On a tennis court in Rancho Peñasquitos, former professional tennis player-turned-coach Woody Blocher rallies with one of his young students Friday afternoon.
“At 9 years old my dad was really into tennis. So I decided I wanted to do full on tennis and I've been playing for like three years now,” said 12-year-old Alice Martinez.
She’s a rising star and already a top 25 ranked junior girls player in the Southwest.
Blocher has been training top tennis talent in San Diego for decades.
“San Diego has a lot of great players nowadays, and Southern (California), there's a lot of great pros on the Tour,” Blocher said.
That includes 1989 French Open winner Michael Chang, No. 34 ranked Brandon Nakashima and the current No. 5 ranked men’s player in the world, Taylor Fritz.
“I think I started coaching Taylor maybe when he was around 10 or 11 and all through his junior career, I helped along with his parents and uncle,” Blocher said.
While American women tennis players have consistently won major championships, it's been over two decades since an American man has won a Grand Slam singles title.
While it didn't happen at this year’s Wimbledon — Fritz lost in the semifinals to Spanish powerhouse Carlos Alcaraz — the San Diegan tennis whiz represents a new generation of men's tennis in the Unites States.
“I follow professional tennis,” Martinez said. “I watch a lot of the men's side and I saw that Taylor Fritz won Indian Wells and beat Rafael Nadal, which is a really huge thing.”
Fritz’s ascent into stardom is personal to Blocher. He said he keeps in touch with him and sees him like a son.
“I'm very proud of him,” Blocher said. “The guy’s got as big of a heart as anyone on the Tour you know, his ability to compete is off the charts, I’d put it up there with anybody.”
While tennis stars Coco Gauff and Novak Djokovic are direct inspirations to Rodriguez, she said many young tennis players in the region are motivated by Fritz, including herself.
“I wanna be like Fritz,” Rodriguez said. “I see Taylor train a lot and he's winning a lot of tournaments. And I can't believe that Woody took him this far, so I feel like he can take me to that level too.”
Martinez said she also hopes to one day play at Wimbledon, too.
