Heartland Christian's Cooper Grim is playing in his third Div. II state singles tournament. (Photo by Jimmy Joe Savage)

EAST PALESTINE — Heartland Christian junior Cooper Grim has a strong belief that it could all line up for him on Friday and Saturday at the Div. II state tennis singles tournament. 

A district champion for the second straight time, he also knows that it’s how good you are on a specific day and not based on past performances. 

“I’m feeling really good about my game right now,” the East Palestine resident said. “I felt like I was playing my best tennis last weekend but I have to really just completely forget about that and let that high get too high because I have to get right back at it this weekend because there’s going to be a lot of great players there.” 

The state tournament is set for Thursday and Friday at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason near Cincinnati for the first time since 2022. 

It won’t be Grim’s first time at the facility as he has attended the Cincinnati Open professional tennis tournament before as a fan.

“That’s like one of the biggest pro events in the world and the highest level of tennis,” Grim said. “It’s going to feel really cool to be playing on those courts now instead of being in the stands.” 

On his current tennis career trajectory, it wasn’t necessarily out of the question that he would play on those courts some day whether that was in high school or at some other level. 

Grim is ranked as the seventh best high school junior player in Ohio by the Tennis Recruiting Network. He’s also the 17th best junior in the Great Lakes region. He’s played in United States Tennis Association events all over the country including as recently in April in Arizona. 

“I had a great weekend there,” Grim said. “In the first round I ended up losing but it was to one of the top kids in the tournament, I believe he was a top 100 senior in the nation if I’m not wrong. From there I won the rest of my matches. I got a good win against a kid that’s higher rated than me in the junior class.” 

There are five returning competitors who played in the state tournament last season. Grim, like he did as a freshman, went out in the quarterfinal round last season. There are two others who were eliminated in the quarterfinal last year but they are on the other side of the 16-player bracket. 

Pepper Pike Orange junior Ilya Shcherbakov finished third at state last year and is on Grim’s side of the bracket. But Grim beat him in districts. 

Grim’s first round opponent is Cincinnati Summit Country Day senior Tyler Lammers. He’s ranked as the 19th best senior in Ohio. 

“The first kid is from Cincinnati, so he’s probably going to have a lot of his friends and supporters coming out to watch him, so he’s got to be ready for anything,” Grim said. 

The second round is where it can really get interesting. If Columbus Bexley’s Amiya Bowles beats her first round opponent, she will face Grim in the second round. Bowles is a three-time state girls singles champion who decided to up her competition level and play against the boys in her senior season. She’s a Michigan State recruit and is ranked No. 1 in her class in Ohio. 

Cooper’s mother and coach Michelle said a pairing like that would be nothing new for him.

“He’s used to being with me a lot,” Michelle said. “I’ve coached him and so he’s gotten a lot of experience on how a girl plays versus a boy. Also, he trains up at the Cleveland Racquet Club and there’s quite a few highly ranked girls he plays with pretty much all the time there too.” 

Cooper Grim said he gets out of school at 1:50 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays during the school year to go to Cleveland for a clinic.

“There’s a lot of great coaches up there and there’s a lot of great players,” Cooper said. “The funny thing about it is that the kids I played in both my district semifinal and final are kids I practice against all the time in the clinic.”

On other days he trains locally at his home court or places like the Avalon Athletic Club in Boardman or the Salem Racquet Club. He said former Salem High School standout Mitchell Maroscher is one of his regular playing partners. 

“He’s one of the main guys I practice with weekly,” Grim said. “He’s still a great player. He’s been out of college a few years but his level hasn’t dropped one bit. I mean, I usually lose to him, so he’s a really good player.” 

Michelle Grim said her son has really come into his own this year as a more complete player. 

“It’s his maturity level and his mental toughness,” Michelle said. 

“I think I have improved on hanging in there if that makes sense,” Cooper said. “I don’t feel like my forehand and my backhand have made any huge drastic improvements, but I feel like I’m just making these rallies longer. Whenever adversity hits me I feel like I’m handling it better.” 

Cooper Grim said his goal after high school is go to a college with a strong aviation program so he can train to become a commercial airline pilot. 

He also wants to play tennis at a high level in college as well.

“My dream is to be a Div. I player like a lot of kids dream, but everywhere in college tennis is a great level,” Grim said. “So I’m definitely going to consider all the schools that have an aviation program even if it doesn’t have that Div. I label. The level is still very, very good across all divisions in college.” 

There’s a very real chance this could be Cooper’s last high school tournament as elite players regularly skip their senior seasons to focus on more competitive play. 

“I can’t definitively answer that right now,” Cooper said. “I would definitely love to play my senior year and plan do plan on it but obviously things could change. You never know what could be going on with my college decisions and stuff like that.”

Notes

• Grim said the thing he really likes most about the Lindner Family Tennis Center is the color of the courts.

“It’s like a lighter blue and you don’t see that very often,” Cooper said. “It’s just an amazing facility. They have everything a tennis player could ever need really. It’s going to be really cool to kind of see what it’s like behind the scenes.” 

• High school tennis players in Ohio are permitted to play in two USTA events during the season. Grim only played one this season. 

• His summer plans include playing in the Midwest Closed tournament in Grand Rapids, Michigan. 

“All the best kids in the Midwest go and play that,” Cooper said. “It’s a grade level tournament.” 

• East Liverpool senior Brady Dawson, who is going to state in doubles, suffered his only singles defeat to Grim this season and he said he was impressed with his play.

“He’s probably one of the best tennis players I’ll have the pleasure of playing against. I look him up on the (Tennis Recruiting Network) site all the time. I’m just happy I had a couple good rallies with him and was able to keep up with him for a little bit.”

• Columbus Bexley freshman Harrison Lessard might be the one to watch on the top side of the bracket. He’s ranked as the No. 1 freshman in Ohio and his brother Henry is the No. 1 junior. Henry is playing in the doubles state tournament.