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Courtesy of Chapman Athletics--
Tennis has always been a part of Matt Mead’s life. Mead, a 2020 graduate of Chapman, started competing at six years old and hasn’t stopped – although the court is a little different now.
After a four-year tennis career at Chapman, Mead has ventured into the world of professional pickleball while serving as Chapman’s assistant tennis coach since 2021-22.
Chapman has changed a bit since Mead enrolled in the fall of 2015. During the fall of his freshman year, Chapman had four courts where the Keck Center for Science and Engineering now stands. Those courts were demolished in the spring of 2016 while the Anderson Tennis Center was still under construction.
The Chapman tennis programs temporarily moved to off campus facilities but Mead stuck with the program – most notably teaming up with Charlie Werman to defeat the top CMS pair that was ranked No. 3 nationally at the time. The Anderson Tennis Center opened for his junior season and Mead went on to win 22 doubles matches in his career before immediately transitioning to helping coach the program.
The Environmental Science major still felt the urge to compete as he wrapped up his college career and didn’t feel called to make the immediate jump to pursuing a career in environmental science. Hi friends invited him out to a casual game of pickleball and a new outlet was discovered.
Mead’s lifelong love of tennis transitioned to pickleball and, as he played more and more, he began to pursue a path through the professional pickleball circuits. What began with a friendly invite for a casual game, has led to multiple sponsorships and a national ranking in the top-40.
Mead’s ranking have peaked in the top-40 for mixed doubles and men’s doubles while he’s also landed a ranking in the top-50 for men’s singles. He constructs his professional schedule around the college tennis season as he continues to help current Chapman student-athletes through their own tennis careers, but he makes the time to play in 18-20 tournaments per year.
Once the season ends and summer hits, Mead projects he’ll compete in two or three tournaments a month as he looks to improve on his professional ranking.
Mead’s plans to continue pursuing pickleball to fill that need for competition that traces all the way back to his early childhood. He will also continue to help with the Chapman tennis programs that are consistently ranked in the ITA’s top-50.
This weekend, Mead will help the Panthers take on Pomona-Pitzer and Redlands as Chapman enters into a tough SCIAC schedule that features a new ranked team every week.
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