Athlete Spotlight: James Wood Boys’ Tennis Player Noah Borromeo

Posted: April 21, 2015

James Wood High School 15-year-old freshman

Sport: Tennis

Position: No. 2 singles, No. 1 doubles

Parents: Heather and Abel Borromeo

Hometown: Charleston, W.Va., we moved [to Winchester] when I was six years old and I was in the first grade.

What do you love about tennis: I love that it’s an individual sport and I love that it’s mental as well as physical. It just requires a lot of work and a lot of skill. Size and strength doesn’t really matter like in other sports. It’s really how much time you put into it.

Biggest strength and weakness in tennis: [Strength], I feel like my ground strokes and probably my forehand is my strongest. [Weakness], volleys and my mental game. Volleys, I need to be more consistent with them. I need to get to the net more because I don’t move up to the net a lot. I like to stay at the baseline because I’m really strong.

Funniest person on the team: A lot of them are funny but I think the team as a whole. One person individually probably wouldn’t be funny but when you put us all together we’re really funny.

Pregame routine/ritual: I always have to be there to hit 45 minutes early and then I always listen to music. I drink a lot of water, and we get together and just kind of pump each other up and encourage each other.

Most memorable moment in tennis: I play individual tournaments, like USTA and not as a team, and when I won my first 16 singles match [here in Winchester] because I had been playing in the 14s age group and when I turned 15 I had to age out. I was expecting to lose because they’re a lot bigger and stronger but I came in and won. It was a good feat for me.

Most embarrassing moment in tennis: I was playing this guy who was way better than me so I was putting in like 110 percent as usual. I lobbed him because he came up to the net and he hit a really strong overhead and it was going back towards the fence and I ran as fast as I could and I wasn’t really watching the fence. I jumped up as high as I could and my foot got stuck under the fence — the rest of me is on the inside of the fence and my foot was on the outside.

Favorite athlete: [Professional tennis player] Rafael Nadal. He’s really animated and he’s not just a basic player that comes on and does his thing and gets off. He’s really into the sport and has a good passion for it. He goes for every shot and hits really hard.

Favorite sports team: Seattle Seahawks.
My dad is from Seattle and all of his family lives there, so I’ve just kind of grown up with them.

Three people you can have dinner with, dead or alive: Probably Jesus. Also Bruce Lee; I’ve always just admired him and my dad introduced me to him because he was an awesome martial artist. He’s the only one who could beat Chuck Norris. [U.S. tennis player] John Isner; I’d just ask him how he did it because he played basketball as well and it was a coin toss for him and I’d probably ask him a lot of advice.

Most interesting person you follow on social media: I’d like to give a shoutout to my best friend Jack Youngblood — ‘Yee, yee’ — that’s a thing that all the rednecks like him say at our school.

Favorite thing to do in town: I used to play basketball but I quit for tennis. But sometimes in my free time, I still play because my little brothers play a lot.

Best live sporting event you’ve been to: West Virginia Mountaineers football. It was a long time ago when I was younger but it’s one of the only live sporting events I’ve been to.

Plans after high school: I have no idea — hopefully tennis — but maybe not.

— Compiled by Robert Stocks