Beyond the Baseline: Adi Govila and Conrad Singh, Centercourt Tennis Academy

At the Australian Open earlier this year, Adi Govila was prepared and ready to make a deep run at the event’s Junior Championships. However, a back injury flared up during the early rounds and while not at 100 percent physically he was not able to compete at his top level which turned what could have been a deep run into an early exit.

At the time, Conrad Singh, CEO of Centercourt Tennis Academy in New Jersey, which is where Govila trains, recommended that Govila stay out in Australia, enjoy the week and embrace being in that sort of professional atmosphere.

“I wanted him to stay there and watch the Australian Open and stay in that environment,” Singh recalls. “But he wanted to fly back here as soon as he can and start his rehab to come back from the injury. To me, that was phenomenal. He flew from Melbourne to New York on his own and started on his rehab. That’s not a normal decision from someone his age, and it highlights what makes Adi special, how he thinks and how he prioritizes.”

That decision is one of many that Govila has made in regards to his tennis that demonstrates both his maturity and commitment level, something that Singh has known for years. The relationship between the two dates back prior to Centercourt, and began when Govila was a young junior player in Singapore while Singh was the Director of the Chinese Tennis Academy in Shanghai.

Govila began playing tennis when he was young and would hit balls against the wall in his house, so much so that his mother eventually got fed up with her son playing in the house. When a tennis coach began giving lessons in his town, Govila’s mother happily signed him up.

“It was really just my mom’s way of telling me to stop hitting against the wall,” Govila joked.

As he continued to get better, Govila would eventually plateau in terms of the competition he had in Singapore, and he started looking to travel to other countries to further his training. That’s when his father reached out to Singh and actually traveled to the Shanghai Rolex Masters event where Singh was.

“We exchanged numbers, and he came down to my club the next day, and we talked about Adi,” recalls Singh. “We built a personal program, from a distance. I was doing video analysis for him, and he would come to China about every two months to train with us. You could tell how committed they were to Adi, and how dedicated he was to his tennis.”

That relationship continued even after Singh moved on from his position there and began a new one at Centercourt. When the COVID outbreak hit, Singapore was one of the strictest countries which halted Govila’s progress as he wasn’t able to travel for tournaments. That effected his ranking as well as his development, which is when his parents once again reached out to Singh.

They visited the Centercourt campus in New Jersey, and towards the end of 2022, Govila officially moved to the States. They designed a personal program for him that included travel coaches and one-on-one fitness trainers, and he has taken to it.

It was a difficult transition at first, with Govila being a teenager uprooted and moving to the other side of the world away from his family. But the Centercourt team has fostered a comfortable environment which has allowed him to thrive, and he lives at the home of a Centercourt member, all of which has helped create a second family for him.

“It was difficult moving, I was with my parents all the time but now I’m in New Jersey all alone, by myself,” said Govila. “But it’s been a good change of environment. I was open to it and I was ready for it. And it’s been the right decision. I’ve gotten a lot better, and I’ve had the opportunity to meet a lot of great people, plus getting exposure to college. It helps when you have a really good team surrounding you. The coaches around me aren’t just my coaches, I’m treated like a friend or even like a son. It’s not just a coach-student relationship, it’s more than that. I can talk to them about anything.”

Govila’s parents have been incredibly supportive of him and his tennis, and allow him to be on his own and make his own decisions. They spend a lot of time researching things to make sure that Centercourt was the right fit, but defer to Adi in terms of deciding what tournaments to play and how to plan his schedule.

“My parents are so supportive, they obviously help me out a lot but they know that I’m the one who is competing and playing, and they let me make the decisions related to tennis,” he said. “It’s not like they don’t know anything about the sport, but they are supportive in the sense that they understand that I know what’s best for me, and they don’t try to force me to make a decision I don’t want to make. And I really appreciate that. They’re there for me if I am stuck at a tournament all day and need them to book a hotel for me, or help me secure a flight, anything like that. They will never blink an eye to help me out.”

Part of what went into the decision-making process to make the move to New Jersey was about immersing himself into appealing to colleges. As an international player, he didn’t know much about the college tennis scene prior to coming here, but using tennis as a vehicle to get to college was always a goal of his parents.

“When I first got here, I had no clue about college tennis,” said Govila. “I didn’t know anything about the recruitment process, how it worked, etc. But after being in North America for awhile I got exposed to it, and I realized that I needed to reach out to coaches because as an international player, sometimes college coaches aren’t too keen on reaching out to you, so I did my part in contacting coaches and establishing those connections.”

Being at Centercourt, Govila got to hit and train with a lot of the members of Columbia’s Men’s Tennis Team, including Michael Zheng, Nick Kotzen and Alex Kotzen, all Centercourt alum who have helped elevate Columbia into a Top 10 program in the country. When Zheng visited Centercourt, he saw Govila’s potential, and put him in touch with the Columbia head coach, Howie Endelman.

“When I spoke to the coaches, they talked me through the process and were excited about my development and how I was getting better, and that really meant something to me,” explained Govila. “They had faith and believed in me, and that really stood out to me. I had a lot of offers on the table and it came down to which one I felt more connected to. Columbia felt like home, it’s just a train ride away from Centercourt, and I already know a lot of players there already. It made my decision a lot easier.”

So Govila will join Columbia in the Fall of 2025, and is excited for that next chapter of his life. He still has a lot he wants to accomplish before he begins his collegiate career.

Singh has set high expectations for his pupil, and believes that Govila can make some noise at the Junior Grand Slam events this year, starting in May at the French Open.

“I have a really good feeling about his year coming up,” said Singh. “He is going to go to Europe this summer and we think he can make deep runs at the French and at Wimbledon, and then right here in our backyard at the U.S. Open. He’s an extremely gifted and smooth player, and has that x-factor that you can’t teach.”

Govila and Singh share a connection that began in Asia and has blossomed here in the United States. Govila possesses a maturity level and perspective that kids his age don’t often have, which is a result of the way his parents raised him, as well Singh’s mentoring, and the future is bright.

“Adi is a smart kid and isn’t taking anything for granted. From his discipline and being the kid that he is, it’s leading to a lot of good things for him. Not only is he committed to a great school, but he has a team around him that’s 100 percent committed to him. Adi came here, grabbed the ball and is now running with it, and we’re excited for what lies ahead.”