Wyatt McCoy, the Mounds View eighth grader who recently won the state boys class AA tennis championship, will play for the Mustangs again next year but after that may be expanding his borders. His father, Brian, told Sports Headliners his son may start playing against international competition in various countries after the next school year.
Brian said “’there’s no doubt about it” that his son dreams of being a professional player. The move toward international competition, playing against the world’s best juniors, is likely to provide the most effective path to that goal.
Wyatt, who will turn 15 on August 13, has been playing tennis since he was six. His father, a teaching pro for Lifetime Fitness, didn’t start playing until he was 17 and later competed for Hamline. Brian said Wyatt’s game is too good for him and that his son plays other teaching pros and college players to push him.
Wyatt is already drawing comparisons to Minnesota tennis legend David Wheaton who once was ranked No. 12 in the world during a 13 year pro career that saw him excel in singles and doubles in every Grand Slam tournament.
Wheaton told Sports Headliners he hasn’t seen Wyatt play but it’s “really impressive to win the high school tournament as an eighth grader.”
Wheaton left his Minneapolis area home as a 15-year-old to attend the Nick Bollettieri tennis school in Florida. “It really helped from a tennis stand point tremendously,” Wheaton said. “Playing outside for fours each day couldn’t be replicated in Minnesota.”
Wheaton played one year at Stanford before turning pro in July of 1988. Brian said college is definitely a possibility for his son, depending on Wyatt’s readiness for the pro circuit as a teenager.
Brian expects to know more within about two years as to how promising Wyatt’s career could be. His 5-foot-8, 135-pound son “has hit his growth spurt,” although he probably will grow a couple more inches and add weight.
Wyatt, who has been ranked in the 30 to 35 range among 16 years olds nationally by the United States Tennis Association, will play national clay and hard court tournaments this summer. He plays or practices six days a week.