Pacific men's tennis announced the addition of Josef Southcombe today, a true freshman from London, that is eligible to play for the Tigers starting in January. The 6-foot-10-inch London native is ranked 36th in England among junior tennis players and is rated as a 1.2 on the English rating system.
Pacific's head coach, Ryan Redondo, referenced Southcombe's high potential and is looking forward to grooming the young player in the coming years.
"I am very excited to announce that Josef will be joining the Pacific men's tennis team. Upon recruiting Josef and learning more about him, I can see a great deal of potential in his game and his determination to develop into the best tennis player he can become," Redondo said. "I got to really know him when we discussed philosophy and mindset and felt like it would be a great partnership. With his size, I know that I can really help him develop into a true forward moving competitor and add a lot of confidence in his serve and volley game. He's going to be a lot of fun to work with and it will be a lot of fun to watch him mature and grow as a young man."
In addition to growing his game at the Eve Zimmerman Tennis Center, Southcombe will study international business in hopes of working with a major sports apparel company, like Nike, in the future. Josef's father, John Southcombe, played professional tennis and competed in several ATP Challenger series events.
"I wanted to come to Pacific pretty much since my first video chat with Ryan. He seems like the sort of coach that could help me to develop and reach my goals as an ATP tennis professional. I loved the school and the tennis atmosphere especially. When I visited the school, that was only strengthened," Southcombe said. "I met the tennis team and they were all very kind and the tour of campus was beautiful. The business school looked brilliant and tapered exactly to what I was looking for – international business so that I can eventually one day work for a big company like Nike or as a sports agent. Pacific has the whole package to help me achieve both my goals in tennis and in life thereafter."
