John Stetson won four men's tennis singles championships in high school but did not play his first collegiate match until Feb. 13 -- over three semesters into his Penn career.
Two and a half weeks ago, Stetson teamed up with Brandon O'Gara for the no. 3 doubles slot in a match against St. Bonaventure. The duo proved victorious, defeating their opponents 8-5.
The last match Stetson had played before that one was at the Futures Tournament following the end of his senior year of high school.
The West Des Moines, Iowa, native seemed to have everything going for him. He had just graduated as valedictorian from Boca Raton Prep in Florida and was headed to an Ivy League school to play tennis.
But with one serve, everything changed.
Stetson threw a toss high into the sky, like he had done thousands of times before. But this time, as his racket zipped through the air, his right shoulder -- his serving shoulder -- gave out.
After the serve, Stetson's arm felt so weak that he could not even pick up his racket, which had fallen to the court.
The original outlook for Stetson appeared bright. His local doctor performed an MRI and believed that with three months of rehabilitation Stetson would be back on the court.
His doctor, however, would prove to be wrong.
After three months of rehab, his arm was not doing any better. When Stetson got to Penn, Dr. Brian Sennett, the director of sports medicine, performed a second MRI. This time, though, it was an MRI arthrogram.
In this procedure, fluids were injected into Stetson's shoulder in order to clearly illustrate the spaces in the joints.
It turned out that his injury was not so minor. In fact, he had torn his rotator cuff and all the cartilage in his bicep. There were three distinct tears in his right arm and Sennet informed Stetson that it would be unable heal on its own.
As Stetson described it, the arm was "pretty banged up."
On Feb. 13, 2004, Sennett performed an operation in which he inserted two plugs into Stetson's right arm, reconnecting his cartilage and tendons. The plugs were designed to dissolve in a year.
In the meantime, Stetson was getting cabin fever. It was rare for him not to be doing something athletic.
In high school, he was a three-sport varsity athlete in tennis, golf and basketball. In his senior year at Boca Raton Prep, he was the captain of all three teams after being captain of the tennis team his junior year.
His talents extended well beyond the tennis court. He worked toward a handicap of four on the golf course and served as president of the National Honor Society.
With the future of his tennis career in limbo, Stetson even contemplated joining the Penn golf team, but ultimately decided to pursue the rehabilitation and stick with tennis.
Stetson spent the next six months after surgery going through a hellish experience of rehab at Zarett Rehabilitation on 19th Street. He had to "start out light," because he had almost no strength in his right arm.
He worked diligently and tried hitting in September, but wasn't feeling any better, and decided to put off his return even longer.
"My arm felt [terrible]," Stetson said. "I took two months off."
While he says his serve, the strength of his game, is still only at 50 percent, his teammates, his coach, and of course Stetson himself are all very excited about his return to the court.
Coach Mark Riley has taken the same perspective. "It has been kind of frustrating not being able to play."
Riley is certainly excited that Stetson is back.
"He is a good tennis player," Riley said. "Period."
In 2000, Stetson was ranked second in the nation in his age division. He earned this distinction by winning twice at the Fiesta Bowl National Singles Championships, twice at the USTA National Open Championship in singles and at the USTA National Open Championship in doubles in 2001.
He came to Penn after turning down scholarships at Vanderbilt, Wake Forest and Michigan.
In the end he decided on Penn over his second choice, Princeton.
"I love the city of Philadelphia," Stetson said. "All the amenities and the school."
Stetson also chose Penn because of his relationship with Riley, who knew Stetson when he was a coach at Drake University and Stetson still lived in Iowa.
"We go back," Riley said. "I knew him when he was a little kid."
Stetson does not know when he will be in the lineup again after his appearance as a replacement against the Bonnies.
"He has a long way to go before he makes it back to the lineup," Riley said. Nonetheless, he believes he will be back playing competitively in the next couple of weeks.
