Ryan Seggerman has marveled at Wimbledon since the days he played tennis at Coronado High School. As he took the grass courts to play doubles in the world’s most prestigious tennis tournament, the 25-year-old said his experience was a combination of surreal and fulfilling.
“I joke to people and say I’m a tennis fan first, before a player,” Seggerman said. “Getting over there and stepping on the practice courts and the grass, it’s always kind of a novelty. But when I took the match court and the all white and stuff, it hit me a bit more, just how special it was, and the journey and everything to get there … Obviously, it’s one that you hope becomes an annual trip.”
Seggerman, a Coronado High grad and San Diego-based professional tennis player, competed in his first Wimbledon last month. Wimbledon, hosted annually in London, is one of the four tennis Grand Slams and holds 64 men’s doubles teams.
Seggerman and Australian partner Matthew Romios were one of those 64 teams. The pair defeated Arjun Kadhe and Vit Kopria in two sets before falling to the German duo of Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz in two sets.
He’s now competed in each of the four Grand Slams in professional tennis: the Australian Open, French Open, U.S. Open and Wimbledon – all within the timespan of two years. He is currently ranked 73rd in the ATP Tour rankings for men’s doubles, and peaked at 71 in May of this year.
Prior to professional tennis, Seggerman was a highly touted recruit and team captain at Coronado High, notching the No. 6 spot in the nation for the graduating class of 2017.
He played four years at Princeton University, and a fifth season at the University of North Carolina, before going pro in 2023. He was First Team All-Ivy League in doubles twice at Princeton (2018-19, 2021-22), Second Team All-Ivy League in singles in 2021-22 and Second Team All-ACC in singles in his lone year at North Carolina. Seggerman attributes his tennis ascension to dedication and good luck.
“I’ve been playing for a long time, but only a couple of years now professionally,” Seggerman said. “It’s a combination of hard work and good fortune, I guess. There’s a lot of luck involved with tennis matches and the margins are very slim … I’ve had things go my way and that’s allowed me to kind of tick off some of those boxes like getting to play all the slams here within the first two years of turning pro.”
As primarily a doubles player, Seggerman’s grand slam debuts have not solely been an individual endeavor. He said the process of finding a partner is completely up to each player. And that was the case for teaming up with Romios at Wimbledon as well.
For Seggerman, he said he values off-the-court dynamics as much as on-the-court.
“All the partners that I’ve had have been good friends for the most part,” Seggerman said. “Matt was one, I mean, he’s a good friend from Australia. We’d talked for a while about maybe playing some tournaments at some point … Matt was a good partner and we’ll probably lace ‘em up again at some point.”
Heading into Wimbledon, Seggerman and Romios played in two tournaments together to build chemistry on the court. The two tournaments were in Milan and Sassuolo, Italy, and they won both of them.
Despite losing to Krawietz and Puetz, Ryan Seggerman and Matthew Romios’ match stats were similar to their competitors, and they had four aces to the Germans’ zero. Seggerman and Romios had a few opportunities early in the match but couldn’t capitalize.
“The first set was 6-3 and the second set was 7-6 in a tie-breaker,” Seggerman said. “In the first game of the match, we had three break points. “Matt came out returning great and we didn’t break them all match … It could have been very different if we converted one of those points.”
Though he’s been playing tennis most of his life, Seggerman wasn’t dead set on becoming a professional tennis player. He credits much of his career to the upbringing he had in Coronado.
“I think I was lucky that my parents introduced me at a young age to tennis,” Seggerman said. “They met playing tennis and I guess I had a good foundation in Coronado, and people around San Diego to train with … There’s no magic formula but I’m very fortunate that I had the tools I needed around me.”
