By any measure Noah Wolff ’25 had a remarkable season last year for the Staples boys’ tennis team. He played number one singles and finished with a 12-6 conference record. He led the team to runner-up finishes in the FCIAC and State tournaments. He qualified for the State open championships, reserved for the top 64 players in Connecticut, and made it to the round of 16. He was named first team all-FCIAC. 

But what made Wolff’s year even more remarkable is that he did it without an overhand serve. Because of a shoulder injury, Wolff was forced to serve underhand the entire season. While his opponents were trying to smash their serves like Novak Djokavic, Wolff was hitting his like a retiree playing pickleball.

In men’s tennis, the serve is generally considered the single most important shot. On the professional level, men win approximately 80% of the games in which they are serving. A 2017 statistical study called “Measuring the Impact of the Serve in Men’s Tennis” found that one third of all points won in a match were directly attributable to a player’s serve. 

Wolff’s shoulder injury left him without a traditional serve. In his sophomore year he suffered a torn labrum in his right shoulder. He missed the entire high school season of dual matches. However, he was able to return for the FCIAC and State tournaments by debuting an underhand serve in place of his overhand. His recovery was far slower than expected, forcing him to use the underhand serve his entire junior season.

“I was put at a huge disadvantage when I found out that my shoulder was torn,” Wolff said. “I practiced different kinds of spins that I could put on the ball because if you just feed it low and with the underhand, it’s pretty ineffective and pretty easy to start the point at a disadvantage.”

Wolff found that by mixing up velocity and spins (backspin, top spin and slice) he could keep his opponents off balance and sometimes even get into their heads.

“I would add a lot of variety so that it was more unpredictable,” Wolff said. “[Sometimes] it would catch my opponent off guard both mentally and physically. So eventually it got to a point where it was no longer really a disadvantage.”

Wolff’s perseverance in the face of adversity rubbed off on his teammates. He was chosen to be the captain for his senior season.

“His serve inspired the team because it showed us how much he cared as he was willing to put his body on the line to help us win,” Alekos Vergakis ’26 said.

But there is a reason players don’t serve underhanded more regularly: its effectiveness is limited. 

“There were a few guys who I just couldn’t do anything against, meaning regardless of what I did with the underhand serve, they were just going to pummel it back,” Wolff said.

And even as he tried to turn lemons into lemonade, dealing with a long-term injury was difficult. 

“As positive as I like to spin it, it was definitely a really hard process,” Wolff said.

As he went through the recruiting process, many colleges backed off, unsure if Wolff would return to full strength. A small number of coaches, however, stuck with him, impressed by his persistence and tenacity. In the fall, Wolff committed to Haverford College, a Division III liberal arts college with a men’s tennis team that is currently ranked #16 in the nation. 

As he heads into his final high school season, Wolff describes his shoulder as “80% healthy.” He plans to serve mostly overhanded this season but with three matches a week, he will still use the underhand serve to limit the strain on his shoulder and throw off his opponents. 

“Now that I know how to hit an underhand serve, it actually works to my advantage a little bit,” Wolff said. “I can throw it in and throw them off every so often.”

So far, it is working as planned. He is playing number one and two singles for a loaded Staples team that features nine seniors and currently has a 5-1 record.

“I couldn’t have found the success I did without the support of my teammates,” Wolff said. “Assuming everyone is healthy, we would love to go out with an FCIAC title.”

It will be a tough task considering Greenwich has won the last two FCIAC titles and came into the season riding a 44-match win streak. But if anyone is up for a challenge, it is Noah Wolff.

This story was originally published on Inklings on April 29, 2025.