Will Albrikes’ pre-match routine includes listening to some music and some inspiration from LeBron James.

He’s a big fan of one of the NBA’s greatest players of all-time.

“I love LeBron’s mix tapes,” Albrikes said. “Those are the best. Those get me hyped with the music in the background with LeBron’s highlights. I’m a big LeBron fan. I watch it all the time.”

Then Albrikes steps on the court and usually dominates his opponent.

This spring, playing at No. 1 for Fitch High School, Albrikes defended his Eastern Connecticut Conference singles title and advanced to the second round of the CIAC state singles tournament before suffering his first loss of the season.

It all added up to a terrific sophomore season and a repeat as The Day’s All-Area Boys’ Tennis Player of the Year.

“Credit to his work ethic,” Fitch coach Andrew Small said. “He’s surrounded by the best possible resources with his dad (Jerry Albrikes) and what we do in practice and then we just kind of flow as a team. My job was just to keep him in the right mindset and focused and success followed.”

Albrikes is fully committed to the sport.

His typical day revolves around tennis — either playing, training for or preparing for tennis.

“Will absolutely loves tennis,” Small said. “It’s hard to get him off the court. … I’m amazed with how much tennis Will plays, he’s barely sore and he barely sweats. The amount of conditioning this kid does is insane.”

Albrikes has learned that it takes more than skill and fitness to reach the elite level he’s shooting for.

He’s eating healthier and trying to avoid his biggest weakness: Oreo Blizzards at Dairy Queen.

“I’m eating a lot cleaner in the last year because I’d eat Dairy Queen almost every day and I found out that’s not the way to go,” Albrikes said. “It was good, but ...”

His hard work on the court and better habits off helped elevate his game during his sophomore season.

He showed his talent, toughness and grit while passing two of his most difficult tests, beating Daniel Hand’s Elliott Booth (6-1, 6-4) on May 17 and rallying past Farmington’s Shrey Choudhary (5-7, 7-6, 6-3) in a three-and-a-half-hour marathon on May 26 in Class L tournament first-round action.

“(Shrey) had me in the first set and I thought I already lost because I wasn’t playing that well that day either, but I turned it around,” Albrikes said. “I won the second set after him having a match point and I won it. … So it was good. Then Elliott Booth was the second toughest (opponent). Everyone was surprised that I beat him.”

The ECC championship singles title belonged to Albrikes for the second straight year. Playing against Stonington’s Brady O’Neil in the final, Albrikes dug deep when challenged in the second set and emerged with a 6-0, 6-3 victory.

Then came the state tournament.

Ever since losing in the first round last year, Albrikes set his sights on advancing deeper in the state singles invitational as a sophomore.

Albrikes accomplished the mission, defeating Newton’s Aditya Singh 6-3, 6-2 in the first round.

Darien’s Kyle Patrick, the No. 13 seed, and his powerful serve proved to be too big of a roadblock for Albrikes in the second round. The match was closer than the 6-4, 6-2 score indicated.

At 4-all in the first set, Albrikes was serving up 40-15 before losing the game and eventually the set.

“It was not a great performance but the kid was very good,” Albrikes said. “He was better than me.”

Albrikes learned a great deal about himself, especially while playing against high-level competition.

“I’m tougher than I think I am,” Albrikes said.

The state tournament loss will fuel Albrikes to work even harder.

Albrikes says he’s taking tennis more seriously, training with a coach in Trumbull and seeking out better players to hit with.

Small says he will continue to schedule tough nonconference opponents to challenge Albrikes and the Falcons.

Albrikes has set some big goals for the remainder of his high school career and hopes to play in college.

“This is kind of a stretch but I want to win states,” Albrikes said. “And, obviously, win ECCs, for sure. … I think I can win (states) by senior year.”

g.keefe@theday.com

The Day’s 2023 All-Area Boys’ Tennis Team

Player of the Year - Will Albrikes (Fitch)

Singles

Cooper Munson (Old Lyme)

Brady O’Neil (Stonington)

Jiarui Peng (East Lyme)

Andres Sardar (Fitch)

Matt Turrisi (Stonington)

Doubles

Rohun Boopathy/Rohan Purohit (East Lyme)

Will Danes/Micah Bass (Old Lyme)

Conrad Tobiassen/Tucker Callahan (Stonington)