Starting tennis at the early age of 10, Jean Farrell has always dominated the tennis courts. He joined West Seattle’s tennis team in his freshmen year, and made varsity in his sophomore year. Interestingly, Farrell is also left-handed.
Generally, left-handed tennis players have a slight advantage over right-handers due to the fact that lefties usually hit the ball a bit different than right-handers.
Farrell plays doubles for the Wildcat team, and is currently ranked sixth in the ladder. The ladder is what ranks players on the team so they can compete against other schools’ players with the same rank. This way, the top tennis player at Westside plays against the top player at another school during competitions.
One of Farrell’s favorite hits to use is to hit the ball down the line with his backhand, to trick his opponents and pick on their backhand. Farrell only practices during the season, and during summer whenever he has spare time.
“[My strengths and weaknesses are that] I can be very good at the net, and I have a very consistent backhand," said Farell. "[But] my footwork sucks. [And, even though] my serve is consistent, I can’t serve very fast. And for some reason I play better when it doesn’t count. When it matters, I surprisingly play too safe."
“Work, work, work,” said Farrell of what he does in his spare time. He currently works at McDonald’s to help pay for his college tuition and his future car.
Not only excelling on the tennis courts, but Farrell excels in academics with a strong GPA of 3.7. He takes three classes here at West Seattle High School, two of which are Advanced Placement classes. He also does running start at Seattle Central Community College, taking two classes there.
Farrell has a really tough time balancing running start, AP, and tennis. It’s really hard for him, but it will soon pay off. Due to all his effort, he’s already received several college acceptance letters.
Shin Tran is a West Seattle High School journalism student and this article appears originally in the school newspaper, The Chinook.
