By Griffin Fabits
It's as if Nathan Ponwith and the Sun Devils were always meant to find each other, like their paths were bound to intertwine at some juncture.
They had to, right?
Ponwith, a Scottsdale native, grew up attending Arizona State women's tennis matches at the Whiteman Tennis Center. He trained and played there as a kid, too. And when Ponwith was a high schooler at Glendale's Arizona Connections Academy, some 20 minutes down the road from the Sun Devils' facility, he quickly rose to become the nation's top ranking player in the 2016 signing class.
But despite the proximity, the adoration for the university, how much he ached to stay home, Ponwith and the Sun Devils couldn't have been further apart because, well, the Sun Devils didn't have a tennis program.
They were stripped of their team in 2008 due to budget restrictions.
So Ponwith, then a world top-50 world amateur player, committed to the University of Georgia, where he would author a terrific freshman campaign for the Bulldogs. He claimed the 2017 SEC Freshman of the Year Award and was named to the conference's First-Team. He went 22-15 and helped Georgia to a share of the SEC Championship title.
It was an immaculate beginning to a college career at one of the country's top programs. But, oddly enough, it still wasn't the scenario Ponwith dreamed of as a kid.
"Arizona State was something I was looking for as a kid growing up, but the team wasn't there, so I didn't think it was a possibility when I initially went to college," he said.
But soon after Ponwith arrived at Georgia, Arizona State announced it would reinstate its tennis program thanks to a $1 million donation from Ray Anderson, the Vice President for Athletics.
Tennis was back in Tempe, and Ponwith felt he had to return home, as well.
"I didn't think it was a possibility when I initially went to college," he said. "But to hear that, there was a lot of hope, a lot of excitement around me going to be a Sun Devil. It was something I always wanted to do, to just rep your home colors."
In returning to Arizona, Ponwith joined a program he'd always grown up idolizing. He'd play right in his own backyard and in front of the family and friends who helped his tennis career blossom the way it had.
And with the addition of Ponwith, the Sun Devils were getting the kind of young, electric player that would accelerate the growing pains of a young program searching for its identity. It was the kind of shot in the arm head coach Matt Hill and his staff needed in order to lift ASU back to national prominence.
"I think he brought more than just a level of tennis to the team," Hill said. "He brought a deep-routed affinity for the university that kind of grew in him as he was a young person growing up in this city.
"When you have a team full of players all over the world, that type of pride and affinity for the ASU brand takes time. I would certainly say that Nathan helped accelerate that process dramatically."
Ponwith first appeared with the Sun Devils in the spring of 2019 and made a fast impression on his new program, displaying the kind of pride and passion for the university that resonated across the entire roster.
It brought a spark to the program, and it couldn't have felt more natural for the hometown kid.
"It was awesome," he said. "The Maroon and Gold felt normal for me. Growing up, I always cheered on the Devils. It just felt great."
Ponwith spent the next three seasons in Tempe and was an instrumental piece in putting the Sun Devils back on the map. The last two seasons, the Sun Devils were a nationally-ranked top-25 program. They finished inside the top-20 this year and appeared in the Pac-12 Championship final.
The individual accolades were just as fruitful. Ponwith qualified for this spring's NCAA Singles Tournament, was named to the First-Team All Conference, earned the ITA's Southwest Region Most Improved Senior award, and wrapped up the year by becoming ASU's male recipient of the Pac-12's Tom Hansen Medal award which celebrates "the greatest combination of performance and achievement in scholarship, athletics, and leadership."
As a junior, Ponwith and Dominik Kellovsky became the school's highest-ranked doubles pair in 25 years when they reached eighth in the ITA rankings, and the pair earned a bid in the NCAA Doubles Championship. Ponwith defeated seven ranked opponents this season and won the team's deciding point in the Pac-12 Tournament to beat UCLA, marking the first time the Sun Devils have toppled the Bruins since the program's revival.
These are the reasons Ponwith came back home. To win, sure, but to do so for his hometown team, to jumpstart a program and instill a winning culture in it. For that, it was a storybook Sun Devil tenure.
"I feel grateful for the chance to have played at ASU and hopefully impact everyone who watched or who was able to see it happen and experience it with me," he said. "I hope that down the road it will influence the next generations to come and want to play for ASU."
