North Carolina State University Athletics
PEELER: Recharged Weinacker Sets Sights on Mark
1/14/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
BY TIM PEELER
RALEIGH, N.C. Jay Weinacker admits he was a little scared: he didn’t want to play tennis last summer.
He had just been through a disappointing junior season, seeing NC State’s tennis team walk a razor-thin line that resulted in nine matches lost by a 4-3 score. Weinacker blamed many of those losses on himself, even though he had 18 wins in dual-meet competition and remained one of the team’s most successful players.
“I was having a pretty successful season win-wise, but I was the most frustrated I have ever been before playing tennis,” says Weinacker. “I was having lots of talks with Coach [Jon] Choboy. I was a leader on the team and I felt like it was my responsibility that the team wasn’t doing well.
“I was being pretty hard on myself.”
When he left Raleigh following last spring semester, Weinacker didn’t want to play tennis at all, which was unusual for the son of a country club teaching pro who was practically born with a tennis racquet in his hand. Usually, after a two-week break, Weinacker was recharged and ready to enter some summer pro tournaments.
But last summer was different. All he wanted to do was help his father Jimmy, the teaching pro at Pinetree Country Club in Birmingham, Ala., give tennis lessons and to play a little golf. He enjoyed the 20 hours a week he spent on lessons and he whittled his golf handicap down to 4.2.
He didn’t even miss playing competitive tennis. As the summer went along, he talked with his dad about preparing to enter the work force as a teaching pro, completely dismissing his long-term goal of becoming a playing pro.
“I have always been very goal-driven and one of my goals from a long time ago was to play tennis professionally,” Weinacker said. “But when I left here after the season, I just wasn’t enjoying it anymore. I didn’t have the desire to get back in and start playing. I was enjoying teaching and playing golf.”
He had the classic burn-out symptoms, always finding something else to do except the thing he loved the most: competing on the tennis court.
But as the summer drew to an end, he had a snap-to moment: he had just one season of college tennis left, one last chance to prove to himself he could compete against the best players in the country.
“I told myself that I had to get my act together because my senior year was coming up,” Weinacker says. “I had some talks with my dad and once I got back to school and we started practicing in the fall, I felt a lot more refreshed. I set up some goals for myself and for the team.
“I found a way to make myself motivated.”
Choboy has noticed a difference. He thought Weinacker put way too much pressure on himself last season but has been encouraged by what he saw in the fall and in pre-season practice.
“He started getting really frustrated with himself,” Choboy said. “You’re going to run into some of those periods where you lose close matches. He wasn’t the only one doing it.
“He just needed to get mentally regrouped and back in the right mindframe. He has certainly done that.”
| Career singles victories | ||
| Player | Years | Total |
| William Noblitt | 2003-07 | 95 |
| Jay Weinacker | 2006-present | 90 |
| John Sadri | 1975-78 | 86 |
| Christian Welte | 2006-present | 80 |
| Andy Andrews | 1978-81 | 75 |
“I’m trying not to think about it as much as possible,” Weinacker says, “but it has been there for a while. William and I have teased each other about it for a long time. I told him when he set the record to enjoy it because he would only have it for two years.”
But, truth be told, he would love to set the record, if only to honor what Noblitt did.
“I always tried to model myself and my work ethic after him and what he did,” Weinacker says. “To be able to accomplish what he accomplished would be very special to me.”
Choboy will likely count on seniors Weinacker and Christian Welte, who is also in the top five in career wins, to lead the Wolfpack, which lost two players from last season, four-year No. 1 player Nick Cavaday and junior James McGee, who turned pro after last season.
And Weinacker a starter since his freshman year, when he set the school record with 23 overall singles wins is recharged and inspired to carry as much of the load as necessary.
“I kind of feel like I have the sense of urgency I had as a freshman,” Weinacker says. “That year, I wasn’t sure if I was going to be in the lineup and I ended up doing pretty well. I got more comfortable as a sophomore and junior.
“Now I realize that this is my last semester, and my last chance to do something special. I’m looking forward to this last shot.”
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
