Tennis
Favorite athlete: Roger Federer
Favorite team: Penn State football
Favorite memory competing in sports: Last season I won the SOL tournament. Singles and doubles
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: One time I was watching one of my teammates, and he went to hit a backhand and totally mistimed it and swung and missed it and the ball hit him in the face!!!
Music on mobile device: I really enjoy R&B soul music
Future plans: Going to Millersville to play on the tennis team and study Special Education
Words to live by: “In every low, there will be a high. So keep working hard, good things will come” – my mom
One goal before turning 30: To run a marathon
One thing people don’t know about me: I like to take pictures
By Ed Morrone
At first, Frankie Yanni just wanted to become a better tennis player for familial bragging rights.
Then, it became a labor of love and something to strive for after a big time medical scare.
Yanni, a senior tennis player at North Penn, didn’t start his sport of choice as a young tyke like so many other student-athletes. He realized he loved tennis by watching it on television — his all-time favorite athlete is the great Roger Federer — but first, he had to get better to quiet down his cousins.
“My cousins and I used to hit tennis balls around for fun when we were younger, and I would get crushed by them,” Yanni said. “I was introduced to the sport by watching it on TV with them, and when we would play, I would get so mad when they would beat me. I realized I needed to take lessons, so originally my playing started out as a challenge to get better than them.”
Yanni was around 13 years old when he realized he had bigger tennis aspirations than just besting his cousins during informal matches, and this time in his life coincided with a frightening medical prospect.
While being checked by a school nurse for scoliosis in eighth grade, which he found out he had, the nurse suggested further testing in fear that something else might be going on. Yanni’s mother works at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, so she helped facilitate an appointment with an orthopedist at the hospital.
After a two-hour MRI that examined Yanni from the top of his head to the base of his spine, it was discovered he had a condition called Chiari malformation, a condition in which brain tissue extends into the spinal canal. While it is a condition present at birth, it is often not discovered until adolescence. Yanni was sent to see a neurosurgeon, and it was quickly decided that he would need to undergo brain surgery.
“We didn’t originally know that surgery would be needed,” he recalled. “My checkup was in February, and we set a date for surgery for April 11. I was still young and very naïve, and my mom kind of hid the side effects of brain surgery, as to scare herself instead of scaring me. I figured it was like any other surgery, so my first question to the doctors was, ‘How long will I be out of sports?’
“I was in the hospital for three days, but everything with the surgery went well. I had to put off my tennis training for about three months, and I was dying to get back out on to the court. Once I did, we took things very slow. My mom and my coach kept telling me to be patient, stick with the plan and things would get better; but at the same time, it made it harder to focus on my future.”
Following surgery, Yanni said he dealt with some side effects, namely lethargy, dizziness and headaches, and once he got back on to the tennis court, it was as if he was a beginner all over again. He trained for 15 minutes at a time, then increased to 30, then an hour. All the while he was getting his form back, he continued to watch tennis constantly on television.
“It took me awhile to get my balance back,” he said. “The surgery was in the part of my brain that affects balance, but after a while the symptoms and side effects started to go away.”
In the time since his surgery, Yanni has developed into North Penn’s No. 1 singles player. A former baseball fanatic whose father is an assistant baseball coach at North Penn, Yanni began to gravitate toward tennis because he enjoyed the individualized aspect of the sport, but also the team aspect, in that his performance would help dictate the team’s overall success or failure.
Yanni had success on the court as both a freshman and sophomore at North Penn, but it wasn’t until his junior year last spring where he achieved his biggest accomplishment at the high school level by winning the Suburban One League Continental tournament in both singles and doubles, the latter of which he celebrated with his partner, then-senior Brijai Varma.
“Last year was a great achievement,” Yanni said. “I had higher plans, but unfortunately didn’t get the results at districts that I was hoping for, but it felt great anyway because I achieved something I really wanted to at the high school level. Winning doubles at the SOL tournament was awesome, too, because Brijai was a senior and had lost three times in the finals before that. To win it together in his last season was great, and I tried so hard just for him to have that.
“Everything I do, I look at it as another stepping stone. Last year I won, and this year I’m hoping for the same result, but to build on that and go even further. I feel like my work ethic is stronger than it’s ever been this year. I’ve been trying something new, and that’s just to focus on the ball point by point, match by match. Of course I have goals, but I also don’t want to put any unnecessary pressure on myself. I expect to do well in districts and hope to get to states, but at the same time, there’s no pressure. It’s my last season, so I just want to go out there and enjoy it. If I trust myself fully, the results will come.”
While this may be Yanni’s last season of competing at the high school level, it certainly won’t be his last year of competitive tennis, as he will continue his career at the collegiate level at Millersville University.
