Athlete Spotlight: James Wood boys' tennis player Ryan Stevens

James Wood High School 17-year-old junior

Sport: Tennis. Position: No. 2 singles, No. 1 doubles

Parents: Geri and Mike Stevens

Hometown: Winchester

What do you love about tennis: I mainly like the mental game and all of the strategy involved behind it. Every single point you use a different strategy and you can really get into people’s heads.

Most memorable moment in tennis: This one time last year, the bus that was supposed to pick us up at Fauquier forgot us. We just kind of watched the baseball game and played music and we were cheering for James Wood.

Most embarrassing moment in tennis: Recently, there was this one time where I thought the ball wasn’t going over the net and I turned around. Then I watched as it was going over the net and I swung at it and completely missed.

Most difficult moment in tennis: Probably the most difficult part is when you make mistakes and it’s trying to not get upset. Usually when you start making mistakes and get upset, you start playing worse. After I have a bad point, I usually try to forget that, move on and try to pay attention to the things I did wrong and fix them.

Three people you can have dinner with, dead or alive: Roger Federer, I would like to ask him how he developed as a tennis player, the strategies he has and just his whole journey becoming a pro; Elon Musk, I would just ask him business questions about how he started out and how he developed successful companies; Kevin Hart, he’s funny and he would be enjoyable to go to dinner with.

Biggest athletic influence: Roger Federer, I’ve watched him since I was starting out in tennis. I also do a one-handed backhand which is one of his signature things so I kind of copied off of watching him.

Favorite teacher: [History teacher] Miss [Deborah] Grumbacher. I like her because she’s really interactive and she doesn’t make the class boring. She adds in stories and things like that to make it interesting.

Favorite athlete: Roger Federer

Favorite sports team: Boston Celtics

Favorite movie: “Central Intelligence”

Favorite TV show: “South Park”

Favorite song: “Sweet 16” by B.B. King

Favorite food: Donuts. Dunkin’ because I work there.

Worst thing you’ve eaten: I tried duck one time and that wasn’t really good.

Plans after high school: I plan to go to Virginia Tech and get a masters in Business Administration. My mom did it in college and she had her own business at one point. She would tell me all of these stories and I got really interested in that. It was also just watching people like Elon Musk.

— Compiled by Walt Moody