Sun staff
Devon Denune was looking for something to love.
Then a Felicity-Franklin Middle School eighth grader, Denune was athletically inclined, playing any and every sport he could sign up for, but he just couldn’t find the one that encapsulated him.
“I got into tennis in the eighth grade,” Denune said. “I moved from sport to sport and I had never really found a sport that I loved, but when I picked up the racquet, I knew that was it.”
Hooked by the game during his last year of middle school, Denune became a quick study over the past three seasons. A First Team All-Southern Buckeye Conference performer following his freshman and sophomore seasons, Denune climbed the local ranks to add Player of the Year to his résumé in 2014.
“My freshman year, I was way out of shape and lucky to do as well as I did,” Denune explained. “After that year, I realized that I was a good tennis player in our league, but if I was ever going to go anywhere else, I had to step up my game physically and also, (I had to) mature more.”
Denune took that realization seriously. He began a training program and a diet. He practiced ad nauseam at the Anderson Mercy HealthPlex with his instructor, Andrew Conley.
Conley is the junior competitive coordinator. He runs various junior programs at the HealthPlex, including the Level 1 Select Level clinic, which Denune frequents.
“(Conley) is a very, very good pro,” Denune said. “I’ve learned a lot from him. I go (to the HealthPlex) to work out and play more and more tennis.”
The incremental growth in Denune can be seen in his match records and growing collection of accolades. Going 14-3 his freshman year, Denune improved to 18-4 his sophomore season.
Outside of his scholastic responsibilities, Denune has taken on other avenues that will bolster his standing in the eyes of college coaches.
“I’ve recently started to play USTA matches,” he said. “I have attended NKU’s tennis camp twice and I’ve attended UK’s tennis camp twice. Those are my two go-to camps over the summer.
“I recently noticed that if you want to play college tennis, you’re going to have to have a better USTA ranking, so I have decided that I’m going to try and do more and more of those matches.
“Even though during the season I have good competition and I’m taking lessons, it doesn’t do it justice; I have to have game play.”
Denune took his first step in turning the heads of college coaches over the winter break while playing in his second USTA event, the Junior Holiday Classic at Crestview Hills Five Seasons Family Sports Club, Dec. 26-28.
Finishing in second place, Denune fell to Mason’s Charles King in the final match, 7-6, 6-2.
During the event, Denune’s commitment to training over the past two years paid dividends as he won both his quarterfinal and semifinal matches over opponents in super tiebreakers, a 10-point match tiebreaker used in lieu of a final set.
“After the first match that I won, which was a 2 ½ hour match, I realized that my physical strength and my mental game had increased tremendously,” he said. “I was very proud to see that improvement.”
Likewise, in his semifinal match, Denune said that his mental toughness was the difference between making an appearance in the tournament finals and going home empty-handed.
That confidence boost is something that Denune hopes to parlay into more success this spring as he leads his Cardinals on the court. While his play the past two seasons has shown that he is an upper-echelon player in the SBC, Denune wants to raise his stock outside the league in 2015.
“I want to basically repeat everything (I did last year in the league),” he said. “Also, I want to win the Western Brown Invitational because last year I didn’t get that. And honestly, I’m hoping for an undefeated record this year.
“I’m looking forward to the sectional play. This year I’m hoping — no matter what kind of draw I get — to progress in sectionals. If that happens, then possibly districts.
“My main goal is to get to state, whether that be this year or my senior year.”
The saying goes that if you love what you do, you never work a day in your life.
For Denune, he loves his tennis. The work he puts in doesn’t seem like an inconvenience. Instead, he hopes the effort and commitment he’s made to the game will simply allow him to