King of the Court: Martin Redlicki Adds Premier Playing Experience, Coaching Experience to Cowboys Tennis

In the schoolyard, most four-year-olds played in a sandbox. Martin Redlicki played with a tennis ball.

For Martin Redlicki, better known by those close to him as Marty, the new assistant coach for Oklahoma State's men's tennis team, he has lived and breathed tennis his entire life. From a prestigious junior career to a championship-caliber collegiate career then time on the pro circuit before joining the coaching ranks, Redlicki carries elite-level experience to the Cowboys' court.

Windy City to Wimbledon

Marty Redlicki has always been a student of the game.

Born in Chicago, Illinois, Redlicki caught his stride early with the sport of tennis. With his parents, Marek and Beata, consistent on the court, he and his brother, Michael, familiarized themselves with the sport at a young age.

"My parents, they came to the U.S. from Poland and they have always kind of been playing more at a recreational level, but they always played," Redlicki said. "They kind of got us into it. My dad would take us to the park and swat at some balls when I was four, five, six more for fun."

Redlicki and his older brother continued to play at his neighborhood park throughout their elementary years, but as middle school approached – so did tennis coaches.

"When we were super young, it was just more recreational, more for fun," Redlicki said. "Then we got to nine, 10, 11, 12, and that's kind of when the frequency started ramping up. It went from more in the park with my dad in the summers, after school kind of thing to. Let's get out of school early."

From Chicago courts to cream-of-the-crop coaches, Redlicki and his brother showed all the makings of junior prodigies.

By age 15, Redlicki had caught his big break at his new home court – the United States Tennis Association, located in Boca Raton, Florida.

From opting for three years of online high school to take on a pro-training regime, Redlicki had his sights set in Boca Raton – he wanted to play with the pros.

Four Junior Grand Slams later, Redlicki got his first taste of the next level.

"It was great," Redlicki said. "Growing up, this is kind of what you talk about, 'Oh, the Grand Slams, the Grand Slams!' Going and playing is a really, really interesting experience. The first time around, it feels almost surreal in a sense. It's the stadiums you grew up seeing, the courts, and then like you just see them for the first time, it's like, 'Wow.' The grass of Wimbledon, the clay of the French. It's hard to explain honestly."

As Redlicki became accustomed to the courts, his confidence cruised uphill. In 2013, his pro-level play paid off, netting the 2013 U.S. Open boys' double title alongside Kamil Majchrzak.

Los Angeles, League Leader, Legendary Lockers

As a blue-chip prospect in the Class of 2014, Redlicki had a host of collegiate choices. As for his interest, he set his collegiate radar 2,709 miles away at UCLA.

The recruiting trail was fairly clean-cut for Redlicki.

"It [UCLA] was by far the best of both worlds," Redlicki said. "UCLA's tennis has always been historically top five to top 10 on the occasional off year when I was looking at schools. Their academics, No. 1 public school in the country. They're academically, just in general, top 20 every year. So, the combination of tennis and school and coaches out there [was a selling point.] Billy Martin, he's one of the greatest tennis minds, he was regarded as one of the best junior players of all time, won the Junior U.S. Open two times, won the Junior Wimbledon two times, won a couple of the biggest junior tournaments multiple times, was a top-25 pro. He went to UCLA. The culture there is just the culture of tennis greatness, excellence, whatever you want to call it. So having the opportunity to go there, it was almost a no-brainer."

As a freshman, Redlicki cruised on the court, posting a 26-7 singles mark en route to being named ITA Rookie of the Year, Second-Team All-Pac 12, and ITA Scholar-Athlete honors. The transition was seamless.

"My parents were always very tough on me in school, even when I moved to Florida," Redlicki said. "I moved to online high school, and my parents were really on me and on top of me to be up to date on my schoolwork, assignments and all of that. So, the academic side was actually a little more seamless than I thought. I feel like I adjusted there pretty quickly."

By his sophomore season, Redlicki emerged even further. Alongside his doubles partner, Mackenzie McDonald, he captured the 2016 NCAA doubles title and a trip to the big ticket – a wild card in the U.S. Open.

"The first time around, it's a little surreal. It's like 'what is happening?' It's almost like an out-of-body experience. At the collegiate level, if you are an American and you win the NCAAs in the singles or doubles, you're granted a wild card in the U.S. Open into the men's. The first time around, when my partner and I won the NCAAs, we knew that was going to come with a U.S. Open wild card.

Just playing in the men's, getting into the locker room with Roger [Federer] and Novak [Djokovic] – just that whole experience – it was hard to put into words."

As a senior, Redlicki reclaimed his position again, earning another NCAA doubles title in 2018  and his second trip to the U.S. Open.

"The second time around, it felt a little bit more like I belonged there, a little less of a fluke, if you will," Redlicki said. "Playing in the Men's U.S. Open the second time around was more, 'OK. I more so belong here than I did the first time because the first time was kind of like, sophomore 19-year-old college kid won a tournament, got this opportunity.' But the second time around, I felt more prepared, more mature, everything."

With a combined record of 207-60 record across singles and doubles, NCAA doubles titles in 2016 and 2018, the 2018 ITA National Player of the Year award, and the 2018 ITA Scholar-Athlete award by graduation – Redlicki had made his case for the professional stage.

Playing in the Pros

By his college graduation, Redlicki had finally checked off his box. He officially reached pro status.

While Redlicki's previous pro-level appearances had come via big-stage tournaments, the professional scene stemmed from a different starting point. One which differed greatly from the collegiate track.

