Brandon Davis

Twelve-year-old Brandon Davis had a winning summer of tennis. But, he said he best experience was actually at a tournament in which he didn't win a match.

The Ballwin, Mo., resident won second place in the 12-and-under age category at the Sweet 16 tennis tournament in Kansas City. He lost in the finals to Zane Simmons from Oklahoma. That tournament drew entrants from five Midwest states.

But, he said his best tennis experience was at the Super Nationals clay court tournament in North Carolina. He didn't win a single match in that meet but still had fun and learned.

He explained, "The Super National was a level higher than the Sweet 16. It drew the top five players in each age group from each state in the entire country. There were 128 entrants just in 12-and-under.

"I didn't win a single match but I had split sets in each match," he said.

A split-set match is when each player wins a set and the match in decided when one of the players wins the third, and deciding, set. That means that Brandon was competitive with all his opponents.

He remembered that his worst tennis experience also involved a tournament when he didn't win a single match. That was two years ago when he competed in the Sweet 16 tournament as a 10-year-old.

Now, he's moved his game to be very competitive in Sweet 16 competition. And he has learned to enjoy another "no win" tournament because he knows his game is developing.

Brandon now is a 7th grader at Southwest Middle School in the Parkway District.

He started with tennis when he was 3. An early start was natural since his dad, Andy Davis, is the head tennis pro at the Triple A Golf and Tennis Club in Forest Park. His mother also taught tennis.

"When I was three, I'd stand at the net and try to hit back balls from my dad. I wasn't much taller than the net," he said.

Brandon said he started playing in tournaments when he was 8. The first meet was a novice tournament the Frontenac Racket Club. "They put me in the lowest bracket to get my confidence up. Obviously it worked; I finished first."

Although his dad is a tennis pro, Brandon has been taking lessons from another pro. Mac MacDonald teaches at the Hill Trail Club in Ballwin. Brandon started with him at age 9.

Last summer, Brandon worked on a very busy training schedule.

He continued his year-round, once-a-week practice schedule with MacDonald. In addition, he attended five sessions at the Triple A summer tennis camp. Those sessions were three hours in the morning and another two hours in the afternoon.

Brandon said the best part of his tennis game now involves his forehand ground strokes. The part of his game that needs the most work is his overhead strokes. He said he doesn't pull down enough on the overheads and the ball sails long.

His practice sessions involve a set routine, starting with a warm-up. Then, he hits balls "fed" to him by either a machine or another player. Then, there's work at the net.

The next series involves hitting serves and volley shots. And a final exercise involves returns of service from another player.

Asked about the type of player who gives him the most trouble, Brandon said, "The guy who is more consistent." He said, if he's beaten, it's likely to be a player who "doesn't make errors before I do."

He said he has had good success returning service from a player with a "big" serve.

Brandon said his favorite pro player is American Andy Roddick. However, it isn't because Roddick has one of the "biggest" serves in all of tennis. Rather, Brandon had a chance to watch Roddick play as a member of the team-tennis St. Louis Aces.

Besides, a "big" service doesn't always prevail. He said, "Roger Federer can beat Roddick even though he doesn't have a particularly strong serve."

For college, he said he'd like to go to either the University of Texas or the University of Florida. Both schools have strong collegiate tennis programs.

Brandon said he'd like to have a career on the professional tennis circuit. But, he knows he'll have to be "a lot stronger." And, he added, "I'll have to be very consistent with all of my shots."

He said he sees some of the same problems with Roddick's game when he is under pressure. Brandon said Roddick has a tendency to become more inconsistent and to rush his shots.