Attended Columbia University (2015); double major in Economics and History

Juniors

  • Ranked #1 in Texas in all age groups (12s through 18s)
  • Silver and Bronze ball in super-national tournaments
  • 2011 National Sportsmanship Award recipient
  • 2011 Texas John McFarlin Award for Most Outstanding Senior
  • 5-Star recruit with offers from: Columbia, Harvard, UPenn, Cornell, Northwestern and others

College

  • 2013 National Indoor Champion (doubles)
  • 4-time All-Ivy Player (for singles and doubles)
  • #6 Doubles Team in the Country
  • Top 100 Singles Player in the Country
  • 3-year captain (first in program history)
  • 2015 Columbia Scholar-Athlete Award (awarded to one student-athlete at Columbia each year)
  • Helped program reach highest ranking at that time ever (#11 in country)

King Daddy created my foundation as a tennis player and as a person. As someone in the workforce now, I value a lot of the character traits that King Daddy instilled in me, such as: Work Ethic, Perseverance, and Competitiveness.

Work Ethic: Going to King Daddy after school every day instilled a certain work ethic that has prepared me well for a post-college career. There were many days (or even months) that I did not want to play tennis; however, by continuing to stick with the King Daddy program, I believe that it taught me the value of hard work.

Perseverance: Tennis is one of the best sports when it comes to truly pushing an individual to be his/her best. It’s a game that naturally forces someone to push through various mental barriers over the course of a match. The King Daddy coaches helped me push through a particularly tough time as I switched from a two-handed forehand to a one-handed forehand when I was ~13 years old. At the time, I was ranked #1 in Texas and once I made the switch, I started losing to many players that I had beaten only a few months prior. King Daddy gave me the foundation, belief and resources to commit to the process and persevere through the adversity. Switching to a one-handed forehand ended up being a great decision and I ended up getting back to the #1 ranking

Competitiveness: Last, King Daddy fosters a very competitive environment. I obviously enjoyed the sport and ended up having a life-long King Daddy friend group, but the practices were very intense. I think that the environment that the coaches created helped us succeed on match day. Furthermore, once I got to college, I realized that I was more used to this competitive culture than many other teammates who did not have the chance to play at a King Daddy-type of academy growing up.

Ashok currently works in finance (private equity) in New York City.