Boe-Wiegaard Joins Futures Tour

During his junior year in college, Will Boe-Wiegaard grew three inches, gained 25 pounds and broke up with his girlfriend.

If not for those things, he says, he wouldn't be where he is today - which could be California, or Canada, or Mexico, or Sweden, or somewhere else entirely.

It's hard to keep up. The 23- year-old Boe-Wiegaard, a former state champion at Joel Barlow High School in Redding, who trained and now teaches at the Four Seasons Racquet Club in Wilton, will go wherever there is a tennis tournament. It's a peripatetic lifestyle, but one he feels compelled to undertake in order to answer a nagging question.

"I want to see how I am compared to other pros," said Boe- Wiegaard. "I want to say I gave it a shot."

Since graduating in 2006 from Bates College - where he won a Division III national singles title as a senior - Boe- Wiegaard has been traveling to tournaments on the Futures circuit. It's the lowest step on the pro tennis food chain, below both the Challenger and ATP levels, and not for the faint of heart.

"There are a lot of younger guys, 17, 18, 19 years old, and they often stay three or four to a room to save money," said Boe- Wiegaard. "I've heard stories about guys living in cars and cooking with propane tanks. It can be like living in the mountains."

There is not much money to be made (tournament winners collect $1,500) and yet there is lots of competition just to make the main draw at events. "A lot of the top young players from South America and Europe play on the Futures tour instead of going to college," said Boe- Wiegaard. "I'm actually one of the older guys."

Boe-Wiegaard might be pursuing a different path if not for that junior year at Bates. Despite playing first singles and winning conference tournaments as a freshman and sophomore, he planned to graduate and go to medical school.

"I wasn't really thinking about tennis after college," he said. "I thought I would go in another direction."

But then he grew, three inches, from 5'11" to 6'2". And his body, once wiry, started filling out with muscle. "It was a late growth spurt," he said. "I felt stronger on the court. Some guys were like men. They used to overpower me. But that stopped happening."

Boe-Wiegaard also ended a long-term relationship with a girlfriend from high school. "It was a traumatic time," he said. "For a while I really struggled with it."

Eventually, he found a positive outlet for all the emotion - and free time.

"I started going to the gym and lifting weights and practicing more," he said. "The time I used to spend talking to her on the phone went to improving my game."

It showed. Boe-Wiegaard lost in the NCAA Division III finals as a junior, then came back and won the title the following year, defeating the defending champ along the way.

"It was my greatest moment as a player," he said. "All those years of training and lessons and tournaments ... it all added up to that title."

The success led to a re-evaluation. Medical school was on hold; the tennis career would continue.

But there was one problem: money.

Boe-Wiegaard didn't have enough to finance a year on the Futures tour, which runs roughly $50,000 even for players who don't travel with a coach.

"People always assume that if you are a tennis player from Fairfield County you must have money," he said. "But that's not the case with my family. My mother (Ingrid) has worked as a single mom for 20 years to support us. But we just don't have the resources that some families do."

To circumvent the cash crunch, Boe-Wiegaard has been dogged, resourceful and personal. He's asking friends and acquaintances for $365, or one dollar per day.

"I wish I didn't have to ask at all," he said. "But there's no other way for me to do this."

Boe-Wiegaard even has a phrase for his fund-raising campaign. "I tell people it's a dollar a day and I'm on my way," he said.

The trek is no Sunday stroll. To reach a point where a pro tennis career is profitable, a player needs to be ranked in the top 150 in the world and compete on the ATP Tour.

"The odds are against him, but he is a talented player," said Stanley Matthews, the owner and a teaching pro at Four Seasons, who began working with Boe- Wiegaard when he was 7 years old. "Will has a big serve and a big forehand. He still needs to work on hitting the right shot at the right time.

"But the important thing is that he's giving it a shot," added Matthews. "It's better than looking back 10 years from now and saying, .Oh gosh, why didn't I at least try.'" Boe-Wiegaard is trying.

"I want to give it three years and see what happens," he said. "I think I owe it to myself and the people who have supported me and believe in me to see if I can make it as a pro."

If not, Boe-Wiegaard says, he won't be disappointed.

"At least I will have attempted it and found out," he said. "To not know would be worse."