Young Tennis Player Making a Name on the Court

When it comes to tennis, 12-year-old Lexi Kubas is an up and coming player.

Kubas, a sixth grader at Windermere Intermediate School in Ellington, has had a breakout year and has significantly advanced in her United States Tennis Association division, moving from a ranking of No. 67 to her current ranking of No. 4 among girls 12 and under in New England.

Recently, Kubas was one of 24 kids selected from the New England, Eastern, and Middle States sections to attend a prestigious training event. Her mother, Audrey, said that this was a great recognition of her ongoing and recent successes in USTA-sponsored tournament play, as well as her current No. 4 ranking for singles and No. 1 ranking for doubles.

She recently placed second in a high-level USTA tournament - she qualified as one of the top 16 players in New England for her division - and her win also awarded her National USTA ranking points.  

In addition to her New England ranking, Kubas also hopes to improve her National USTA ranking by playing at and having success at future national tournaments.  

Currently, she is ranked No. 2 in Connecticut among girls in her graduating class - although she has recently defeated Connecticut’s No. 1 player on a few occasions. Her mother said that she was recently rated a “top prospect” and given a “3-Star” recruit rating on the Tennis Recruiting Network - a premier tennis website followed closely by many college coaches in their college tennis recruiting process.

At the local level, Kubas has played on the Ellington Junior Tennis Teams during the past few summers. Her mother said that she enjoys the opportunity to play with other kids in the Ellington area, as most of her “tennis friends” are from other states within New England.  

This past summer, Kubas helped the team again advance to the USTA New England Junior Tennis Team Section Championships where the team had a solid finish.

Audrey Kubas is proud of her daughter’s sportsmanship and attitude, saying that many parents come up to her and tell her what a nice player her daughter is.

“We obviously could not be prouder to hear that,” she said. “Playing tennis has really taught her a lot for a girl her age - she is learning life lessons that will help her in whatever path she chooses in the future.”

Audrey Kubas is very proud of what her daughter has accomplished on the tennis court.

“With tennis being an individual sport, especially given her young age, Lexi independently works very hard at developing her tennis skills and abilities by training at local clubs and regional clubs like the MAC Tennis Academy in Massachusetts,” she said. “As part of the United States Tennis Association junior player development recommendations, she also regularly travels throughout New England to compete in USTA sanctioned tournaments. She trains many hours each week - on average, about 14 hours (sometimes more) - and also plays in USTA tournaments 2-3 weekends per month.”

She does this all while maintaining straight A’s in school.  

“She is a very dedicated athlete and student,” Audrey Kubas said. “In a few short years, Lexi has developed a real love for the game of tennis - and is quickly becoming one of New England’s top tennis players her age. Despite the many hours she devotes to tennis each week, Lexi is very diligent in keeping up with her academic requirements to maintain top grades.”  

Her mother said that she regularly reads in the car on the way to her practices and brings her homework to do during her breaks.  

“Lexi has her goals set high,” Audrey Kubas said. “She can be heard regularly talking about where she wants to go to college to play Division I tennis. She also talks about trying to make it to the Women’s Pro Tennis tour some day. Lexi really is a motivated young lady and the sky is the limit when it comes to her goals - in both tennis and in academics.”