Chaitanya Irkar Bounces Back from Youth Adversity and Pandemic to Play College Tennis

Chaitanya Irkar, an electrical and computer engineering major from Cupertino, California, has played tennis since he was eight years old and started training competitively at age ten. His journey to college tennis didn't come easy as he suffered an injury in middle school that set him far enough back that he didn't believe continuing his tennis career in college would even be an option.

"My path with tennis has been very unorthodox. I didn't even look to be recruited as an athlete, honestly, I was looking more from an academic perspective." Irkar states.

However, Irkar stayed motivated through his passion for the sport, loving tennis from his introduction to the ball and the racquet, which only grew through every obstacle he faced. Working his way back through high school and watching his peers get recruited also motivated him.

"I would watch them and think, 'What if I could do that?'" said Irkar.

Irkar applied early decision to Carnegie Mellon and began thinking he could walk on to the tennis team after his acceptance.

However, being a high school graduate in 2020, the pandemic threw his freshman year off course with remote learning. While a tough year, Irkar says he learned a lot during that unconventional time. "It taught me how to deal with unfortunate circumstances," he said.

After his freshman year, Irkar decided to take a gap year where he began training intensively. A gap year was never something he thought about, thinking that once he started college it would just go straight through, and the decision impacted him greatly.

"Making that decision taught me to take risks and changed my focus on tennis," Irkar stated.

Irkar said that during his entire gap year, all he did was train, go to tournaments, and travel. There were many ups and downs but it prepared him to deal with his struggles when he came to campus.

While away, Irkar had many conversations with head men's tennis coach Mike Belmonte and was given the opportunity to try out for the team in the fall of 2022. Called an amazingly hard worker by his teammates and coach, Irkar made his way to the starting lineup by the end of his first competitive season.

He was not only succeeding in tennis, he was also making the grade in the classroom earning University Athletic Association All-Academic honors which he said was difficult after not having to balance tennis and his education during his gap year.

"I struggled a lot at the beginning managing both, and that transition from my gap year to my first time in-person here was quite a challenge for me," said Irkar "But it eventually all worked out."

One support for him during this time was the tennis team itself. "Even during the two weeks for tryouts, they embraced me completely," Irkar stated. He recalled going to Florida for both spring break and their conference tournament, which he believed strengthened their bond.

Irkar showed much gratitude for Coach Belmonte, who gave him a chance, and everyone who helped along his path, saying that he gives himself credit but also knows that there is a lot of luck and help that went into his journey to becoming a collegiate tennis player.

"I worked super hard but also the stars aligned for me, so I'm trying to make the most out of this," he said.

Irkar closed his first tennis season as a Tartan with a 7-3 singles record, including a three-set come-from-behind victory in the sixth singles position against Casey Hishinuma of Case Western Reserve University, who helped the Spartans win the national championship and finished his own season with a 26-8 record.

"Chai embodies everything a coach could want in a team member, and it has been a pleasure for me to watch his hard work continue to pay off from the moment he earned a walk-on spot to winning a match against the #1 team in the country last year," said Belmonte. "His persistent drive to improve has been a tremendous example of commitment and leadership on the team, and I know his teammates have great respect for his effort, compete level, and humility. He motivates all of us to be better each day, and I know he will leave a lasting impact on our program for years to come."

In his second season, Irkar is off to a 4-3 singles record following fall tournaments and is looking forward to the heart of the competition season starting in February.