Kaiserslautern's Jace Martin runs after a ball hit short by Vicenza's Jacob McGovern during the boys singles final at the 2025 DODEA Euopean tennis championships on Oct. 25, 2025, at the T2 Sports Health Club in Wiesbaden, Germany. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)

Kaiserslautern’s Jace Martin treated the crowd watching the 2025 DODEA-Europe boys singles final with an improbable come-from-behind victory against Vicenza’s Jacob McGovern.

Losing the opening two games of the third and decisive set, the Raider faced a break point that could have sunk his hopes at the individual crown. Yet Martin dug out of that hole, defeating McGovern 6-2, 1-6, 6-3 at the T2 Sports Health Club in Wiesbaden, Germany.

The origins of championship-winning comeback stretched back to exactly one year. In the 2024 third-place match against Marymount’s Giorgio delli Falconi, the Kaiserslautern ace trailed 7-0 before rallying.

Martin lost that one 8-6, but he harkened back to that effort during the 2025 title match against McGovern.

“Knowing that I was mentally capable of even when I’m down to keep pushing and knowing that I had done that, really helped me a lot this year with not getting in my head,” Martin said.

“I knew I had lost the second set. Then the third set didn’t start my way, but then I thought back to (last year), knowing that I can mentally get back into the game. So, I did.”

It capped off a perfect season for Martin, going undefeated and helping lead the Raiders to their first boys team title alongside third-placers Conner Winnie and Tucker Meyer in the doubles competition.

Because of his success this fall, Martin has been named Stars and Stripes’ 2025 boys tennis Athlete of the Year.

As much as he enjoyed the individual title, the team one meant just as much, especially because Winnie and Meyer recovered after losing their first two tournament matches.

“That was a great moment,” Martin said. “When they called us up for the Division I title, it was really a team.”

Last month’s triumph almost didn’t happen.

In eighth grade, the Georgia native played basketball and figured that was in his future. But entering high school, he gave it up.

His mother, Elizabeth, played tennis at Brenau University in Gainesville, Ga., and she mentioned the sport to her son. Jace picked up a racket ahead of his freshman year and immediately loved it, he said.

He qualified for Euros that campaign as a doubles pair with Jacob Gerber, further spurring interest in the sport. Martin started putting in 10 to 20 hours on the courts and began his ascent in the DODEA European tennis scene.

“During season, out of season, I was always on the court,” Martin said. “My growth was pretty exponential.”

Martin switched over to singles with his parents, Elizabeth and Gary, taking over the Kaiserslautern program.

He reached the 2023 final, but he ran into the buzzsaw that was Ramstein graduate Tristan Chandler, who swept him 6-1, 6-0. It was part of Chandler’s four-peat as boys singles champion.

This year, the monster across the A6 was gone, giving Martin the chance to fill that void.

“It definitely felt different because I knew this year I had a chance to take it all with Tristan being gone,” Martin said. “In the back of my mind, I told myself I was the favorite, which that’s extra pressure from myself. But I’ve also always added pressure to myself because no one likes to lose and I didn’t want to lose this year.”

Martin quickly dispatched Ansbach’s Jack Lovallo 6-1, 6-0 in the semifinals, setting up the matchup with McGovern. Martin had watched the Cougar during the tournament and could tell McGovern was holding back for the final.

That led to a championship match with mad swings in each direction. The contest entertained many in the crowd, which grew as it went along as it became the last match on the court.

Both players were physically exhausted. Afterward, Martin slept the whole drive home to Kaiserslautern.

“Almost every game, it felt like momentum was switching,” Martin said. “Even during the games themselves, sometimes you’ll feel it switch.

“It really was just physically taxing, so it was whoever just mentally wanted it more in every game that they’re the ones that had momentum. That went back and forth the whole match.”

The final could be the last of Martin’s competitive career – be it in high school or tennis overall.

Right now, Martin is focusing on studying with six AP courses on the schedule. He’s also applying for colleges in the state of Georgia so he can go home.

He’s keeping the door open for playing tennis collegiately, but that won’t make or break his university life.

“I’ll go to the open tryouts, see if I can make the team,” Martin said. “If I don’t, then I don’t.”