"It's very interesting going from college to pro because the entry-level of pro tennis," Redlicki said. "You'll hear from a lot of people; it's not super glamorous. It's not the Grand Slams. It's not the car service you see on television the bright lights, the cameras. It's a grind. Going from a school like UCLA where the culture is there, we had a lot of things taken care of for us, the equipment, the travel, the nutrition, all that stuff was kind of handled for us. You go on the tour, it's a very different experience.

"The skills I learned in college, not even tennis-related but life-related, I feel like those were the ones that helped me make the transition from the college system, where you have pretty much everything you need provided for you, to now I'm a pro, now I'm more on my own, and now I've got to find a way to provide those things for myself and be creative. The non-tennis skills were the biggest aid to make the transition to the pros.

"You just do your best. It's tough out there."

Redlicki carried on the professional scene yielding doubles titles at the Lexington and Columbus Challenger tournaments and singles and doubles titles at the Tucson Futures tournaments.

Then, the page flipped to March 2020.

Pandemic Play and Pepperdine: Shifting to the Sideline

March 2020. Redlicki was practicing at his tennis training center.

As he and his tennis trail members were out on the courts, a sudden rumbling emerged about the complex. COVID-19 was tapping into the L.A. area – a local tournament was in jeopardy.

"I still remember," Redlicki said. "We were training at the training center in California, and there were rumors floating around that one of the two upcoming tournaments in the L.A. area might be canceled because of this COVID outbreak. We're kind of at the courts like, 'Ahh. Whatever. It's not going to happen.' Then, it happens. They cancel this tournament and we're like 'Oh. OK. That's interesting. That's odd.' Then, they cancel the second one. By April, you have what COVID was in 2020 and everything shut down. Our training center got shut down, pro tennis got shut down, everything got shut down. In pro tennis, that lasted with nothing until the U.S. Open. That was the first event back from COVID, which was five months later from March until August."

With pro-level tennis essentially shut down, Redicki, alongside his fellow professional colleagues, was scrambling for potential opportunities. The problem – those opportunities didn't exist.

"I was ranked 400 in the world at the time, which is pretty good to at least play in the entry-level futures tournaments," Redlicki said. "But, because there were so few, I couldn't even get into any of the tournaments they were offering from March, April 2020 to the summer of 2021 just because how few opportunities there were to play because of COVID.

"The first year after that U.S. Open, the first eight months at least, the number of tournaments that were available to play were so scarce. So many countries were closed borders, rules for who could come in, who could come out, and assuming you have to travel to a new country every week, every two weeks in pro tennis – it just wasn't happening."

As the number of professional opportunities hung in uncertainty throughout the pandemic, Redlicki began broadening his horizons.

From taking swings from his father's pitches to playing on professional tennis pitches, things had come full circle for Redlicki. He was looking to break into the coaching scene.

With a wave of emails sent, Redlicki joined on as a volunteer assistant at Pepperdine.

"Towards 2020, I always knew college coaching was something I at least wanted to try, see if I liked," Redlicki said. "I had such a great experience at UCLA. So I reached out to a couple different coaches and the coaches at Pepperdine were really receptive, really interested in having me on board, and they were really open to the idea of me also playing pro while I was a volunteer at Pepperdine so I could do both at the same time, which it pretty uncommon. It was really great on their part.

"There were a couple moments that I had where the team was playing a couple really big duel matches at home. I was away playing a tournament, and I kind of had this feeling of, 'Wow. I really wish I was there with the guys, in this moment, at this match.' It's moments like that where I kind of knew I wanted to gravitate more towards the coaching side of it. Then, [the start of] 2021 until the summer of 2021, that's when I knew I wanted to go full time with coaching."

Destination: Stillwater

Redlicki dialed up a phone number. On the other line, OSU men's tennis head coach Dustin Taylor answered. The phone call was not what Taylor expected. As for the end result? That is a different story.

One phone call, one sheer coincidence, and one job opportunity later, Redlicki is now working as the assistant coach for the Cowboys.

"I would say probably the better part of 10 or 15 different life scenarios, opportunities, things, misses, mishaps, 10 to 15 things all had to pan out the way that they did for me to end up here," Redlicki said. "Honestly, it really makes me believe that things happen for a reason. Like, I had a couple opportunities here, a couple things fell through.

"It's so funny. DT [Dustin Taylor] and I go way back. I'm calling him about an opportunity, another thing in my life, and, on the phone, he's like 'Wow. I could have sworn you were calling me about something else.' I go, 'What are you talking about?' He goes, 'Yeah, my assistant coach, he resigned last night.' I kind of looked at the phone and I'm like, 'are you kidding me?' Next thing you know, I'm on a flight to Stillwater to interview with DT and meet his family, meet some of the guys on the team and the rest is history."

Very fortunate, very lucky to be here. Honestly, we joke about it but there's genuinely no place I'd rather be than working with the guys, working with DT, and helping the program to what I think it has the potential to grow to."

As Redlicki lines up with the Cowboys this season, he'll be looking to maximize the program's potential, both through his past experiences as a player and coach.

"I'm wanting to work hard, wanting to help the guys get as good as they can on and off the court because what I've learned is that your life off the court pretty significantly impacts your life on the court," Redlicki said. "So just trying to help be the best version of themselves, both on and off the court. However the balls fall, they'll fall that way and just be happy with the process and the things that we have and not worry about the rest too much."

Oklahoma State University Athletics

King of the Court: Martin Redlicki Adds Premier Playing Experience, Coaching Experience to Cowboys Tennis

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