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Sports

Local Tennis Star Jensen Reiter Signs With Johns Hopkins

The Syosset resident has a schedule that would intimidate just about anyone.

In addition to the challenging courses he takes as a senior at Cold Spring Harbor High School, Syosset resident Jensen Reiter has a series of intense tennis practices and off-court training five days per week at Sportime in Syosset and Bethpage and at Columbia University.

When the school week ends, Reiter spends about 25 to 30 of his weekends per year traveling to compete in some of the biggest regional and national tournaments in the country.

But the hard work has been paying off: In addition to being ranked among the top 20 junior players in the Boys 18-and-under division for the east coast, Reiter recently signed a letter of intent to join the men’s tennis team at Johns Hopkins University.

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“I’ve had to learn to be regimented and follow a schedule,” said Reiter, who was introduced to the sport at the age of six. “I’ve had to really learn to maximize my time in order to get my schoolwork done because I don’t want to think about school when I’m training, or vice-versa.”

Reiter said he looked at a number of schools including Georgetown and Emory, but the strong balance of academics and athletics was most appealing for this student-athlete.

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“I loved the coach at Hopkins and it felt like I could thrive under his guidance,” Reiter said. “I really liked the team and the structure of the program as well, and the academics there can’t be beat.”

Reiter’s family has a history of producing top level tennis players. His father played college tennis at UC-Santa Barbara and was ranked among the top 30 players in the country, while his aunt was the top junior player in the country and played professionally, reaching a career-high ranking of No. 120 in the world.

In addition, Reiter has also been a strong asset to the boys tennis team at Cold Spring Harbor, where he plays No. 1 doubles. The team has won the Long Island championships for the last three consecutive years.

“I played basketball, soccer and baseball growing up, so I’ve always loved being part of a team environment,” Reiter said. “Some of the matches might not be at the same level as tournament play, but I really enjoy the atmosphere and being on a team with friends.”

Now that he’s been accepted to a college, Reiter said that he plans to take his training regimen even further in preparation for the transition into college tennis, where he hopes to leads Johns Hopkins to a national championship and become an All-American player. In addition to running four miles several days a week, Reiter said he is also working on several elements of his on-court game.

“I’m trying to hit a bigger ball and become more aggressive,” Reiter  said. “Everyone gets bigger and stronger as you get older, so I need to try and do the same.”

Reiter said he is currently getting ready for the USTA Spring National Championships in Mobile, AL this summer, as well as a series of national tennis tournaments. 

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