Aleksandar Vukic
May 16, 2025
“Tennis didn’t run in my family. No sport really did – my parents are both electrical engineers. It was a bit…out of coincidence. There was a push into both academics and sports from my family, but there was a strong push from my dad on sport. Initially, there was actually a lot of resistance from my end in terms of going fully into tennis. Once I finished high school, I went overseas and the emotions of my journey really hit me. I was 17 when I moved. Having it be my first time without my friends, my family…I struggled. During that time, I was enrolled in the University of Sydney, but deferred for two years.Before I went to Spain, though, my eventual college coach approached me and wanted me to come to Illinois. That’s when I started leaning towards the US college path. In the back of my mind, I still wanted to make it pro. Some people around me weren’t sure about the idea of college, but I was pretty committed to it. I came up with this formula in my head on the likelihood of making it pro after going to college, and wanted to prove it right
“Tennis didn’t run in my family. No sport really did – my parents are both electrical engineers. It was a bit…out of coincidence. There was a push into both academics and sports from my family, but there was a strong push from my dad on sport. Initially, there was actually a lot of resistance from my end in terms of going fully into tennis. Once I finished high school, I went overseas and the emotions of my journey really hit me. I was 17 when I moved. Having it be my first time without my friends, my family…I struggled. During that time, I was enrolled in the University of Sydney, but deferred for two years.Before I went to Spain, though, my eventual college coach approached me and wanted me to come to Illinois. That’s when I started leaning towards the US college path. In the back of my mind, I still wanted to make it pro. Some people around me weren’t sure about the idea of college, but I was pretty committed to it. I came up with this formula in my head on the likelihood of making it pro after going to college, and wanted to prove it right