You might not take Jack Li for an athlete the first time you meet him. Polite and soft-spoken from behind his glasses, Li is, by all accounts, as unassuming as can be. But his forehand, as it sails screaming down the line and very nearly kisses the baseline, tells a different tale altogether.

Indeed, the Hong Kong native’s blistering groundstrokes—coupled with a mental approach maturing by each match—have earned Li a starting spot on the lineup of the Harvard men’s tennis team. He is, by the way, the only freshman to claim such an honor.

And as his results indicate, the first year has settled into life as a varsity athlete. Having almost completed a full year for the Crimson (9-3), Li has amassed impressive records of 21-6 and 15-8 in singles and doubles play, respectively.

So though he may not look the part of a big bad athlete, Jack Li is, according to his teammate and sometime-doubles partner, senior Chris Chiou, “as good as they come.”

GAME ON

As the only freshman who regularly travels, Li—who moved to sunny California at the age of ten and only then began to pursue tennis seriously—has had to adjust to long hours away from his desk.

“I think the hardest thing to adjust to is the training schedule,” he admitted. “I’m practicing a lot more—way more than I used to in high school.”

And he is also spending a lot more time on the road. The Crimson has already traveled to five states this spring season, with three more to come, and oftentimes the roadtrips will last three or four days.

Moreover, the tennis seasons are long. Really long. In fact, December is the only month of the academic year during which the players have blank calendars.

“I just have to focus on either tennis or work,” Li said. “Tennis or work.”

Thus far, though, he’s done quite well, and Harvard coach David Fish ’72 isn’t the least bit surprised.

“Jack has that level of personal organization,” Fish said. “It was pretty clear when I was recruiting him that he knew how to handle himself.”

The same can be said for Li on the court. The rookie earned his first dual match victory in early October, dropping only three games. The very next day, he lost only one.

And just a month ago, Li earned himself a singles title at the February Men’s Open at the Murr. Since then, he has won six of seven singles matches, needing a third set to clinch victory only twice in that time span.

For the freshman who says he emulates the likes of Pete Sampras and Roger Federer, this success has come from careful adjustment.