Years of victory, defeat, blood, sweat and tears all led to one final moment in Sebastian Courtright’s high school tennis career on Oct. 21. Courtright, a senior at University Liggett, had made it to the No. 1 singles state championship match in Division 4, marking the third year in a row he would be competing for a singles state title, but the first year he would actually win it all.
Photo courtesy of Liggett Athletics – Liggett senior Sebastian Courtright is the 2023 captain of the Knights’ boys tennis team and is the reigning Division 4 state champion in No. 1 singles.
“It was frustrating for me both of those years,” Courtright said about his previous championship appearances. “The opponents I played were better than me and were very talented, top players in the country…It was really frustrating to play those and not win, so this year it made me realize that this was my last year and my last chance to go out and win it.”
Courtright did take advantage of that last chance, defeating Kabir Rajendra from Ann Arbor Greenhills in two sets to become the No. 1 singles state champion. It was the culmination of years of hard work and filled Courtright with the greatest sense of relief and accomplishment he has ever experienced.
For his entire high school career at Liggett, Courtright had been part of the varsity tennis program. Before that, he was more focused on other sports, not even thinking about picking up a racket until deciding to act on some advice from a youth soccer coach.
“Growing up I was always a soccer player,” Courtright said. “One day, years ago, a coach of mine told me that the footwork I have in soccer would translate well to tennis so I decided to pick it up.”
While he is a tennis champion, Courtright has remained an avid soccer player as well. He continued playing club soccer for several years, and this fall was allowed for the first time to double roster in fall sports with both the boys tennis and soccer teams at Liggett.
While playing two varsity sports in the same season, Courtright had the added responsibility of being a captain of the tennis team. It was the first time he had been named a captain and got to serve in that role alongside longtime friend and teammate Tommy Ugval. Courtright certainly made the most of his season as a captain, but his leadership role with the Knights was always present even before he earned the official title.
“I’ve felt like a leader for most of my years playing,” Courtright said. “So did Tommy (Ugval) and we were both always playing up higher, this was just the first year we had been named captains. I think we did a really good job. We got the younger guys developed and having fun and enjoying the sport.”
Courtright and Ugval helped lead the Knights to a state runner-up finish as a team to go along with Courtright’s individual title. Liggett finished second to Greenhills, who won seven out of the eight state championship flights, with No. 1 singles being the only exception.
Being state runner-up as a team and earning an individual state title made it a strong finish to Courtright’s high school tennis career, especially with a program like Liggett that finds consistent success. He has not yet made a choice on where he will be attending college next year, but Courtright does want to continue playing tennis wherever he goes.
No matter what challenges he might face going forward, the lessons Courtright learned from the highs and lows of his high school tennis career are sure to help him in whatever path he takes.
“I learned a whole lot from those (championship) matches,” Courtight said. “Especially my sophomore year. That was a year where it was a close race with Traverse City and obviously I didn’t win, but I learned that I needed to work hard and keep my mind straight in those finals because there’s a lot of pressure. And I think that’s why this year was different because I didn’t let any pressure get to me in the final.”
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