King City tennis star leaves the junior ranks a champion

April 13, 2016 · 0 Comments

Christian Lakoseljac won the U18 Indoor Rogers Junior Nationals tennis championship in Markham last week, the last step in his junior career.

By Jake Courtepatte
What a way to wrap up a junior career.
Christian Lakoseljac has cemented his name as a champion of the future in the tennis world, earning both singles and doubles national titles in Markham last week at the U18 Indoor Junior National Championships.
Entering singles competition as the fifth-ranked seed, the 17-year-old from King City dropped the first set of the tournament to an unranked opponent, before rattling off eight dominant sets to reach the final match: losing just eleven games in the process.
In the championship match, Lakoseljac was steady on serve as he wasn’t broken once in a 6-4, 6-4 triumph against Quebec’s Gabriel Champoux, who had earlier upset No. 1 seed Victor Krustev in the quarter-finals.
In the first set, it was all even until 4-4 when the No. 5 seed took the first break and held serve for the one-set advantage. He broke again immediately to open the second set and held on to that lead through the set. Serving for the match at 5-4, he saved two break points to clinch the win.
“I was extremely nervous but I went to the towel and tried to refocus as best I can and take deep breaths,” he said of the last game. “I wanted to make him play, I thought that he was probably looser than me and I had to make him play. I ended up pulling through with a couple big serves. And the last rally was the tightest rally of my life but I managed to get through it!”
It was the first national title for the rising star, who is currently the 10th-ranked U18 player in the country. As he wraps up his junior journey, he is now preparing to join the NCAA ranks with Penn State in September.
“It’s an unbelievable feeling,” said Lakoseljac. “Mostly because it was my last Nationals as a junior. I’m leaving for school in a couple months, so it was unbelievable to get the win, especially here at home.”
Lakoseljac also teamed up with Krustev to dominate the doubles tournament, earning a bye in the first round as the top-ranked seed and losing just one set en route to his second title of the week.
He will take on some pro tournaments this summer before heading to school in the fall.