In college, Petros most notably won the NCAA individual singles title alongside the team championships in 2018 as a junior. He returned to school for his senior year. He earned All-American status in singles all 4 years of his tenure at Wake Forest.

Petros also received multiple off-court and sportsmanship awards during his time in college. He was awarded ACC Scholar Athlete of the Year, Carolina Region Arthur Ashe Jr. Leadership and Sportsmanship Award, and the ACC Weaver-James-Corrigan Postgraduate Scholarship Award just to name a few.

7 Questions With Petros Chrysochos

#1) What was your recruiting/school selection process like?

I committed literally 2 weeks before the spring season started which was pretty late considering people commit years before they start school. I was only talking to/considering Wake Forest, nobody else. I did not really speak to any school other than Wake because I did not think I was going to go to school anyway.

My number 1 priority is the coach, so Tony Bresky did it for me. What was interesting for me is that I never visited, nor I was interested in any other school but Wake. It was either Wake or going pro and I think I picked the right one.

#2) What was your favorite moment/story/aspect of college?

The favorite moment would definitely be either the first ACC title or the National Championship title we won at home. To see so many people come together and celebrate such an achievement was incredible. By winning the title, it was like putting Wake Forest on a map. Wake was never a ‘tennis school’ and we kind of made it like that. Football and basketball always took over with so many legends playing the games but we did something special during that time.

One quick story I could share is one on the day before the final of the National Championship at home. The whole team had been playing Fortnite the whole year with me being one of the worst players by far. I never won a solo game and I decided to wake up on the day of the final and play one last game before the match to calm the nerves. Surprisingly I won haha. Nobody believed me but Skander could confirm since we lived together. Right before the match, I told the guys that it’s a sign from above that it is meant to be simply because I won my first solo game. So this should be a ‘piece of cake’ for us. If I could win a solo we can win this match. The match was obviously a battle as expected but we came on top. To this day I still remember that Fortnite game and I always joke that it is the reason we won the title.

Photo: Wake Forest University Athletics
Just a week after winning the team title, Petros defeated teammate Borna Gojo in the finals of the NCAA singles tournament.

#3) How did college tennis prepare you for the rest of your career/life?

Well, college in general is definitely not a great representation of life. I knew that since I played professionally before coming to college. But college tennis taught me lessons that no university ever could. It made me tougher as a person and as a tennis player. It taught me how to be more competitive and most importantly that life doesn’t care about your excuses. Life still goes on so don’t complain and figure it out by yourself. That’s the number 1 lesson for me. Right now I am playing professionally and I am ranked just outside the top 400. I also own a playing card company called Dealt Company. We design, customize, and deliver premium quality playing cards for small or big businesses. I started this company when I was at Wake and we are still growing strong today.

#4) A lot of juniors and parents worry that tennis will suffer because of the academic demands of college. What advice would you give an 18-year old in terms of balancing academics and tennis?

I mean tennis will definitely suffer if you are studying pre-med at Columbia and also aiming for a 4.0 GPA. It really comes down to what your goals are. Tennis might suffer but you might be okay with that. What I always tell kids is that if you finish with a 3.8 or 3.4 or 3.0 GPA your life will not be that different in the long term. You will still make it if you are tough enough and eventually figure your life out. You are expected to know what you want to do with your life but you are not supposed to know. That’s my take.

#5) Another thing we see parents worrying about is how the social component of college will affect their kids tennis. What would you tell an 18-year old going to college in regards to having fun without compromising their tennis/academics?

I know many kids that play college tennis pick colleges based on location and parties etc. They can do that of course but one piece of advice that I can give is that if you want to play professionally one day and you choose to go to college, you must go to a school that has no distractions at all. For me, Wake was perfect. If I went to the University of Miami for instance, I don’t think my tennis would be the same, not because of the level of tennis or coaching, but because there are too many distractions other than tennis. This does not mean that one cannot thrive in Miami, but the players need to make sure they have a balanced life and stay away from temptations.

#6) Knowing what you know now, what would you do differently if you were starting college again today?

One thing I would change is maybe the way I treated some subjects I did not really care about during the first couple of semesters. If I tried 10% more than I did I could have gotten way better grades without much effort. Not that it matters too much or it is the end of the world but it is the only thing I would do differently.

#7) In your case, why did you think that college tennis was a good option as opposed to going directly to the pro tour?

Well, I think my case was a little different than most players. When I was 18/19 I had to make the decision of going pro or going to the army to serve the Cyprus National guard which is a 2-year mandatory service. I wanted to postpone that because going to the army would mean leaving pro tennis for a while. So, the only option left for me was to go to college and avoid the army so I can keep playing tennis. I didn’t know much about it but after talking to some coaches I got a better idea.

I was also encouraged after seeing Noah Rubin winning Wimbledon and then committing to Wake Forest. The most important values that stayed with me because of college is learning to work together in tough situations. Creating and solving conflict is extremely important in my opinion and there is plenty of that in college. Whether that is against other teams, professors or coaches. All the memories and the friendships will truly stay forever and I think if you ask most student-athletes, this is something they will all say if they made the right decision.

In terms of my own personal development, I did feel like a better player after college than before. Not necessarily because of my level but because of everything else. Felt more mature, ready to take on the world, went through a lot with the team, lost some but won more which is important. I grew as a person and that helped my tennis significantly more than anything else. During school, I started a business as well which I love and now with the virus, I am working on that and making some money on the side. This is another reason I believe college is important in so many ways.

Thanks so much to Petros for taking the time to answer these questions for us. Keep following along all month for more interviews with great players and people.

Austin Rapp

Hi there! My name is Austin Rapp and since I picked up a racket at age 8, I worked hard to improve my game. I was never the most talented junior, but I tried to learn the game to give myself an edge. I earned the privilege of playing at UCLA for 4 years, serving as team captain for my last 2. In my time there, I took advantage of the coaching and great talent around me to grow my knowledge of the game and became an All-American. I am currently playing professional tennis, ranked top 700 in singles and top 350 in doubles. Above all, my favorite tennis moments were hitting with Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal at Indian Wells!

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