The next generations that Ponwith hopes to inspire have already taken notice. Hill spoke of a recruit who has spent six years training in the greater Phoenix area.
The recruit is familiar with Tempe, with the Sun Devils, and of course, with Nathan Ponwith, the hometown kid who proved you can stick around home and thrive at the collegiate level.
"He looked up to Nate," Hill said. "He watched him play Wimbledon Juniors. Not only does this help us with putting a fence around our state and keeping the top talent wearing the pitchfork, but it's great for the sport in general in the Phoenix area for the younger guys to keep pushing the envelope for junior tennis in Phoenix."
The turnaround of Sun Devil tennis in just a few short years falls much on the shoulders of Hill, his staff and the roster he's constructed. But, as Hill said, a good chunk of that credit should be given to Ponwith, who became the face of the program almost instinctively by flipping the Sun Devils back into contenders.
"I feel like I'm leaving the program in great hands," Ponwith said. "There's a lot of youngsters who are hungry and talented and the coaches are working hard every day to continue to get better."
"He's one of the most impressive young men I've been around in my 17 years," Hill said. "I think he has grown as a player and a person and it's been super impressive to watch and it's been super humbling to be a part of. We are super, super excited to see what he does next. I think Nate has some really, really big things ahead."
It's as if Nathan Ponwith and the Sun Devils were always meant to find each other, like their paths were bound to intertwine at some juncture.
They had to, right?
Ponwith, a Scottsdale native, grew up attending Arizona State women's tennis matches at the Whiteman Tennis Center. He trained and played there as a kid, too. And when Ponwith was a high schooler at Glendale's Arizona Connections Academy, some 20 minutes down the road from the Sun Devils' facility, he quickly rose to become the nation's top ranking player in the 2016 signing class.
But despite the proximity, the adoration for the university, how much he ached to stay home, Ponwith and the Sun Devils couldn't have been further apart because, well, the Sun Devils didn't have a tennis program.
They were stripped of their team in 2008 due to budget restrictions.
So Ponwith, then a world top-50 world amateur player, committed to the University of Georgia, where he would author a terrific freshman campaign for the Bulldogs. He claimed the 2017 SEC Freshman of the Year Award and was named to the conference's First-Team. He went 22-15 and helped Georgia to a share of the SEC Championship title.
It was an immaculate beginning to a college career at one of the country's top programs. But, oddly enough, it still wasn't the scenario Ponwith dreamed of as a kid.
"Arizona State was something I was looking for as a kid growing up, but the team wasn't there, so I didn't think it was a possibility when I initially went to college," he said.
But soon after Ponwith arrived at Georgia, Arizona State announced it would reinstate its tennis program thanks to a $1 million donation from Ray Anderson, the Vice President for Athletics.
Tennis was back in Tempe, and Ponwith felt he had to return home, as well.
"I didn't think it was a possibility when I initially went to college," he said. "But to hear that, there was a lot of hope, a lot of excitement around me going to be a Sun Devil. It was something I always wanted to do, to just rep your home colors."
In returning to Arizona, Ponwith joined a program he'd always grown up idolizing. He'd play right in his own backyard and in front of the family and friends who helped his tennis career blossom the way it had.
And with the addition of Ponwith, the Sun Devils were getting the kind of young, electric player that would accelerate the growing pains of a young program searching for its identity. It was the kind of shot in the arm head coach Matt Hill and his staff needed in order to lift ASU back to national prominence.
"I think he brought more than just a level of tennis to the team," Hill said. "He brought a deep-routed affinity for the university that kind of grew in him as he was a young person growing up in this city.
"When you have a team full of players all over the world, that type of pride and affinity for the ASU brand takes time. I would certainly say that Nathan helped accelerate that process dramatically."
Ponwith first appeared with the Sun Devils in the spring of 2019 and made a fast impression on his new program, displaying the kind of pride and passion for the university that resonated across the entire roster.
It brought a spark to the program, and it couldn't have felt more natural for the hometown kid.
"It was awesome," he said. "The Maroon and Gold felt normal for me. Growing up, I always cheered on the Devils. It just felt great."
