For junior Reid Carleton, tennis runs in the family.
Carleton grew up with an older sister, Jackie, a former Blue Devil, and a younger brother, Tripper, himself a Division-I tennis player.
The difference is that Tripper, who is a freshman, plays the game at Wake Forest, not at Duke like Reid does and Jackie once did.
In the Carleton household, tennis was a very important activity. Reid’s father, Frank, is a tennis coach, and the three siblings were taught to play from a very young age.
“We’ve pretty much always been surrounded by tennis,” Reid said. “We were hitting balls since we were three years old.”
Frank was also the coach of his three children until they reached their college years. Tennis, however, was not the only sport the children played growing up.
Reid said he and his siblings played basketball, soccer and baseball all the way up to high school, but they turned their focus to tennis when they realized they were capable of earning college scholarships.
Jackie led the way in this regard, enrolling to play tennis at UCLA before transferring to Duke before her junior year.
Reid sought to take after his sister, and claims she was a large factor in his decision to become a Blue Devil.
“[She] knew the coaches well here and had nothing but good things to say about them. She was always talking about how great the guys’ team was doing and how everybody liked them so much,” he said. “When I came here I already felt like I knew [the coaches]…. I felt really comfortable before even coming here.”
Tripper was also very close to joining Reid on the courts in Durham—Tripper verbally committed to Duke before deciding against it to, in the words of his older brother, “make his own way at his own school.”
Although the brothers aren’t teammates, they have been lucky enough to be in the same state and in the same conference.
“It is nice to know he’s kind of close,” Reid said. “We haven’t actually been able to see each other with such busy schedules…. Wake’s close, but not that close.”
Being in the same conference has led to opportunities for the two to compete against each other, most notably during Duke’s clash with Wake Forest April 7. Reid, who plays in the second singles spot for Duke, could have played his brother, who splits time between the first and second singles for the Demon Deacons.
The Facebook event for the match even advertised it as an opportunity to see the sibling rivalry. However, Tripper played No. 1 for Wake Forest that day while Reid remained at his No. 2 slot.
It is surprising to learn that the two have never played against each other—Reid said that growing up, the two didn’t keep score. When asked about the prospect of facing his younger brother, though, Reid was uncertain about the idea.
“I don’t know. I sort of have mixed feelings about it.… It would be interesting,” Reid said. “Honestly, I’d rather not play him, and I don’t think he would want to play me, either.”
The question remains, though: Who would win in a match between the two?
“[Tripper has] got a very good backhand, and my backhand is a little weaker.… I like to hit a lot of inside-out forehands to people’s backhands,” Reid said. “It’ll be a tough matchup for me as he has such a strong backhand. He can get it back to my backhand and maybe gain a little bit of an advantage.”
Reid may find out the true outcome of such a match—Duke could face Wake Forest in the ACC tournament semifinals this Saturday in Cary, N.C., although the Demon Deacons have a tougher road to that stage.
Ultimately, Reid says he is fine with his brother’s choice to attend Wake Forest.
“As long as he’s not at UNC, I’m okay with it,” he said.
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