Erik Weiler continues to enjoy success in tennis, is ready to rise to high levels

EDWARDSVILLE – Former Edwardsville High tennis player Erik Weiler enjoyed much success in high school. He's now hoping to parlay that success into bigger and better things through college and beyond.

Weiler was the sixth-seeded player in the men's singles at the Edwardsville Open tennis championships. One of his key wins in the tourney was defeating Michael Levan of St. Louis 6-2, 6-1. Weiler faced Joe Van Meter of Indianapolis in the quarterfinals.

“I played pretty well out there,” Weiler said in a postmatch interview after the match before the quarterfinals. “I wish I did a little better; like some shots I missed, but overall, my serve was doing really well, I was hitting some big forehands. Hopefully, I can keep it up tomorrow.”

Weiler is one of the Tigers' most successful players, qualifying for the IHSA State Tournament all four years in high school, and just completed his freshman year at Quincy University.

“My first year there,” Weiler said of playing for the Hawks. “It was really fun. The team is incredibly nice, and they're very helpful. I hung out with them every day; it was really cool bonding, hanging out with them. But yeah, we played pretty well, and it was really fun.”

Weiler also noted a similarity between the Tigers and the Hawks, as far as team spirit and support go.

“Well, for most high schools, I think it would be, like, college is a little more exciting,” Weiler said. “But with like Edwardsville, we were always excited. I think it's as excited here as it is in college. We're always cheering each other on, we're always, like, getting excited or screaming if someone wins a big match, you know.”

“I'm just doing my best out here,” Weiler said during the Edwardsville Open Tourney. “Some really good competition. But yeah, my overall goal is definitely the main draw in the Futures. And even with my doubles partner, Seth (Lipe). I hope we get really far in that as well.”

As far as his own future, Weiler is hoping to go as far as he can in the sport, playing at its highest levels.

“I think just finish off four years in college,” Weiler said, “and I don't plan on stopping. I'm going to try to go on the pro circuit, just start small, and just keep grinding, just see how far I can go, the best I can do.”

Maybe even enjoy success at one of the four major tournaments, such as former Futures champion Tennys Sandgren did at the Kia Australian Open this past January. Sandgren was a surprise quarterfinalist in the tournament, marking another success story for the Futures tournament.

“That was pretty exciting,” Weiler said. “It was crazy seeing him out there. I hope I can do the same thing, or something like that. I'm just trying to go out there, same way Tennys is.”

And playing in a Grand Slam tournament would be a dream come true for Weiler.

“That's always a dream,” Weiler said. “I could imagine playing like at Rod Laver Arena (in Melbourne, Australia). That would be so fun. Or anything like that. Just being there would be amazing.”

And down the road, you can expect Erik Weiler to achieve all of his tennis goals and possibly play in a Grand Slam tournament – and do well.Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.

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