For most senior Harvard athletes, the end of the spring sports season will mark the end of their involvement in competitive athletics--the days of double practices, team meetings and post-game interviews will drift from life into memory.

For Andrew Rueb, captain of the men's tennis team, however, graduation will only be a transition--a transition from playing first singles on the 34th-ranked Harvard squad to playing on the pro satellite tour.

The choice to go pro is not one that most athletes face coming out of college. The prospects of making sport their livelihood, rather than just an extracurricular activity, are daunting, even for those with the talent to compete on the highest level.

Rueb, however, seems to have gotten over any misgivings about tackling the pro circuit and appears confident about his decision.

"Tennis is just something I love," Rueb says. "I'm so excited to be able to play full time finally next year, and I think I can succeed. At worst, I can travel the world and pay for myself."

Still, in the world of competitive tennis, Rueb's path to the pro ranks would hardly be considered conventional. Few professional tennis players arrive on the pro tour with four years of college play, and most of those who do hail from schools like UCLA--a traditional breeding ground for pro tennis talent.

Four years ago, he could have taken that route.

"Basically my choice out of high school was to go to UCLA or here," Rueb said. "It either was going to be tennis, or trying to do both [athletics and academics]."

After his recruiting trip to UCLA and seeing first-hand the academic concerns of a student-athlete there, Rueb made his decision.

"I was thinking [while visiting UCLA] this is just not for me," Rueb says. "I wanted to be able to do both athletics and academics. If I went to UCLA, I might as well have just gone pro.

"Here they don't give you any freebies for being an athlete. You're stuck in with everyone else, and I like that."

Adding to the allure of Harvard were head coach Dave Fish and assistant coaches Greg Russell and RyuIwai--the pillars of a successful program that has won six of the last seven Eastern Intercollegiate Tennis Association (EITA) championships.

"Most people recognize the fact that they [Fish and Russell] are two of the top coaches in the country," Rueb says. "Dave, Greg and Ryu have a history of making a complete player by the time he graduates and that's why I've improved. I can play Harvard tennis and then play professional tennis and not take a step backwards because the coaching's so good here."

Rueb's development as a player, however, started much earlier than his progress at Palmer Dixon Tennis Courts and Beren Tennis Center.

Rueb, who hails from Pepper Pike, Ohio, started playing competitive tennis in United States Tennis Association (USTA) tournaments at the age of seven.