Ponwith spent the next three seasons in Tempe and was an instrumental piece in putting the Sun Devils back on the map. The last two seasons, the Sun Devils were a nationally-ranked top-25 program. They finished inside the top-20 this year and appeared in the Pac-12 Championship final.
The individual accolades were just as fruitful. Ponwith qualified for this spring's NCAA Singles Tournament, was named to the First-Team All Conference, earned the ITA's Southwest Region Most Improved Senior award, and wrapped up the year by becoming ASU's male recipient of the Pac-12's Tom Hansen Medal award which celebrates "the greatest combination of performance and achievement in scholarship, athletics, and leadership."
Congratulations to Nathan Ponwith and Olivia Mehaffey on being named this year's Tom Hansen Medal recipients for ASU! ??
— Arizona State Sun Devils (@TheSunDevils) June 23, 2021
Congratulations to Nathan Ponwith on earning First Team All-Conference honors. ??
— Sun Devil M. Tennis (@SunDevilMTennis) May 20, 2021
Release ??: https://t.co/wPbu3Vst42 pic.twitter.com/7iNdU521Ns
As a junior, Ponwith and Dominik Kellovsky became the school's highest-ranked doubles pair in 25 years when they reached eighth in the ITA rankings, and the pair earned a bid in the NCAA Doubles Championship. Ponwith defeated seven ranked opponents this season and won the team's deciding point in the Pac-12 Tournament to beat UCLA, marking the first time the Sun Devils have toppled the Bruins since the program's revival.
These are the reasons Ponwith came back home. To win, sure, but to do so for his hometown team, to jumpstart a program and instill a winning culture in it. For that, it was a storybook Sun Devil tenure.
It's graduation day from @ASU ... so my last for @sportscronkite:@SunDevilMTennis senior Nathan Ponwith (@NathanPonwith) grew up in Scottsdale and chose to transfer home from Georgia in 2018 to finish his college tennis career, fulfilling a lifelong dream in the process. pic.twitter.com/4SQJMAGNAL
— Mason Kern (@MasonKernMedia) May 3, 2021
"I feel grateful for the chance to have played at ASU and hopefully impact everyone who watched or who was able to see it happen and experience it with me," he said. "I hope that down the road it will influence the next generations to come and want to play for ASU."
The next generations that Ponwith hopes to inspire have already taken notice. Hill spoke of a recruit who has spent six years training in the greater Phoenix area.
The recruit is familiar with Tempe, with the Sun Devils, and of course, with Nathan Ponwith, the hometown kid who proved you can stick around home and thrive at the collegiate level.
"He looked up to Nate," Hill said. "He watched him play Wimbledon Juniors. Not only does this help us with putting a fence around our state and keeping the top talent wearing the pitchfork, but it's great for the sport in general in the Phoenix area for the younger guys to keep pushing the envelope for junior tennis in Phoenix."
The turnaround of Sun Devil tennis in just a few short years falls much on the shoulders of Hill, his staff and the roster he's constructed. But, as Hill said, a good chunk of that credit should be given to Ponwith, who became the face of the program almost instinctively by flipping the Sun Devils back into contenders.
5?? years ago today, Matt Hill was hired to bring our men's tennis program back to prominence. ??
— Sun Devil M. Tennis (@SunDevilMTennis) June 29, 2021
3?? Pac-12 Tournament Appearances
3?? NCAA Championship Appearances
• Players in NCAA Singles/Doubles Championships
4??9?? Team victories
1??4?? Victories over ranked opponents. ?? pic.twitter.com/pu1y9tD24v
"I feel like I'm leaving the program in great hands," Ponwith said. "There's a lot of youngsters who are hungry and talented and the coaches are working hard every day to continue to get better."
"He's one of the most impressive young men I've been around in my 17 years," Hill said. "I think he has grown as a player and a person and it's been super impressive to watch and it's been super humbling to be a part of. We are super, super excited to see what he does next. I think Nate has some really, really big things ahead."
ASU Men's Tennis: Nathan Ponwith is preparing for a pro career after choosing to play at the collegiate level just four years ago.
— Cronkite Sports (@CronkiteSports) February 25, 2020
Carson Breber has the story.https://t.co/HzT07ywm8F pic.twitter.com/erHtlZ6v5Q