text: can he go pro? my son is 12 yrs old and he's been wanting to go pro in tennis. he first played when he was 5 yrs. he stopped when he was in third grade, as, there was no local tennis court. he's started playing on a regular basis and started taking lessons and everything since he was 10. he's on the middle school travel team. is his dream on going pro realistic? i've heard that most pros today started playing on a regular basis since they were 2. when i was a kid playing tennis at our local park with my friends, i remember dreaming of the pro tour. we were all pretty decent players, but i remember going to my first big junior tournament. i ended up losing both the matches i played to kids in my age group. i then realized how much work was ahead of me. i spent the next few years going to junior clinics and private lessons. it was a great experience and i really improved. i never realized the dream of being on the pro tour that i had as a 12 year-old kid, but that's because i had to decide between devoting my life to tennis (spending hours per day on court and in lessons) or pursuing my education.  that being said, some kids are born with the special combination of hand-eye coordination and athletic ability that enables them to be a professional tennis player even if they pick up their first racquet at 16 years old. so, if your son started at 5, i wouldn't worry too much about that. heck, even if he isn't dominating high school varsity players while still in middle school he can still make it to the pro tour. the secret is by being good enough to play d1 tennis. if he plays at the ncaa d1 level, he'll then have the chance to succeed, play in challenger tournaments, and gain an atp ranking.  however, if his dream is of being the next federer, then he really should be dominating every tournament he enters on both the city-wide level, but also the usta regional tournaments. he should be one of the top players in the state. if this isn't the case, he can still make it, but it's going to take lots of effort. jim courier is a good example of a former pro who wasn't blessed with a lot of physical ability, but through 'blood, sweat, and tears' was able to turn the ability that he did have into a style of play that led him to success on the pro tour.  if you want more information on tournaments--because they're really the key to becoming a pro player--then i recommend the usta website. i'll include several links in the sources for you (a link to the usta junior tournament page, to the usta future champions page, and to the usta sections page--where you'll be able to go to your region's website and find more information on regional and local tournaments).  anyway, i hope that everything works out, and that i was able to help.