New York City Busy
How Nick Kotzen is capitalizing on every opportunity
Nick Kotzen is a busy man – New York City busy. It’s the week before the US Open and when we finally get to speak, he’s in an Uber across town, heading towards Flushing Meadows to collect his accreditation for the tournament. He’s not in the draw this year – the 21 year old from Short HIlls, New Jersey, is a full time student-athlete at Columbia University – but he’s been recruited as a hitting partner for the tournament. And even before play begins, that’s led to some big opportunities.
“Oh my gosh, I've been so busy,” he says, “just traveling back and forth between Jersey, seeing friends and playing with some pros at the Columbia Tennis Facility. The other day I hit with Jack Draper – it's always cool to share the court with these guys. With all these pros coming into the area, I'm fortunate to be at a high enough position on the team where my coach will ask me to hit with them.”
As fans and nerds, we’re interested in what it’s like to hit with players at that level. Do you just play your natural game, or are you expected to emulate the style of the players they might meet in the draw? For Kotzen, these questions remain unanswered for the moment: “That starts on Monday for me. How it'll work is they'll tell me the night before who I'm going to play with, what time and where. I'll get there early and try to be as good of a hitting partner as I possibly can. But at the same time, also using it as my own practice, seeing how my game is stacking up against these players, absorbing information and talking to the coaches. So it’s not just a cool memory, but also a learning tool.”
“I’ll try to be as good of a hitting partner as I possibly can. But at the same time, also using it as my own practice, seeing how my game is stacking up against these players”
Kotzen’s athletic career to this point has been marked by its breadth. “I never really focused on tennis until I was about 14,” he says. Growing up in New York City, the Kotzen family moved to Jersey when Nick was 10, and at that point, his parents encouraged him to play different sports as a means of making friends: “It was probably the best option for me being the new kid in town, just meeting a lot of kids through sports,” he says. He played soccer, little league and in the winter, competed in downhill skiing. “Honestly,” he says, “at 13 I was better at skiing than I was at tennis. And I loved it. I was a part of a racing team and we would have races and it was just a really really cool experience.” Is there, perhaps, any kind of crossover between the two sports? “I mean, it's also one-on-one, and it's an individual sport – you have your team and your coaches but it's just you going down the mountain. Being forced to perform under pressure with so many people watching, it was something that really made me competitive at a young age. More than physical, I think the mental side translates most to my tennis game now.”
When he was skiing, a core memory was spending weekends on the mountain with his brothers. Both those brothers ended up playing tennis, and the eldest, Alex, also ended up playing tennis at Columbia, and only recently transferred to a graduate program at the University of Tennessee. What’s it like having a sibling who plays at that level?
“Alex being at Columbia was one of the reasons I went there,” Nick says. “He left because the Ivy League doesn't give the opportunity to athletes to do a fifth year as a graduate student. Being on the same team as him was also really unique and cool. And, you know, playing next to him against great teams like Michigan – we were up three to two in matches playing the four, and it was up to Alex and I to win one of the two matches. So that was a cool thing to do, especially given it being his final NCAA tournament. And then, yeah, we played some doubles matches together – we were actually really good together and I don't think we lost that year.”
Having an older sibling trailblaze through the system can have positives and negatives: it clears a path, but it also creates a point of comparison, both for coaches and competitors. “I've always put him as somebody I want to play like,” says Kotzen, “and I'm super, super thankful that our coach, Howie, allowed us to have that opportunity to play together. Alex has always been so good at competing and being like this animal on court. And that's something that I've always tried to do. So being with him at Columbia was an incredible experience and, you know, I also improved as a tennis player by just playing with him. Now my younger brother is actually moving into college at Columbia as an incoming freshman. He will be on the team, too. So Andrew and Alex swap positions and I'll be like Andrew's mentor, like Alex was to me.”
