My name is Nicholas Pustilnik and I love to play tennis. I began my tennis career in 2005 and trained with Lena for four years. She taught me the basics and helped me get the hang of the sport. This was when I found my love for the sport. Unfortunately, in 2009 my racket club was torn down because the city was planning to build a new apartment. That year, I did not have anywhere to go that was near to play tennis. With that, I was desperate to play tennis, so I did the closest thing- table tennis. From the first lesson, I knew that it was not right for me. The technique was far too different and I was criticized for using what I knew from tennis.
The next year, I started tennis again. That was all thanks to my coach, Alex. I changed coaches because Alex could drive me to the tennis club. My parents would never be able to do this because they worked. With Alex, I train in a group twice a week from fall to spring. Alex is great because he helps his students perfect their technique. Besides Alex, I had another coach in the spring months named Evan. Evan, by far was my favorite coach because he introduced me to different styles of the game. Not only that, but Evan helped me with my mental aspect. I feel that Evan had the largest influence on me as a player because he taught vey "differently". However, all my coaches made me the player I am today.
Now, I train with Alex on Monday's and Wednesday's. I do however, occasionally play with my friend Daniel Maseyev. That's all great, but my favorite part about tennis is the competition. Almost weekly, I compete in tournaments in a variety of levels. In my first (usta) tournament (2011) I won my first round, and lost in the quarterfinals 6-1 6-0 to Christopher Kolesnik. This was just the beginning of my many losses in 2011. In my last tournament of 2011, I played a boy named Felix Levine. I played TERRIBLY. I made all the possible mistakes there are to make physically and mentally. After losing 6-4 6-4, my father was very disappointed in me. He would not talk to me and stopped signing me up for tournaments.
The first tournament he signed me up for after losing to Levine, was in Randall's Island on January 20, 2012. I felt that this was my chance to redeem myself. In the first round, I drew the 6th seed, David Pines. He was a great player but I managed to win 6-3 6-3. The next day, I won my second match from my first withdrawal. That win brought me into the quarterfinals where I had to play the first seed, Henry Hochfelder. He beat me 6-2 7-5 but I was not upset because I knew that 2012 would be much better than 2011.
Looking at the past, I was right. Now, I am playing much better than I have been before. In fact I have won a couple tournament. The first time I ever got to a finals in a tournament was in Bronx International on May 4th. There I was the first seed and won the first two rounds easily. In the finals, I played the second seed, Kai Yuminaga. I ended up losing the match 6-2 6-1, but I was proud I had made it to the finals. The first time I had actually won a tournament was also in Bronx International on June 1st. There I was the first seed once again and had won the tournament with hardly any difficulty. (I only dropped one game) As time went on, I got better and won more. Now I have a plaque for the Andre Lahens sportsmanship award, a 1st place trophy from Kingsborough Community College for kids, 7 finalist trophies (1 doubles), and 7 winner trophies.
Although I got much better, I still had some bad days. One time I had to play Alexander Petrov, a boy who I once beat. The first time I played him, I beat him 6-1 6-1. This however, made me nervous because I knew I needed to win again. When I got on the court, I don't know what happened. It was as though I could not play at all. I lost that match 6-4 6-3. A couple months later, I had to play him in the finals of a tournament. I knew that I had to win and set myself with the right set of mind. In the end, I won 6-2 6-1 and gained much more confidence. Today I am ranked 64 in the tri state area and 1 in the metropolitan. I am proud of what I have accomplished so far in tennis, but I only hope that I will get better.
