A tennis ball pops up in the air as Palo Alto High School freshman Akina Ogawa swings her racket to return a serve during her tennis practice. Her feet slide across the asphalt court as she resets, preparing for her opponent’s return.

On the court, Ogawa stays hyper-focused on every point, approaching each point with the seriousness of an experienced competitor. Her practices reflect the level she plays at, with little room for distraction or error. Off the court, that same level of commitment follows as she juggles schoolwork, social life and the demanding expectations needed to play at a high level.

Ogawa didn’t just make the varsity team her freshman year; she won the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League singles title and reached the finals of the 2025 Central Coast Section championship, going undefeated in seven matches along the way. Those accomplishments prove she’s more than just a promising freshman she’s already among the top competitors in her section. To understand her success, we must look at what got her to this level beforehand.

Tennis became a big part of Ogawa’s life long before she entered tournaments and competitive events. The start of her career was strongly influenced by her family.

“I started tennis when I was around 5,” Ogawa said. “My mom played, so she got me into the sport by taking me to practice. She was the one who practiced with me every day, and so did my grandpa.”

As Ogawa grew older, tennis started to demand more structure and commitment. It gradually became less casual and more competitive.

“When I was around 10 or 11, that’s when I first started playing tournaments, and that’s when I got a recruit ranking, like UTR [Universal Tennis Rating],” Ogawa said. “That’s when it became kind of competition heavy.”

Because it is a global rating, a strong UTR demonstrates that she is not just ex celling locally, but that she also qualifies to compete against elite players from across the country. From the age of 11, competitions meant more time commitment.

“Every night I would sit down with my parents and talk about what the agenda is going to be like the next day,” Ogawa said. “Last year I went online [for school] just for tennis so I could play more.”

After graduating from middle school, Ogawa delayed her high school enrollment and started online school for a year to focus on tennis. While online school helped with prioritizing tennis and training, it also affected her social life and life outside of tennis. Taking online classes meant that she wasn’t able to interact with her friends who were already in high school.

“I wasn’t really with my friends in-person, and I was really, really focused on tennis,” Ogawa said. “I didn’t really get to socialize that much, so I lost some friendships.”

Even though moving to online school threatened friendships, she said that upon returning to school, it was easy to gain those friends back. The harder challenge Ogawa faced after coming back to school was the difficulties of reclassifying to stay as a freshman this year. Reclassing is when a student changes their graduation year, mostly done by aspiring athletes to gain a competitive edge in their sport and further recognition in college recruiting.

“One of the biggest challenges is fitting in, because people in my class, like at the beginning of the year, were like, ‘Weren’t you like in the grade above?’” Ogawa said. “So it was kind of difficult for them to understand why I did it [reclass].”

Traveling for tournaments still shapes Ogawa’s routine, even after returning to in-person school.
“I would have to leave on a Wednesday or a Thursday,” Ogawa said. “So I would need to bring all my school supplies with me, talk to my teacher, and just try finding a time to really sit down and do it while I’m, for example, in a different state.”

Currently, Ogawa is taking many difficult classes, and tennis continues to dictate her tight daily routine. Still, she finds time for friends and tennis, whether that’s on a weekend without a tournament or after school to study with them.