Kane County Chronicle Athlete of the Week, Geneva’s Tyler Masoncup, boys tennis, senior

Name: Tyler Masoncup

School: Geneva, senior

Sport: Boys tennis

What he did: At the DuKane Conference Championships, Masoncup went undefeated in the No. 1 singles bracket, including winning 6-2, 6-3 in the championship match to take the title.

Masoncup was voted the Kane County Chronicle Athlete of the Week in an online vote.

Here is his Q&A with sports reporter Joel Boenitz.

What was the feeling of winning the No. 1 singles tournament?

Masoncup: It was awesome. I haven’t played a lot of singles matches this year, so I didn’t have super high expectations, but I always want to win. So I went into it thinking that I was just going to go and do my best and I got the job done. Winning first singles is something I’ve looked forward to for a really long time, so winning that last match was really exciting.

You won the title match in straight sets. What was your mindset in that match?

Masoncup: My opponent had beaten me earlier in the year in our dual so I knew that he probably had more to lose than I did since he already beat me. But I just went out there, played my game and did my best and it worked. So I was really happy with how it went.

You mentioned that you mainly play doubles. What’s the difference between playing singles and doubles?

Masoncup: I’m a big doubles player because I like to hit the ball hard and so does my brother Aaron, who I play doubles with. Our whole game is to play at the net. And in singles, you have to play a lot on the baseline. So singles is definitely more of a grind, plus you don’t have that person there to bring you up mentally when you’re down, especially when that person is your brother.

So you’ve got a brother as your doubles partner, a dad who coaches for a conference rival and a grandpa who is an assistant coach. Seems like tennis runs in your veins.

Masoncup: It really does. My grandpa, Hal Masoncup, has been a huge part of my entire tennis career and has been the main person that I’ve learned from through the whole thing. And then when he came out to help coach (Ryan) Barabasz with coaching, it was really special. And then me and my dad, Sean Masoncup, are really competitive when it comes to tennis, so I’ve been trash-talking with him since I was probably in the seventh grade about how I was going to beat him every year.

You qualified for state in doubles last season. What’s your goal this time?

Masoncup: You always go into it with the mentality of winning the whole thing and that’s definitely my goal, especially in sectionals. I think we have a good shot of seeding high and hopefully we play in the championship. And in the state tournament, I haven’t won a match in my first two appearances, so I really want to win a match this time.

Any superstitions?

Masoncup: I drink six bottles of water a day, especially if I play later in the day. And usually I don’t get my haircut during the season, but I had to get it cut this year for prom. It was a really tough decision, but I’m definitely not cutting it again.