Santa Fe Prep senior eyes state title
Henry Kaufman is well aware of the price of letting his emotions get the best of him on the tennis court.
It would involve a visit from his mother, Jenny Kaufman, and a quick exit from his match.
"I decided to go to the more composed path and stick on with that," said Kaufman, a Santa Fe Prep senior.
If anything, that set Kaufman on the path of analysis and problem-solving of tennis matches, and the approach has been wildly successful. Kaufman has third-place and runner-up finishes with teammate Jackson Friedland at the Class 1A/4A State Individual Tennis Tournament the past two years.
This year, Kaufman is solo at the state tournament and should be the top seed in the boys singles bracket when competition starts Wednesday. He is 11-0 after winning the District 2-1A/4A Individual Tournament on Saturday in Taos after dispatching eighth-grade teammate Holden Hirsch, 6-0, 6-1.
The only thing Kaufman's prep résumé lacks is a state title, and he hopes to accomplish that next weekend. But even if he doesn't, he said it won't diminish his prep career.
Again, the pragmatist in him comes out. Kaufman said winning a state title is on his bucket list, but he also is looking forward to continuing to play tennis when he attends Whitman College in Walla Walla, Wash.
"It's good to have another four years of playing tennis," Kaufman said. "But since I was an eighth grader, I always wanted to come home with a blue medal. It would be a nice reward for all my hard work."
Nils Gould, Prep's tennis head coach, said Kaufman has always been a tactician on the court. He remembers watching Kaufman when he was young develop his skills because he was shorter than most opponents.
"He learned how to live and how to have good footwork to cover the court better because he had to take more steps," Gould said. "And he learned how to use all kinds of angles and tactics rather than purely power."
That explains how Kaufman's backhand became his preferred shot. In a time when forehand shots are a tennis player's best friend, Kaufman's backhand made him an anomaly, and sometimes it took opponents a moment or two to figure out how to attack him.
"My opponents realized that, unlike most players, they can hit to my forehand side and be confident with it."
Kaufman said improving his forehand shots became a goal in the offseason. Gould said he feels Kaufman's forehand is as good as his backhand. Kaufman has a lot of tools at his disposal.
"I think one of his strongest shots these days is his approach shot," Gould said. "Actually, it's right along with his strongest shots, whether it be backhand or forehand. So, he's got a good all-court game now."
Gould said as good of a singles player Kaufman became, he feels he is an even better doubles player because of his approach shots and net play. It's why he and Friedland developed such a good rapport over the previous three seasons.
The pair made a spirited run to the 1A/4A semifinals as sophomores, but last year's runner-up finish left the pair disappointed. Kaufman and Friedland came in as the top seeds in the bracket but needed three sets to get past Miyamura's Jameson Ferguson and Sean Spolar in the semifinals. In the finals, they fell to Albuquerque Academy's Adrian Hanna and Austin Curtis by a 6-4, 6-4 count.
"It was kinda hard to sleep that night," Kaufman said. "Not that we could have done anything about it."
Ironically, Kaufman said Hanna and Curtis might be his biggest foils at the state tournament, depending on if they play in the singles bracket. He already owns a win over Curtis when the teams faced off in a March 10 dual match, which Academy won 7-2.
If anyone believes Kaufman can bring home a singles title, Gould definitely does.
"He can hang with anybody in the state," Gould said. "His approach and and finishing is, I would argue, some of the best in the state, though I'm not as privy to some of the 5A players. I know that he has victories against a lot of them in his summer tournaments."
It helps that he has a temperament — and a mother — that keeps his emotions in check.
