Built for the long game

Savannah Reiman has spent so much of her life on a tennis court that stepping away from it feels stranger than staying on it.

When she was 2 years old, her mother found a tennis academy advertising lessons for children barely old enough to hold a racket. Reiman started playing almost immediately, and somewhere along the way, the game stopped feeling like an activity and started becoming the structure around which her life was built.

By age 8, tennis had become serious. National travel followed in middle school, and by freshman year Reiman switched to homeschooling so she could train upward of six hours a day.

“It was my choice,” Reiman said. “Nobody made me do it. I know I won’t have as much social interaction as most kids, but I’m okay with it because of what I’m working toward.”

Now the Organ Mountain standout is a two-time state champion with professional aspirations, and a national tournament resume already stretching far beyond New Mexico. She hopes to compete internationally, eventually reach events like junior Wimbledon and the junior U.S. Open, then play college tennis at a program such as TCU or Liberty.

“I plan to go to college first because college tennis helps you mature,” Reiman said. “You’re constantly playing players at your level, and it helps you grow. I can’t be a pro forever. Even if I win Grand Slams, eventually I’ll want a career too.”

That broader perspective is part of what Organ Mountain head coach Melanie Jorgensen believes makes Reiman unusual.

“She has a really mature perspective for someone her age,” Jorgensen said. “She’s able to look beyond next week or this weekend and think about her future. She understands that what she does today matters for what her future self wants.”

Away from tournaments, Reiman rides horses and helps care for them, often assisting older owners around the barn. After tennis, she hopes to become a veterinarian.

Still, nearly everything in her daily life traces back to the court. Reiman carefully structures her schedule around practices, training and travel, embracing the demands of a sport that often pushes young athletes toward burnout.

“You have to know your goals,” Reiman said. “If you don’t have goals, you’re just playing over and over with nothing to play for.”

Yet she insists tennis has never become exhausting to her. If anything, it has become the opposite.

“The court is kind of my non-stress place,” she said. “When I don’t play, I feel unfulfilled.”

That intensity could easily create distance between Reiman and her high school teammates. Instead, Jorgensen said it has elevated the entire Organ Mountain program.

“For a lot of our players, tennis is about loving the sport, being with friends and having a high school experience,” Jorgensen said. “For Savannah, it’s a little different because she has long-term goals with tennis. Watching that mesh together with the rest of the team has been really special.”

For much of the year, tennis is solitary, built around travel, training and individual matches. The high school season gives Reiman something different.

“Tennis is such a lonely sport, so it’s really special having a team,” Reiman said. “When I come here, I get to have fun with my friends while we’re all trying to get better.”

Jorgensen said Reiman’s leadership has become one of the program’s defining qualities, especially with younger and inexperienced players.

“A lot of our kids are freshmen who have never picked up a racket before, and Savannah never shames anybody,” Jorgensen said. “She helps everybody. She’s willing to hit with anybody and do whatever it takes to be part of the team.”

That combination of elite ambition and approachable leadership is what Jorgensen believes ultimately separates Reiman from most athletes her age.

“What I love is that she’s still a fun high school kid,” Jorgensen said. “She’s able to connect with people and still maintain that maturity and long-term focus.”

And for Reiman, even two state championships feel less like an ending than a checkpoint.

“I don’t really think too much about my accomplishments,” she said. “I think more about what I still need to accomplish.”