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Hiring tennis players on purpose
The first tennis hires
Orlando Bravo grew up in Puerto Rico and spent his junior years at an academy in Florida before playing at Brown. When he built a real business, he hired a partner named Holden, who grew up in Baton Rouge, played at Dartmouth, and was also a top-40 player in the country.
A.J. Rohde, who had played at Villanova and been a good junior, interviewed next. The interview turned into two tennis players talking tennis, and the firm hired him.
A pattern emerges
Over the years the firm noticed a pattern: really good investment results kept coming from people with that background. The habit of playing the next ball, even after getting smacked on a point or hit with an overhead, carried over into the resilience that investing demands. So the firm became more methodical about hiring them.
The recruiting pipeline
Jeff Appel, who helps place college tennis players into careers, began sending a pipeline of top players, from the top of their classes at Virginia and Stanford to players ranked in the top 20 in the country at the NCAAs. A few clicked in interviews. Many are now on the team, with more in the pipeline.
Why do the best tennis players lose so many points?
Tennis is scored in games and sets, so a player can win a match while winning fewer total points than the opponent. Roger Federer said in his 2024 Dartmouth commencement address that he won about 80 percent of his career matches but only 54 percent of the points he played. Even the most dominant players lose nearly half the points in a match. The scoring system means every player spends the match recovering from points they just lost.
How do Ivy League schools recruit athletes without scholarships?
Ivy League schools award only need-based financial aid and no athletic scholarships, and Brown and Dartmouth are both members. Coaches still recruit athletes and can support an applicant's file with the admissions office. The league sets academic minimums for recruits using the Academic Index, a formula that combines test scores and grades. Recruited athletes make up a meaningful share of many Ivy teams.
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