The Louiselle Link

Featured Photo by Ellie Thoma

Sophomore Jake Louiselle bounces the ball three times, takes a deep breath and tosses it up into the air. His Wilson racquet smacks the serve with a “thwack!” The ball rattles the fence behind the court. An ace.

“Nice serve,” says senior Billy Louiselle as he moves to give his younger brother their routine high five after each victorious point.

This is a snippet from senior Billy and sophomore Jake Louiselle’s daily doubles matches on the tennis court. These types of exchanges — this easy encouragement — has become commonplace for the two brothers over the past ten years.

This year will be the final year that the two brothers will likely be playing, the game they love and have grown up with, together competitively. They believe that their connection on the court should help them compete for a state title in doubles.

“We have a lot of good communication when we are out there together,” Jake said. “That is why we believe that we can win state in doubles this year.”

This year the brothers are two of the top returning players on the tennis team. They will either be number one or two on the team and are planning on playing doubles for a final season at East before Billy graduates in May. This season they want to win a state championship, a feat that eluded them because of an injury to Jake’s elbow last year.

In order to win it all, Billy and Jake rely upon a brotherly link that they have on and off the court.

“We have a really good connection when we are playing doubles, and that comes from us playing together for our whole lives,” Jake said.

On the court, the brothers use a combination of hand signals to communicate strategies silently: the brother who is playing at the net will hold up a fist or a number behind his back to give ideas for serves or plays to the other brother.

Other than the hand signals, they’re constantly talking, too. Whether that is Billy yelling, “Up Up Up!” at Jake to come up and hit a shot he can’t get or Jake joking with Billy after almost hitting him with a serve.

Their communication is the main part of the brothers connection on the court and comes from their years of experience playing together and is not just an instinctive connection. Their dad, Patrick Louiselle, has been taking them to play tennis since each was three years old.

“Our dad took us to Homestead Country Club when we were young probably like three years old and fed us balls for hours,” Billy said. “He took us to watch matches at the club and we always had tennis on at our house. He also signed us up for Junior Tennis League and drove us to all the meets.”

They both agree that their father has been a great influence on them because of his passion for the game.

“He really loves tennis and he plays all the time,” Billy said as Jake nodded in agreement.

The passion of their father, who played tennis in high school and college, has rubbed off on them, as both brothers play tennis six to seven days a week, either at East, Overland Park Racquet Club or at Carriage Club. They both rely upon one another to get better when they practice.

“I would say that it is great to always have someone there to support you, aside from our parents,” Jake said. “Like if I want to go and hit late at night, I don’t have to call a friend, I can just get my brother and go.”

When they practice the brothers do a series of different drills like hitting lobs at each other, working on forehand returns and serving to each other. They also work extensively on their stamina and agility, by doing sprints, in order to perform better late in the match and to quickly attack the net and recover shots.

And their dedication has translated into success. Billy’s a four-year varsity player, fourth-place finisher at state in 2017 and will head to DePauw in the fall to play. Jake is currently ranked as the second-best player in Kansas for the class of 2020 by the Tennis Recruiting Network.

When they do have time to relax which isn’t often, they spend it together. They fish, paint and play ping pong.

“Our relationship definitely carries off the court,” Billy said. “Jake and I are very close.”

And for the two brothers, who are so close, having one last chance to win state means the world to them.

“For me, it would mean a lot. This is the last time Jake and I will be competing together in tennis, and growing up I always thought it would be cool to win a high school state championship,” Billy said. “And it would be even cooler doing it with my brother.”