QUICK Q&A: KISHORE DAMODARAN, MAHTOMEDI SENIORWhat position are you playing now? I was switching off at No. 1 singles with Ty Young, but I'm mainly No. 2 singles or No. 1 doubles now.
The team lost a lot of talent to graduation. What have been the biggest challenges this year? Last year we had a lot of spots already locked down. This year we've been working out a lot more. We know we have to work a lot harder to beat the teams we were beating last year.
Still, you earned the No. 1 seed in Section 4, Class 2A. How gratifying is that? There's a lot of satisfaction in it. I was thinking this would be a rebuilding year, but we've showed a lot of promise and even beat a few teams that we didn't beat last year, like St. Paul Academy and Rochester Mayo.
What are this team's strengths? We have a lot of depth. That's why we've done as well as we have. We have some good seventh- and eighth-graders coming up, too. That's helped.
What has been the biggest hurdle? Maturity. We're very young. We have to learn how to close out matches. But we have pulled out a few, which is kind of surprising.
How is your game? I've improved a lot. I've been seeing bigger balls, because I'm playing better players, but my ranking has gone up and so has my confidence.
Who is your favorite player? Probably [Novak] Djokovic. I like his style.
JIM PAULSEN
