2023 NewsTribune Boys Tennis Player of the Year

When Tyson Phillips was in junior high, his older brother, Austin, joined the tennis team at Princeton High School.

“That started me playing,” Phillips said. “I’d always go out and hit with him and have fun.”

Pretty quickly, Phillips took the sport seriously and started to dedicate himself to improving his game.

“It was a new sport and I really enjoy being passionate about something and putting the work in to better myself and see improvement,” Phillips said.

Phillips has continued to improve and now describes himself as a strong server who can attack at the net and finish well.

He can also call himself a two-time state qualifier.

This season, Phillips won his first 14 matches, finished the regular season with a 15-1 record, won the Rochelle Invitational, placed fourth at the Class 1A Ottawa Sectional to qualify for state for the second year in a row and went 1-2 at state.

“He had access to our ball machine (in the offseason) and he was out there a lot just filling it up and hitting ground strokes and volleys. In the end, it really showed.”

—  Connie Lind, Princeton coach

For all Phillips accomplished this season, the Princeton junior is the 2023 NewsTribune Boys Tennis Player of the Year.

“He accomplished a lot this season,” Princeton coach Connie Lind said. “He worked hard in the offseason and during the regular season.

“He had access to our ball machine (in the offseason) and he was out there a lot just filling it up and hitting ground strokes and volleys. In the end, it really showed.”

Phillips attributed his long winning streak to his offseason work.

“That was great,” Phillips said about winning his first 14 matches. “Putting the work in during practice and before the season really helped me get a jump start over most of my opponents around here, which helped me a lot to get off to that start.”

In the postseason, Phillips said he didn’t perform as well as he could have at the sectional but was glad to earn a return trip to state.

“It went all right. I feel like it could have went a lot better,” Phillips said. “My first match Saturday was really tough. I believe I could have gotten third, so it was a little bit of a letdown, but I was still thankful to be there [at state].”

At state, Phillips got a tough draw against Champaign Central’s Ezra Bernhard, who went on to place fifth in the tournament, but Lind said he held his own.

“The score was 6-0, 6-0, but he was in every game,” Lind said. “It wasn’t a love game. Just being at state last year prepared him more for this year.”

Phillips bounced back to win his first-round consolation match before being eliminated in the next round. Last season, Phillips went 0-2 at state.

“I was pretty excited about this season,” Phillips said. “I achieved my goal, which was making it back to state. That really topped it off, and the win I had up there made it a lot better.

“The experience from last year really helped me out a lot.”

With two years of state experience under his belt, Phillips is aiming to qualify for the second day of the state tournament next season.

“He played very well up there,” Lind said. “He was playing with these players. [To get to Friday)] he just mentally has to be able to finish some points.”

Phillips is willing to put the work in to get to that level. He’s hitting and serving three times per week this summer.

“It’s going to take a lot more work and hitting a lot more balls,” Phillips said.