Jacob Gailey, of Mineral Bluff, has competed in many United States Tennis Association tournaments over the past couple of years and continues to climb in the junior tennis rankings. Gailey’s most recent tournament was the Boys’ 18 Singles tournament, held in Chattanooga, Tennessee, January 18-19.
Gailey entered the tournament as the third-seeded player and was able to get a bye in the first round.
Gailey’s first opponent was Chattanooga resident Felipe Freitas. After a slow start, Gailey lost the first set (1-4), but he managed to turn the match around by taking control of the middle of the court, attacking the net on short balls. His resilience and consistent serve was enough to claim the last two sets (4-0) and (10-4) on the tiebreaker set.
Gailey then faced Hunter Smith of Signal Mountain in the third round. Smith, being the number two seed, is a steady player, but Gailey’s return of serve, steady baseline game and net approaches took its toll on Smith as Gailey won the match (6-0), (6-2).
Gailey then faced number one seed Manuel Achurra, from Chattanooga, in the Championship match. Gailey jumped out and claimed the first set, winning (6-3), but Achurra would not go down without a fight. The two took turns winning sets, with Achurra jumping out to a 6-1 lead in the tiebreaker game, but Gailey stuck to his aggressive all-around game, taking a shot every opportunity. Gailey scored seven consecutive points and ended up taking the game (8-6) and the match (6-3), (7-6). Gailey has been accepted at several colleges for the Fall semester and will make his decision about his future, academically and athletically, in the next few months. Until then, Gailey plans to enter as many quality tournaments as he can while carrying a full academic load in his last semester of high school.