When Newton County Academy tennis coach Pete Mazzella recruited Zandar Meeks to play tennis, the junior didn’t know whether he would like the sport or not.
Now just two years later, Meeks will be continuing his tennis career at East Central Community College.
“Whenever I started tennis, I didn’t know how much I was going to like it but I fell in love with it fast,” Meeks said. “I decided I wanted to play at the next level. And I’m one of those people that I’m going to work at it. I’m not just going to sit around. I’m going to work at it and that’s what I’ve done with tennis.”
Mazzella said he asked Meeks to play, hoping he could get similar results like he did with Braden Smith.
“Zandar is one of those kids that I have begged to play for years because he is a good athlete and I like athletes,” Mazzella said. “He is also a quarterback and they seem to pick up the serve naturally. He decided to play his junior year and worked his butt off and then COVID hit. But that didn’t deter him from working. Even when he was playing other sports, he continued to work on his own. The amount of progress he has made in a short amount of time is really remarkable. He went from no tennis experience to becoming a junior college tennis player.”
This past year, Meeks teamed up with Reed Terrell as the two cruised to the Class AA No. 2 boy’s doubles championship and helped the NCA boys team to a state championship.
“He has really just played the one season,” Mazzella said. “He has a tremendous upside in tennis. He went and tried out at East Central and they offered him a spot right after the tryout. Coach (Jay) Pacelli was really impressed with him and how much he had improved. He was very complimentary. The only problem I have with Zandar is he started too late. Had he played as a ninth grader, we probably would have won two more state championships. I think once he gets on campus and starts playing every day against the better competition, you’ll see him get better and better.”
Meeks said he’s playing a lot of tennis this summer as he prepares for the fall. Meeks said he plans on majoring in business and would like to be an insurance appraiser and a real estate agent.
