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When the spotlight is at its brightest, Winchester’s Miles Olmeda is not afraid to take on the challenge.
Olmeda, who went to Belmont Hill this past year as a freshman, had that championship moment for the second straight year in the USTA (United States Tennis Association) New England U-16 Junior Sectional Tournament late last month.
This year’s tournament took place over five days, from June 20-24, at several locations throughout Greater Boston, including Babson College, Newton South High School, Roxbury Latin, Gallagher Courts in Lexington and the Longfellow Clubs in Wellesley, Natick and Wayland.
On the final day, Olmeda defeated Luca de Calice, of Fairfield, Conn., last year’s U-14-year-old champion, 7-6, 6-1 to secure the title. He competed in five matches at this year’s regionals, and four of them were against opponents that he had faced before.
Olmeda, who moved to Winchester with his family just a couple of years ago from Loomis, Calif., defeated one of his best friends, Chase Zehetner, in three sets to begin the junior tournament.
He then took care of Elliot Gertman, before taking down Michael Lee, the top seed, in the quarterfinals. The semifinal matchup was a competitive encounter against Tony Xu, somebody that Olmeda has never beaten until now.
“It was raining that day, and as a result, we had to play indoors, which was a fair disadvantage for me,” said Olmeda. “I ended up winning the first set in a tiebreaker, and followed that up with a well-played second set, which I won. But I was back outside for the championship finale against Luca. He was the favorite to win the whole thing.
“But the first set, just like the previous day, went to a tiebreaker, which I barely won this time,” he added. “The second set, however, I think I turned in some of the best tennis that I have ever played to win (the title) comfortably.”
Throughout those five days, Olmeda admits that the toughest match was against Xu in the semifinals.
“I had already lost to him twice, and with the added factor of this match being played indoors I was very nervous going into it,” Olmeda said. “We both played pretty well throughout the match. We only broke each other serves once in the first set. But in the tiebreaker, I stepped up my game and took the first set narrowly. At that point, we had already played for more than an hour of hard tennis, so we were both getting a little tired.
“The second set started like the first set with back-and-forth action, but we were both still able to hold serve,” he continued. “When the set was tied at three, I got a lucky break. Using this break, I was able to hold serve easily, while breaking his serve to beat him.”
Besides tennis, Olmeda did play soccer for a couple of years, both recreationally and at school. But he added that if he wasn’t playing tennis, he’d focus on football, because, as he put it, “it looks like fun.”
Tennis, however, was and continues to be his sport of choice, and Olmeda got involved in it when he was 5.
“My parents, who aren’t tennis players, were watching Serena and Vanessa Williams at the US Open on TV. (The Williams sisters) also caught my eye, and I just fell in love with the sport. At that point, I decided that I was going to try it. (My parents) then found a local program and coach for me, and I was hooked on it right away,” he said.
But all of that happened in Loomis, Calif., a nearby suburb of Sacramento. When Olmeda was 12, he headed East with his parents (Todd and Twyla) and older brother (Peter) and sister (Amaryn), and younger brother (Phineas).
They all settled into the East Coast lifestyle quite nicely and rather quickly. His mom just earned her master’s in education at Harvard, and will be teaching English in nearby Arlington come September on the middle school level.
Dad is an IT professional at a consulting group in Boston. Amaryn is a professional violinist at the New England Conservatory, while Peter is a cellist at Bard College in New York. Phineas is also into tennis like his big brother, Miles.
Growing up, their parents insisted on them learning another language and a musical instrument. Olmeda played the viola, but his attention soon focused solely on the tennis courts once he turned high school age.
“Our parents want us to be well-rounded kids, learning as much as we can,” Olmeda said.
Olmeda was home schooled through the Stanford High School Tennis Academy in order to devote more time to his sport of choice. He trains at the Manchester Athletic Club. He was in more of a conventional school setting this past year at Belmont Hill, but he discovered it was too time consuming.
“It was fun to be in school environment, but the schedule wasn’t flexible enough for my (tennis obligations),” Olmeda said. “I like to play in two or three tournaments every month.”
It’s back to a home school environment in the fall for Olmeda. The lessons are taught by Stanford professors daily from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., and then it’s off to Manchester to hone his tennis skills.
But before he heads back to the books, there are still three more tournaments out there to win. Olmeda is definitely feeling “confident” after winning the aforementioned New England Junior Tournament.
“That was definitely my biggest win since I was 11 years old,” he said.
As a West Coast native, Olmeda can see that the New England tennis player is “somewhat more competitive” than many of their counterparts throughout the rest of the country.
“There are a lot of good (tennis players) who play (in this region),” he added.
With that said, Olmeda has been getting ready for a couple of national tournaments in Michigan next month. He participated in the annual Wightman Tennis Center’s Boys U-16 Outdoor Clay Court Championship this past weekend (July 10-13) in Weston, and ended up second as a singles player, before teaming up in doubles to finish third.
Olmeda will then be off for Kalamazoo, Mich. to compete in the Battle of the Sections from Aug. 2-7, where the Top 4 U-16 players from each section of the country square off to vie for a championship. The Super Nationals will then follow later in the month at the same venue, and that will feature the Top 196 players nationwide in this age group.
The Winchester product is currently ranked fourth in New England, and 230th nationwide among the U-16 top prospects, which will more than likely go up after next month’s national showdowns in Michigan.
Joe McConnell is a longtime, award-winning sports editor for numerous North Shore publications. He began covering Winchester sports for the News in November 2024 and is currently its Sports Editor. He can be reached at editor@winchesternews.org.
