EDWARDSVILLE – Jonathon Higham hails from Nottingham, England, but currently lives in Edwardsville after his recent graduation from South Dakota State in Brookings, S.D., Higham played for the South Dakota State Jackrabbits of the Summit League before his graduation; he took part in last week’s Edwardsville Futures Pro Wildcard Challenge tournament presented by TheBANK of Edwardsville.
Since his graduation from SDSU, Higham has cut back on his playing, but still “do a hit now and then” on the court. “Once I graduated, me and my fiance moved here – she’s doing grad school at (SIU-Edwardsville),” Higham said. “I’m just trying to get a job and stay in the (United) States.
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Higham started playing tennis at age five. “My dad’s a coach and my mom was a coach for a little bit,” Higham said. “My brother’s now a coach, so kind of runs in the family; when I was growing up, I used to play really defensively – I didn’t grow until I was like 16, so I was really short.
“Then I added an extra foot and started playing more attacking tennis; I wouldn’t say I have any people i model by game after – my dad has always taught me to play attacking tennis, so that’s what I do; my dad and brother play similar ways – it’s easy once you hit with those people every day, so you model your game be more like that.”
Higham played hard in the Edwardsville Futures Pro Wildcard Challenge tournament presented by TheBANK of Edwardsville, but lost his opening main-draw match to Jason Kerst 6-3, 6-1 before dropping his consolation draw Round of 16 match to Zach Trimpe 7-5, 6-4.
Of his match against Trimpe, “it went pretty tough,” Higham said. “I went against Zach (Trimpe), who’s No. 1 here; he played some great tennis – I threw my best on the court and he absorbed it and gave it back to me.”
Being English, Higham regards the All-England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon – the site of The Championships each summer – as a “special place – it’s a really cool place.”
Higham enjoys playing the game. “I just like to have fun,” he said when asked about his goals and future plans in the game. “I don’t take it as seriously as I used to; there’s a lot of pressure in college sports. I just love the game and I play in local tournaments – if I win, I win and if I lose, I lose.
“I’m just happy because I’m playing tennis.”
Higham is a supporter of his local soccer club, Nottingham Forest FC of the English second-level SkyBet Championship league in English league football and of Liverpool of the Premier League.
