May 30, 2018 at 12:32 p.m.
New life: Hodags' Johnson ready to enjoy the moment after receiving state tennis invite
New life: Hodags' Johnson ready to enjoy the moment after receiving state tennis invite
Not many high school seniors would be excited to hit balls in 90-plus degree heat on a holiday, but Johnson was soaking up every minute of it. Five days earlier he thought his high school career was over, only to receive a last-minute revival.
In a sense, Johnson is living on borrowed time after receiving a special invitation to participate in the WIAA Division 2 singles state tournament, which gets underway this afternoon in Madison.
Johnson was not one of the 20 automatic qualifiers into the field of 28, after losing to Sheboygan Falls' Brayden Much in straight sets last Wednesday in a sectional quarterfinal match in Kohler, but Johnson found out late Friday afternoon he was one of eight special qualifiers. He will play Madison Edgewood's Alex Sviatoslavsky in the first round of the state tournament.
"Actually getting in was a really good feeling," Johnson said. "Wednesday after the match, I was pretty heartbroken because I didn't want my career to end that way. Getting to end my career at the state tournament, there's no other way I'd want to end my career."
Getting a special invite to the state tournament is a rare feat for a team this far north, as typically the tennis-rich southern part of the state gobbles up most of the at-large berths. Each sectional gets one special qualifier in the singles and doubles draws and the other four special qualifiers are determined by the WIAA's seeding committee based on the remaining pool of at-large applicants.
Coach Bob Heideman says he puts in for special qualifiers on a yearly basis, but the Hodags have not been granted such a request since 2001 when the doubles team of Mike Messerli and Joel Manuel was chosen by the selection committee.
"I don't know if Markus got the one from our sectional or an at-large bid but he, evidently, impressed some people enough that they selected him," Heideman said.
It's the highlight of a highly-decorated tennis career for Johnson who was a four-time individual Great Northern Conference champion, the conference's singles player of the year this spring and was a Division 1 sectional champion at No. 4 singles back in 2015.
"I think if you look at what Markus has done, anyone on the team, there's no one who's put in as much time as Markus these past four years," Heideman said. "It just says that hard work pays off. It's a reassuring thing to have that happen and be able to tell young kinds, 'If you work hard, you will get better and then good things can happen.'"
Johnson had a 9-4 record this year at the No. 1 singles spot, due in part to the condensed spring schedule that limited the amount of matches the Hodags' played. Another factor was a shoulder he initially injured April 30 at Medford and has been dealing with since. The shoulder forced him to sit out a few matches and play No. 2 doubles in others when he was limited to only serving underhanded.
"My serve is definitely one of the better parts of my game, so not having that to its full extent has definitely been hard for me," Johnson said. "Going into the tournament, I've had a week-long rest. I haven't done much serving and am just kind of taking it easy on it. Hopefully, by Thursday, it's full-force ready to go."
Along with resting Johnson's shoulder, the practice plan since learning that Johnson was in the state field has been fine-tuning Johnson's game, Heideman said.
"We're working on a couple of things that we saw in the match that he lost at Kohler," he said. "One of the things was a high ball on the forehand side. A lot of them went into the net, so we spent a lot of time that. I think we're also nursing the shoulder and seeing how much that can take. Then, for Markus, he's one of those players who has a terrific upside, lots of winners, but also a lot of mistakes. We're always trying to add a measure of consistency on the strokes."
Sviatoslavsky, a freshman, is 16-0 on the season and is seeded eighth overall in the draw, despite being Edgewood's No. 2 singles player. His teammate, Donovan Pfaff, drew the No. 7 seed.
"That's really all I know," Heideman said of Johnson's first-round opponent. "Edgewood is a seeded team in the (team) state tournament. They are perennial contenders for the (Division) 2 crown. He's from Madison, a large city. All that spells out that he's going to be a very solid player. We've got to be ready for it."
As for Johnson, simply getting to the state tournament is playing with house money, so he's coming in with the attitude that he has nothing to lose.
"My biggest goal is just enjoying the stage, the moment," he said. "I think the scores are going to be the scores no matter what. The kid I'm playing is good, so (it's a matter of) just playing my game and, hopefully the scores will reflect that."
For all the success Rhinelander's boys' tennis team has had over the past decade, one glaring omission from the resume has been a state qualifier.
Johnson is Rhinelander's first since Rahul Jain in 2008.
"It's a little bit of Rhinelander's version of becoming a celebrity," Heideman said. "People want to shake your hand, congratulate you and get a little piece of what's going on. That's something that can percolate down the program and it affects a very wide aspect of people Markus will come in contact with."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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