High School South boys’ tennis coach Richard Arnold feels this could be one of the best teams he has ever had, and leading the way at first singles is junior Kabir Sarita. Some players in that position are so good that they don’t feel the need to make time for teammates.
Not this guy.
“He doesn’t feel he’s above the rest of the team even though he’s the No. 1 guy,” Arnold says. “He helps out guys all the way down the totem pole. If they want to hit with him, he’ll hit. Some guys won’t do that. They’ll think ‘You’re not good enough for me to hit with you.’ He’s a real team player.”
There’s another good part on the court, where Sarita has lost just four high school matches in his first two years. He won the Mercer County Tournament at third singles as a freshman and reached the first singles finals last year before falling to Princeton freshman Noah Lilienthal (whom he beat during the regular season). He also went four rounds into the state tournament last year before losing to Millburn’s top-seeded Tyler Schick.
As good as his individual accomplishments have been, Sarita gets an equal charge out of team success. The Pirates reached the Group IV final last year before falling to Montgomery, and Arnold feels this team is capable of winning it all in the near future.
That is one of the big reasons why Sarita is willing to work with any teammate who asks.
“The main goal is a state championship for the team,” he says. “You want everyone to improve. If I’m able to practice with them, it will help the team out. I feel responsibility as a leader to help some of the other kids try to improve.”
Sarita, a co-captain alongside sophomore Robert Siniakowicz, takes that responsibility seriously because he loves the team concept.
As a USTA performer, Sarita also knows what it’s like to play on his own. And play quite well. According to tennisrecruiting.net he is a five-star college recruit who is ranked 37th nationally, eighth in the Middle Atlantic States, and third in New Jersey in his age group.
His rise to prominence began innocently enough, when he used to visit tennis courts near his house as a five-year-old and watch the neighborhood folks knock it around.
“I wasn’t real serious back then, but it looked like fun so I did it,” Sarita says.
His mom, Sarita Vasudevan, who works from home; and his dad, Rakesh Chandra, who works in asset management, were both tennis fans and supported their son’s interest.
By age nine, he joined the Nassau Tennis Club in Skillman and began working with coach Marc Hill, who Sarita says has helped him develop in all aspects of his game.
He began playing top-flight competition in Middle States and hit a high note in November of his freshman year when he won a national 14-and-under tournament in Connecticut. He went into South’s preseason feeling good about things.
“That really boosted my confidence because at that point I didn’t even know where I’d fit into the lineup,” he says.
Sarita earned the third singles slot and eventually moved up to second during the season. He emerged as a first singles force last year, and Arnold feels he comes back this season as one of the state’s top 10 players.
“His forehand is lethal. It’s a world-class forehand,” Arnold says. “It’s more accurate this year and it’s still just as hard. And he’s got a very strong serve that has also gotten better.”
The veteran coach added, however, that Sarita must start adding a little finesse to his game.
During his first two seasons, Sarita has gotten by with putting away lesser opponents easily thanks to his power game. But in order climb the ranks, he needs to learn how to volley more, especially against skilled opponents.
“He basically patterns his game around a good serve and a forehand, which is what a lot of pros will do if they have a good forehand and a serve to back it up,” Arnold says. “I tell him very few things because he has other coaches he’s working with, but I have told him to get a bit more variety. ”
Arnold is taking the Pirates to an invitational tournament in Delbarton in April, which is loaded with some of North Jersey’s outstanding players. That trip will be an early indicator of how he has progressed against strong competition.
The coach also suggested Sarita use weaker competition “as sparring partners” this year. Rather than put them away early he wants Sarita to put himself in positions to work on his serve-and-volley.
The player is all for it.
“That’s definitely a part of my game I’ve been working on all year,” Sarita says. “I’ve been working on getting more variety in my game in practice, and I hope to work on it in a match situation where there’s not that much pressure.”
“I’m working on getting more confident,” he adds. “Hopefully that translates into match situations.”
Aside from winning a team title, Sarita is looking to win counties this year and advance further in the state’s individual tournament.
The Pirates return their top three singles from last year including Siniakowicz at second singles and Matt Michibata at third singles. A bevy of solid players can either play alternate singles or doubles.
“We have a very young team with no seniors, but we have four outstanding singles players, maybe even five,” Arnold says. “I think this year or next year if we don’t win a state championship we’ll never do it in my lifetime. We have the talent this year, if everybody’s healthy and everybody shows up, that we could have the best team in South history. And that’s a pretty good history.”
South won Group IV states in 2005 and has dropped based on enrollment numbers to Group III, where Millburn and Princeton are both threats. But Sarita says a state title is not unreachable.
“I love the depth,” he says. “We have a lot of freshmen and sophomores, but they’re all mature. They’ve all been in match situations before.”
And if any of those young guys need some help, they know exactly who to turn to.
