Strode making pro tennis bid, but has Plan B

Blake Strode

St. Louisan Blake Strode is making a determined bid for a pro tennis career. But, he's got a Plan B, a guaranteed acceptance to the Harvard Law School.

After graduating from the University of Arkansas as an All-American student-athlete, the Pattonville High grad embarked on a personal one-year bid to make in on the international pro tennis circuit.

The 22-year-old Blake is currently in the southern U.S. playing Challenger and Futures tournaments in a bid to join the main pro tour. He's had some early success and has had a nice jump in the international rankings.

But, he knows that making it in international pro tennis is still a long shot.

About his career Plan B, Blake said, "I've always balanced my schooling and my tennis. My parents always made sure I separated both of those."

The result has been that his athletic accomplishments have been coupled with similar success in the classroom.

For instance, in his senior year at the University of Arkansas, Blake was named the Southeast Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Year. That same year, he was a member of the SEC's first team in tennis.

In an article on the University of Arkansas website, tennis coach Robert Cox said, "For all those who know Blake, this award doesn't catch us off guard. Blake is a tremendous student-athlete, the epitome of what a student-athlete should be."

Blake at the 2009 U.S. Open Championships

In his senior year, Blake earned a 4.0 grade point average. He majored in international economics and minored in Spanish. His cumulative GPA was 3.972.

He finished high in the voting for two prestigious national scholar-athlete competitions. He was a finalist for the H. Boyd McWhorter Scholar-Athlete Award and runner-up in the Walter Byers Postgraduate Scholarship.

Blake last spring was accepted by Harvard University's Law School. Then, the school granted him permission to delay his entrance until the fall of 2010.

That's when Blake gave himself a year to try to make it on the pro tennis tour.

"By the time I was 8, I knew I wanted to play pro tennis. And I never lost that dream," he said.

And, with his Plan B guaranteed for a year, he started last summer his drive for the pro tour after his graduation from Arkansas.

He's been at it for seven months. And, he's had some successes.

He's won titles in a couple of the qualifier tournaments. And, by his estimation, he's raised his international ranking from about 1,200 in the world to "where I'm closing in on 500."

He said he wants to be ranked "in the 300s" before June 1.

That date is a landmark one for his Plan B. On that date, he'll need to either notify Harvard he'll be enrolling this fall or ask for another year's deferment.

The deferment, if granted, would mean he'd have another year to pursue his tennis dream and still have a guaranteed spot in the class of 2011.

One thing he likes about the law career goal is that he could win either way.

"If I made the pro tour, I'd play no more than eight years. Since I'm 22 now, I'd still have plenty of years left for my second career as a lawyer," he said.

"But, for now, my mindset is still on Career No. 1-tennis," he said. "I still think it is something I can do."

Blake said he played tennis for the first time while on vacation with his parents when he was 5.

"I was watching a tennis tournament on TV and I told my parents I'd like to play. They took me to a tennis clinic that day," he said.

Both his father and mother played sports in college. His dad, James Lester Strode, played baseball while his mother, Angela Strode, played both basketball and volleyball.

His dad is now the bullpen coach for the Chicago Cubs baseball team.

Asked how a Chicago Cub coach's family ended up in St. Louis, Blake joked, "My mother is from St. Louis and she wouldn't have it any other way."

He said, despite his parents' background in athletics, they made sure he didn't lose sight of the importance of education. "They made sure I understood that neglecting my classwork wasn't an option," he said.

Concerning his first 7 months on his tennis quest, Blake said there have been both highs and lows.

"Tennis is a solitary game and there's no one else to blame if you don't win," he said. "That means you'll have some lows if you lose a couple matches in a row and I've done that."

But, he said, so far, his "highs" have out-numbered his "lows."

He has a tennis coach in North Carolina but he doesn't travel with Blake.

So, when he's moving from one meet to another, Blake is pretty much on his own.

For instance, at the start of February, he'll be playing in a Challenger tournament in Dallas, Tex.

Then, he's got four more months before he gets to the June date when he has to decide whether he's made enough progress to continue. That's also the time when he has to decide whether to ask Harvard for a deferment for one more year.

(If you'd like to keep track of Blake's progress, you can visit his personal website at www.blakestrodetennis.com)