It takes a lot to get 17-year-old Trevor Svajda excited.

The blonde power-hitter embodies the stereotype of laid-back California cool. His beloved sport of tennis, with all its highs and lows, doesn’t get much of a rise out of him, even when he accomplishes something great.

What would it take to get Svajda enthused and fired up?

“Ask him about Juice WRLD,” his father, Tom said, referring to the popular American rapper. “Or Yeat (another rapper), then he’ll be excited.”

While itftennis.com didn’t get a chance to talk music with Trevor, his play on the court has spoken loudly and will have enthused most onlookers.

The San Diego native, who has eschewed most junior tennis tournaments in favour of training privately and with the USTA, scored a major win at the US Open Junior Championships, defeating No. 4 seed and Wimbledon champion Henry Searle, 7-5 4-6 6-4.

Svajda, a runner-up at the US Boys' Nationals in Michigan in August, broke Searle once in the first set, and again in the final game of the match to secure the victory and advance to the third round.

The two hour, 17 minute win in 90-plus degree heat was all the more impressive given Svajda suffered a leg injury at three-all in the third set and had to get a medical timeout while leading 4-3.

“I thought I had popped something when I went out wide for a forehand, felt a little pinch in my groin,” Svajda said. “I needed the medical for sure. I don’t think I could’ve stayed out there if I didn’t get it. Once I started playing again after, I felt a lot better.”

Svajda seemed wholly unimpressed with his accomplishment, but not in a cocky way. He’s simply a calm, collected young man who doesn’t get too high or too low.

Growing up in San Diego, Svajda has trained with older brother Zach, 20, a three-time participant in the US Open men’s draw and a two-time winner of the US Boys' Under-18 Championships.

But neither Svajda played many junior tournaments as teens, and Tom, a teaching pro in San Diego, explained why.

“When I was coaching young players a while back, I had a few boys who were really good and a few girls who were really good,” Tom explained.

“When they played a tournament and lost, it wasn’t a big deal to them, because they knew they had another tournament coming up next week. The commitment wasn’t there.”

It wasn’t until about 18 months ago that Trevor began to put away his beloved video games and take tennis seriously. He stepped up his training with Dallas-based coach Matt Hanlin and worked with USTA coaches as well.

“If he gets punched, he'll punch back,” Hanlin said of Trevor. “He presses forward in a way that will take him to the next level.”

That training paid off big-time on Tuesday. After taking the first set, Svajda said he got thrown off by a let call by the chair umpire during a point at two-all (the chair momentarily forgot that let serves are played in juniors, and stopped a point right before Searle missed a return), and got in his own head about it.

“I double faulted and got broke because I was still mad about the (let),” Svajda said. “I really was bothered by it and I should’ve just let it go.”

After Searle captured the second set, the “heat rule” went into effect mandating a 10-minute break in action, which Svajda said he’d forgotten about but “was so great. So refreshing and so helpful.”

He was then able to grind out the win and continue the recent success of players in both boys' and girls' draws who competed in US Open men’s and women’s qualifying for the main draw here.

That group includes Svajda, who lost to James Duckworth in men’s qualifying, and fellow Americans Learner Tien (lost in first round of men’s main draw), Valerie Glozman (lost in second qualifying round) and Katherine Hui (lost in first round of qualifying). All four juniors have reached the third round.

“Absolutely, that definitely has helped,” Svajda said. “When I first got here it took me four days to get used to everything; I wasn’t practicing well, it took me aw hile to get used to it.”

In between the men’s qualifying loss and the boys' draw beginning, Svajda had the privilege of hitting with fellow American Ben Shelton for his first three men’s matches. Shelton, who faced Frances Tiafoe on Tuesday night in the quarter-finals, is a longtime friend of Zach Svajda.

“His serve is unreal, never seen anything like that,” Trevor said with a smile. “He told me where he was going to hit it, that’s how I was able to return it.”

A full list of results from the 2023 US Open Junior Championships is available here.