“Millersville was one of the first teams to reach out to me, and it felt like home, like a family right away,” Yanni said. “They really stressed bringing that team aspect to an individualized sport, which is what I was looking forward to the most. I’m looking forward to making new friends, getting better and just enjoying the experience of it all.”
Toby Watton has been the tennis coach at North Penn for 47 years, so he’s had more players than he can count over the years. However, something special about Yanni stuck out almost immediately to Watton.
“Up until four or five years ago, Frankie was a baseball nut,” Watton said. “Some kids start when they are five or six years old, so he’s essentially accomplished what he has in half the time compared to other players. So, in addition to what he has overcome physically, he’s got great athletic ability and has overcome additional adversity to be able to make up for lost time in facing some kids who may have double the tennis experience he does.
“To be a number one player like Frankie is, first and foremost you’ve got to physically be an athlete. You have to have good hand-eye coordination, good feet and legs, the ability to move and judge the ball coming off the other guy’s racket and get to your spot to make the return. He keeps within himself and has great physical ability. He has a strong forehand, backhand and overhead volley, and he’s got a great ability to size up his opponent while warming up. He keeps his emotions under control, and all of those characteristics factors in what he is able to do.”
Watton also believes that Yanni will continue to progress after he graduates from North Penn and heads to Millersville for the next chapter of his tennis career.
“He’ll continue to get better, without a doubt,” Watton said. “He’s going to be playing better opposition at the college level, so increased physical, mental and emotional maturation is going to allow him to progress even further. How far can he go? I can’t give you an exact idea there; will he go on to the ATP (Association of Tennis Professional) Tour? Probably not, but at the same time he will make a lot of improvement over the next three to four years.”
Of course, like any high school student-athlete, there is much more to Yanni beyond the sport he plays. In addition to playing tennis at Millersville, he plans to study special education with the aspirations of becoming a teacher in the future. One of his aunts is a special education teacher and always talks about the fulfillment she gets from the job, and Yanni’s mother also has always told him that he’d make a great teacher.
“I’m in a club now called Best Buddies where we get to help kids with special needs perform activities,” he said. “I get to learn about them and how they are great kids who just need some extra help. Having the opportunity to make them smile is great. Whatever school district I end up in, I’m excited to help kids, and I’d also like to maybe coach tennis at the club level to help teach people what I’ve learned about the sport.
“I feel like if we help others, we can help ourselves in a big way. I’m a very outgoing person that likes to talk a lot, and I just have a good time spreading joy to other people.”
Yanni said he hopes to run a marathon between now and the time he turns 30, and he also loves to travel to indulge in the cultures of other people. Having a father who is an airline pilot makes pursuing this passion easier, and he listed Hawaii and Italy as the favorite places he’s had an opportunity to travel to so far.
Not only that, but Yanni also has a passion for photography.
“At school, they have a digital photography class, and I’m in AP Photography this year,” he said. “My mom always noted how I loved to take pictures on my phone, so she bought me a camera. My photography teacher is amazing, and this summer I’m going to Belize with a group of students and friends. I also love taking tennis pictures, because it combines two aspects of my world. My AP exam is coming up so I’m getting pretty nervous, but at the same time with everything important coming up around this time, it’s great to focus on these things that I love to help relieve stress.”
According to Watton, the thing that sticks out most about Yanni and what makes him special is not necessarily his on-court skills.
“When Frankie is done his match, he’s the leader of the rooting section,” the coach said. “He’s always cheering for the other singles and doubles players still on the court, and not all number one players are like that. He’s very vocal, and he supports the other kids on the team without question. When Frank lost his match to Central Bucks South earlier this year, he was still cheering on his teammates, which is huge, because when your number one player loses, it affects the overall confidence of the team. So I’ll miss that confidence he provides for other kids to win their matches.
“Rooting for other kids when Frank is done playing, as a coach that’s not something you tell kids to do. It shows that he is a leader who is involved with the other players, and to me that’s the most important memory over and above everything else he’s done and what I’ll remember the most about him after he’s gone.”
Watton’s assessment of Yanni also meshed with what he will miss most about being a high school tennis player at North Penn.
“I’ll miss the players on the team the most,” he said. “When I play at tournaments, a lot of the kids are kind of stuck-up, closed off and keep to themselves. The guys on my team, they’re so open and we have so much in common. It’s such a fun group of kids. One of the best groups has been the one we have this year.
“The best memories are the bus rides, the cheering and just the closeness of the team aspect. That’s what I’ll miss most about high school tennis, talking to all of the friends I’ve made. And also, as funny as it sounds, I’ll miss the failures, because I’ve learned so much from each loss I’ve come across. In season and out of season, I feel like those failures are the best parts, because you learn a lot about yourself in your ability to handle them.”
