Retooling his game to include slices and one-handed backhands with his left hand helped keep Yokota's Ryunosuke Roesch on top of the Far East tournament game. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)

Coming Wednesday: cross country Athletes of the Year.

Going into the season, Ryunosuke Roesch had more on his mind than defending a Far East tennis tournament title and trying to repeat his unbeaten 2023 singles season.

His left wrist was sore, something that he had to battle throughout the just completed season. That, of course, went with the added pressure of being a known quantity with a virtual bull’s-eye on him everywhere he went and played.

“I was a lot more nervous than I was last year, with the expectations to win again,” Roesch said. “But I was able to overcome that.”

Roesch did duplicate his undefeated singles season and came away as a repeat Far East tournament champion. But it was far from easy, he said.

Once it became known that his left hand wasn’t 100 percent, his opponents would try to hit to Roesch’s backhand.

It meant having to retool, Roesch said.

When his left wrist is healthy, “my backhand is more consistent and better controlled than my forehand,” he said. “So, (this season) I used slices and one-handed backhand shots. It was not easy.”

And rather than trying to overpower opponents – his forehand and service game are quite strong – Roesch said working on finding open spots in his opponents’ end became a different solution.

“Not just hit the ball hard, but place it and make the opponent make mistakes,” he said.

As a result, his overall game made strides during the season, Roesch said. “My strategy and my gameplay improved a lot,” he said. “Tennis is 90-percent mental and 10 percent skill. Even if you’re not that skilled a player, if you’re strong mentally” one can be competitive.

And there was plenty of competition thanks to the new format used during the Far East tournament at Matthew C. Perry. Players played for titles within their divisions and then for the overall titles.

That meant in addition to beating Perry’s Ren Spinosi for the Division II title, Roesch had to go up against the same player he faced in the 2023 Far East final, Elliott Lee of Humphreys, for the overall crown.

Though Roesch beat Spinoso 4-0, 4-0, and Lee 4-2, 4-1 to win both the division and overall, he said each player presented him a challenge.

“Spinosi is very talented, he has a lot of potential,” Roesch said. “Lee was a lot more consistent this year, way better shots than last year and his gameplay improved a lot.”

One of his biggest takeaways from this season, Roesch said, is “getting my mentality right going into matches. Conquering nerves.”

Ryunosuke Roesch

Year: Sophomore

Age: 16

Place of birth: Naha, Okinawa

Favorite school subject: Mathematics

Least favorite school subject: History

Favorite athlete: Nick Kyrgios, Australia, tennis.

Favorite music: K-Pop, hip-hop