Given the family connection, was it easy to secure a spot at Columbia? “My recruiting process was longer than most people think,” says Kotzen. “I really took my time with it, but I chose Columbia mostly because of the academic opportunities it gave me. And because I thought that Howie, our head coach, would give me the best chance to grow as a person and a tennis player while getting such a great education. I really didn't want to sacrifice either my tennis or my academics.”
Life as a college athlete might be a dream ticket in certain revenue generating sports, but in tennis? Not so much. And in the Ivy League? In New York City? Forget about it.
Kotzen is majoring in Psychology but tops up with business classes around the Columbia core curriculum. “I honestly like it,” he says, “it forces you to be more well-rounded. I've been exposed to a lot of different things that I probably wouldn't have been exposed to otherwise.” For a college athlete at Columbia, travel is a necessary evil with the Baker Athletics Complex five miles north of the university itself. “We take a shuttle,” says Kotzen, “which is provided by the university for student athletes. It depends on the day, but it's a lot of going back and forth between the facility and the campus, which is tough but you get used to it. And it's like, OK, you're going up to the facility, you have 20 minutes to prepare yourself to get in the practice mindset. It's nice to remove yourself from the setting of the classroom. But yeah, a lot of my day is commuting and then classes and lifts or practice.”
The student-athlete lifestyle is working for Kotzen. This year, he and the Columbia team beat Michigan to make it to the NCAA Sweet 16s, a significant accomplishment. “It was an unreal match against Michigan,” says Kotzen. “The guy I was playing at singles was one of my closest friends from junior tennis. We had an amazing match. And yeah, to send us to the sweet 16 in front of the home crowd after a rain delay, that was special.”
“When I was younger, I had shoulder issues. I played one of my close friends in a tournament and I was serving underarm. It turned out to be a close match. But that was only real time – I try to use my serve as more of a weapon.”
We recently shot the Sigrún fall-winter 24 campaign with Nick at Fort Greene Park in New York. Reflecting one of the new season graphics on our Veranda Tee, we asked Nick to hit a few underarm serves for the camera. Is this, we wondered, something he’s ever tried in a match?
“When I was younger, I had shoulder issues, and I spent a year playing in Barcelona and I was serving underarm in practice mostly,” he says. “I remember I played one of my close friends in a tournament at the academy and I was serving underarm. It turned out to be a really close match because he was just so nervous, and it was just like a funny moment. But that was only real time I did the underarm serve in a match. I try to use my serve as more of a weapon.”
At 6’5”, Kotzen has the elevation to serve bombs that whistle through his opposition’s baseline at shoulder height. With a powerful forehand and a solid backhand, his next step is increasing his hustle: “Something that I'm working on is trying to take the ball earlier, taking time away from my opponent and making them feel that pressure. And I'm doing that by not only stepping in when I can on the baseline, but also coming in behind my shots; something a lot of the better guys on Tour do is they don't give their opponent much breathing space. And if I hurt you and you're in a defensive position, I'm going to come in behind my good shot and put away a volley.”
“Doubles has definitely helped my singles in terms of net game and just coming forward.”
A surprise benefit of college tennis is that it’s forced Kotzen to play more doubles. “I really like doubles and it's something that I wasn't really good at in junior tennis. But I feel like Coach Howie has helped a lot with my volleys and understanding doubles better. It's just something I think is fun, and a nice break from singles. Doubles has definitely helped my singles in terms of net game and just coming forward.”
Summers in New York City are notoriously hot and humid. You’re on court, playing in the heat of the day with zero shade. How has Kotzen acclimated to the city’s intense climate and has it changed his approach to dressing for games? “Oh my gosh,” he says, “in the summer, I was playing tournaments across the country, and I was changing clothes so much. I remember Sigrún sent me some outfits and I really liked the shirt because of the stretch, and when you're sweating, it doesn't really affect you as much as other pieces of clothing. In really humid and hot conditions, it becomes a factor. I really liked that a lot.”
Nick Kotzen might not be playing on the tour a whole bunch just yet, but he’s moving in that direction, learning, getting stronger, improving his game. We like that. If you see him on the practice courts at the US Open, keep an eye on this kid – he’s one to watch.