Rajeev Ram made the most of his two seasons as a high school tennis player. The 6-foot-4, 195-pound Carmel High (Carmel, Ind.) sophomore lost only four matches in two years and won the state singles' title last fall. But the budding national standout, currently ranked No. 1 by the United States Tennis Association (USTA) in the boys' 16-and-under division, always knew his days as a scholastic star were numbered. Now, at age 16, those days are over.

	Thayer Academy's Julie Rotundi, heading to University of North Carolina

"These next two years are real important," says Ram, a hard-hitting righty boasting an aggressive all-court game. "It's all great when you're winning consistently, but you need that little extra to drive yourself. I need to treat tennis like a job now.

"High school has that regiment, but it's not the intensity I need right now," he continues. "An opportunity came up to move to Cincinnati, attend high school there and work with coach Kelly Jones (a former men's pro tour player), which is a step I need to take beyond high school tennis."

That's not to say Ram didn't enjoy his abbreviated high school career. He actually cherishes the memories. He simply ran across the same quandary many elite teen tennis prospects face: any time that's not serious training time could be considered wasted time.

Thayer Academy (Braintree, Mass.) senior Julie Rotondi, ranked No. 4 nationally in the USTA girls' 18-and-under division, says she believes the elite tennis community has a lack of respect for scholastic team participation.

	Thayer Academy's Julie Rotundi, heading to University of North Carolina

"The real serious elite coaches would never let you play high school," says Rotondi, 18, who played six seasons of high school tennis (making the varsity squad as a seventh-grader) and won four consecutive New England Prep School individual titles from 1997-2000. "If you're not a phenom that lives in Florida and trains at a tennis academy, [most coaches] almost don't look at you. I don't think the USTA is really interested in a girl from Boston who plays basketball four months a year and doesn't train outdoors 365 days a year."

Though they chose different paths-Ram cut his scholastic career short, while Rotondi squeezed everything she could from hers-both players took away nearly identical positives from the experience.

"Outside of high school, tennis is all about you," explains Ram. "In the team situation, you feel like there's somebody else playing out there with you. What I liked about it is part of the reason I'm leaving. It's not fair to the high school team for me to play half the matches and not show up for practice. That's just not the whole concept of high school tennis."

"Tennis is such an individual sport, you miss out on the camaraderie and sense of team," agrees Rotondi. "The girls on this team are so fun. Just having friends and coaches and teachers at matches made tennis so much more enjoyable, and there's no way you'd get any of that anywhere but a high school tournament. At the beginning of every season I'd look ahead and be like, 'I wonder if I really want to do this again.' Overall, it was definitely worth it."

The time constraints of private lessons, national tournaments and a three-plus-month scholastic schedule can be an obstacle to a prospect's steady development. Even those players new to the dynamic grasp that concept.

"High school tennis teams are like any other sport in that it takes up a lot of your time," says Dulaney High (Timonium, Md.) freshman Chase Dawson, 15, ranked 174th nationally (16-and-under) by the USTA and a state scholastic quarterfinalist this spring. "A lot of your top players are a step above the competition, so many don't feel like they get a good practice from [high school]. Overall it has been a great experience. I think I'll play all four years."

For his part, Ram's new coach, Kelly Jones, a USA Tennis regional player development coach, doesn't believe the idea of a prospect playing high school tennis is prohibitive. Just a tough luxury to handle.

"A lot of the kids really enjoy being on the team, and that's great," says Jones, once part of a world-rated doubles pair and also a three-year scholastic tennis veteran. "There probably aren't a lot of pros out there who played high school tennis, but to say that you can't be a top pro and play a year or two or three of high school tennis growing up is not true, either. You have to be very creative and make good use of your time."