By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Cooper Woestendick's schedule is chock full of top-notch tennis events all over the nation, but the 19-year-old Texas Christian University standout always welcomes any opportunity he gets to return to where it all started ... literally.
TCU tennis standout Cooper Woestendick won his third Jayhawk Open singles title Saturday at Kossover Tennis Center. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
The 19-year-old Woestendick is the grandson of the late Delvy Lewis, a former Washburn Rural and Kansas Jayhawk basketball star, the son of Kristi (Lewis) Woestendick, who played basketball at Rural and Washburn University, and was born in Topeka.
These days Woestendick, whose family lives in Olathe, is making his own mark in the Capital City, dominating the prestigious Jayhawk Open in recent years.
Woestendick won his third career and second straight men's open singles championship Saturday at Kossover Tennis Center while also posting back-to-back doubles titles.
"I definitely try to mark it on my schedule,'' Woestendick said. "It's a great tournament and obviously I've played it a few times now, so any time I get to come back to the place I was born, it's awesome. It's a good way to start off the summer for me.
"There's probably a lot of people I see once a year here, so it's good to come back. Obviously I get to see my family more but I also get to see all the people surrounding Topeka and Topeka tennis.''
TCU tennis player Maximus Dussault (above) teamed with Cooper Woestendick to win the Jayhawk Open doubles title Friday night before dropping a 6-3, 6-3 decision to Woestendick in Saturday's singles final. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Woestendick topped TCU teammate Maximus Dussault 6-3, 6-3 in Saturday's singles final after Woestendick teamed with Dussault to take a 6-2 6-4 win over Simon Caldwell and Jelani Sarr in Friday night's doubles championship match.
Cooper Woestendick returns a shot Saturday en route to his second straight Jayhawk Open singles championship at Kossover Tennis Center. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Woestendick says he has mixed feelings about facing a teammate in the singles final, but said he just has to take a businesslike approach to the match.
"It's definitely difficult, but you've just kind of got to put your friendship aside and just go out there and compete,'' Woestendick said. "I got used to it last year. I played doubles with Duncan (Chan) and we won the doubles, then I had to play him in the singles final last year.
"I've had enough practice with it before, but you've just got to go and compete and win for yourself.''
Jayhawk Open singles finalists Cooper Woestendick and Max Dussault pose for a picture with the young Topeka tennis players who served as ball boys/girls Saturday at Kossover Tennis Center. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
University of Kansas player Anna Putilina, who recently completed her sophomore season, won the Jayhawk women's open singles title, taking a 6-2, 6-2 win over former Washburn University star Maja Jung.
