D1 Champs Finish Tough Title Roads
October 15, 2016
By Scott Keyes
Special for Second Half
MIDLAND – Redemption is bittersweet for Troy High School's Steve Forman.
A year ago as a sophomore, Forman advanced to the Lower Peninsula Division 1 semifinals at No. 1 singles as a four seed – losing to eventual flight champion Connor Johnston of Northville.
So heading into this season, Forman had high expectations. However, Forman suffered an ankle injury in mid-August that forced him to miss the majority of this fall.
But that didn't stop him from making his mark on the season nonetheless.
Forman stormed through his Regional and was the top seed entering Friday and Saturday’s Division 1 Finals at the Midland Tennis Center.
The junior left-hander captured his first No. 1 singles title, winning the first three games against Bloomfield Hills’ Josh Mukherjee to set the tone in his 6-2, 2-6, 6-1 victory.
"Josh and I played numerous times in the past and we've gone into tiebreakers. But to come in here this weekend and play as well as I did, I couldn't be prouder of the way that I played," Forman said.
"After having to sit out most of the season, this victory is bittersweet. It was a long road back, but to win a state championship is pretty cool.”
Forman credits jumping out to a quick start as the key to his success.
"I played so well in the first set and was able to hit my spots," he said. "I got up, 2-1, (in the second set) and was on serve and felt really good. I just kind of got a little tight and thought a little ahead, maybe. I had to refocus for the third set. It’s always been winning the big points, which I was able to do today.”
Mukherjee won a heated semifinal over two-time singles champion Alex Wen of Novi, 6-3, 2-6, 6-2. (Wen won No. 2 in 2015 and No. 3 in 2014.) The match lasted nearly 2½ hours.
Meanwhile, Ann Arbor Huron also found redemption on the day, capturing its first Division 1 boys title since 2013.
Coach Stefan Welch, who has led the program the past 15 seasons, watched his team battle to finally capture the championship with the No. 1 doubles victory of Chris Cho and Brenden Chen over Birmingham Brother Rice’s Josh Anschuetz and Travis Tucker, 7-5, 6-4.
Huron finished with 30 points, and Bloomfield Hills was second at 28.
"Our kids really battled," Welch said. "This was a very hard-fought win. We got off to a slow start this morning, but I am proud of the way we came together as a group and got this done."
Heading into the day, Bloomfield Hills was seeded third or higher at all but one flight, led by top seeds Andrew Zhang at No. 2 singles and Constantine Hemmrich at No. 3.
Zhang cruised to the No. 2 title after defeating freshman Luke Baylis of Clarkston, 6-1, 6-0.
Freshman Sahil Deenadayalu, the top seed at No. 4 singles, defeated senior Brad Silverman, 6-3, 6-3, to keep Huron in the title hunt. Silverman was a runner-up his final two seasons.
Hemmrich repeated at No. 3 singles, winning this time 6-3, 6-2, over Owen Kelley of Huron.
Other winners on the day included Novi’s Aakash Ray and Nayan Makim, who defeated Troy's Vedaant Garg and Spencer Liu, 7-5,1-6, 6-2 at No 3 doubles. At No. 4, the team of Gabe Kleer and Josh Lee of Ann Arbor Pioneer defeated Troy's Vishal Bethamcherla and Ricky Young, 6-2, 7-6 (0).
PHOTO: (Top) Ann Arbor Huron' Sahil Deenadayalu stretches out for a return during a No.4 singles match at the Division 1 Final on Saturday at Midland Tennis Center. (Middle) Troy's Steve Forman sends back a volley at No. 1 singles. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Anderson's Sad Ending Last Season Driving This Fall's Championship Pursuit
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
October 16, 2025
ROCHESTER – Normally, this would seem like an odd photo request – especially for a shot to become the wallpaper picture on one’s cell phone.
But Rochester High School senior Chad Anderson insisted he had a method to his madness after last year’s Lower Peninsula Division 1 Boys Tennis Finals.
Following a loss to Pierce Shaya of Bloomfield Hills in the championship match at No. 1 singles, Anderson had his mother take a picture of him crying.
To this day, it still serves as the wallpaper screen on his cell phone.
“It’s been my motivation since,” Anderson said.
Anderson certainly has performed like a motivated player heading into this weekend’s Division 1 Finals in Midland.
He enters as the top seed at No. 1 singles and hasn’t dropped a set this fall as he pursues what’s been an elusive individual title for himself, his family and his school.
As a sophomore, Anderson lost in the championship match at No. 2 singles. His older brother Clayton advanced to the No. 1 singles championship match in Division 1 three consecutive years from 2021-23, but lost each time to Sachiv Kumar of Northville.
Rochester also has never had a Finals singles champion in boys tennis, so Chad Anderson has that to inspire him as well.
“I’ve seen it happen to me and my brother enough,” Anderson said.
In preparing for what’s been a stellar senior season so far, Anderson went to work on a few components of his game, including making his serve-and-return more precise.
More than anything though, his big emphasis was not on improving technical aspects of the game, but working on his body.
“I put on 20 pounds to be able to hit the ball bigger,” he said. “Last year, I lost in the Finals to a guy who hit the ball stronger than me and bigger than me. I didn’t want that to happen again this year where there was just some guy overpowering me and dominating me.”
Anderson said he started playing tennis when he was 4 years old after his father, a former player himself, introduced the game to he and Clayton – who is now playing in college at Marquette.
Needless to say, there have been countless hitting sessions between the two siblings over the years.
“We can’t play without arguing,” Chad Anderson quipped. “We bicker a lot, but we push each other a lot.”
Rochester head coach Jerry Murphy, who is in his 53rd year as coach, said while Clayton had a devastating backhand and serve, Chad stands out because he has more of an all-around game.
“If he needs to come to the net, he can come to the net and feels comfortable doing that,” Murphy said. “He loves to move the ball around the court, and he wears guys out. He’s focused and does what he has to do. If he needs to out-rally a guy, he can do that. If he needs to outhit him, he can do that. The fact that nobody has taken a set off of him this year is a testament to that, and we’ve played some pretty good players.”
In addition to technical ability, Murphy said Anderson has displayed a fire on the court this year that’s become an inferno.
“He wants to do what his older brother couldn’t do,” Murphy said. “I can see that in his eyes when he plays. He’s motivated. Whether he can seal the deal, we’ll see Friday and Saturday.”
Anderson said he doesn’t feel pressure being the top seed at his flight and actually welcomes the challenge, given it’s a spot he prepared to be in all offseason and throughout this fall.
In addition to himself and his family, providing a Finals champion for the first time to a coach who has been at the helm for more than five decades would be beyond meaningful.
“It would mean so much to win it,” he said. “I’ve wanted it so bad. It would be a good thing for the program.”
If Anderson does win this weekend, he’ll need his Mom to take a new phone wallpaper photo of him celebrating instead of crying.
Keith Dunlap has served in Detroit-area sports media for more than two decades, including as a sportswriter at the Oakland Press from 2001-16 primarily covering high school sports but also college and professional teams. His bylines also have appeared in USA Today, the Washington Post, the Detroit Free Press, the Houston Chronicle and the Boston Globe. He served as the administrator for the Oakland Activities Association’s website from 2017-2020. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties.