St. Mary's International's Marius Ruh has been named Stars and Stripes Pacific's boys tennis Athlete of the Year. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
Subdued, gentlemanly and studious off the court. Fierce competitor on it. “Almost like two different people,” his coach says.
Marius Ruh burst onto the Kanto Plain tennis scene this season as a junior transfer from Germany, adjusting to life in Japan but dominating opponents on tennis courts in the same manner as a guy who played ITF juniors while growing up in Bavaria.
He went 16-1 in high school matches, winning the Kanto Plain finals and the Far East tournament and leading his St. Mary’s International Titans to team titles in both. His only loss came in the Far East final in doubles – which he’d not played until Far East week.
For his efforts, but also for what he and his coach call a relentless desire to improve, a studious manner in the classroom and the spirit and determination of a tiger on the court, Ruh has been named Stars and Stripes Pacific boys tennis Athlete of the Year.
“He’s at a level all his own” regarding Pacific tennis, his coach Tomas Molina said. “He has a strong desire to win and a willingness to take on any challenge, including doubles. He just likes to improve his tennis and take on any challenge that will allow him to improve.”
Molina, who also teaches Ruh in the classroom, says he’s “one of the most gentle and polite people I’ve ever met. He’s so well-mannered, it’s hard to believe he can be so fierce and competitive on the court.”
If there is a downside to his game, Ruh says he has to work to at times to rein in his emotions when things aren’t going right. He readily admits to liking the tiger comparison, which “sometimes leads me to getting a bit mad on the court, but usually I can control my temper.”
As dominant as he was during the season, Ruh feels there is always a need to better his game.
“I’m a very ambitious person, always trying to improve and never completely happy with my results,” he said.
At times during the season, Molina said, Ruh would gaze at a player on another team and say, “I want to play him. He’s a good player.”
“Just to see how he’d do against good players,” Molina said. “It drives him and the satisfaction he gets from overcoming the challenges.”
Molina has repeatedly stated that St. Mary’s was fortunate to have Ruh in the fold. His father, an executive with adidas, transferred from their native Germany to Tokyo and Molina said Ruh could have bypassed high school tennis and just played exclusively club or ITF tennis.
Yet despite Ruh’s cachet, Molina says you won’t hear him brag, “even though he’s in position to. “Even at his level, he listens. He is so coachable.”
Ruh never fails to learn from any competitive situation.
Speaking specifically of the Far East doubles loss: It showed that he and partner Juan Borga “weren’t able to adapt to (a) much higher level of competition than the previous rounds,” Ruh said.
But by no means, he said, was he dissatisfied with the way things turned out during the season for him and his Titans teammates. “I am indeed very happy with the team and how everything went,” he said.
