The last time East captured a singles state championship in boys tennis in 2006, freshman Oliver Narbut hadn’t been born yet. Nevertheless, on May 7, Narbut became the 4A Singles State Champion after defeating Pinecrest’s Marshall Landry 6-3, 6-4.
A week before, Narbut was facing off against Landry at the regional final when he experienced a foot injury and had to retire mid-match.
“It was good to reverse the script,” Narbut said. “[Landry’s] very powerful and he hits the ball very hard, so I was ready to defend if I had to. Luckily, I was playing well, and I was able to neutralize well and turn defense into offense. I started off strong, and I was never down in the match. It was good to always be in front; that helps get you to the finish line easier.”
Narbut, who turned 15 in March, started playing tennis when he was around six years old. His older sister had started playing by then and his parents didn’t want to leave him out. He says he wasn’t very good initially—it took years of practice and a serious attitude to spark a rise within recent years to his current success.
Now, as of May 12, Narbut is ranked third in N.C. and 26th nationally for his age group.
”I think maybe when I was 11 or 12, when I was having a lot more success than I had had before, I was like, ‘This is really fun when you’re winning,’” Narbut said. “It’s kind of the drive to keep sustaining that level.“
The sport is a “big time commitment,” and Narbut trains hard to maintain his performance level. Every day after school, he goes to tennis practice in Cary for three hours.
“There’s a lot of people that inspire me, but I think my parents especially,” Narbut said. “Because, you know, they’ve worked hard for me to be able to go to practice every day and have the opportunities that I have with this sport.”
Narbut describes his playing style as “more aggressive,” willing to take advantage of powerful serves and plus ones, and to generally take risks on the court. A large part of the regimen that goes into building up his tennis prowess includes improving his mental game.
“I like how you have to figure things out as you go, and it’s individual,” he said. “So it takes a lot of mental strength to get through the matches and come out on top. Because it’s a lot about problem-solving, it’s a lot of lessons learned.”
Narbut decided to join the school team to expand on the individual element of tennis he’s more familiar with.
“Normally in tennis, you don’t get to play as a team,” Narbut said. “High school tennis is all about the team. It’s a good, supportive environment where we can all be competitive together and fight for the team. We always had a lot of fun together.”
Narbut says that he plans to continue playing tennis in school and get recruited to play in college.
“Hopefully, I keep having the same love for tennis as I do now,” Narbut said. “And hopefully I can achieve even greater things than the high school state championship.”
On the prospect of going pro one day, Narbut said: “That’s far away, maybe if I get good enough.”
Photos courtesy of Phil Stapleton.
