From forehands to three-mile lunch breaks: Stefan Dostanic is next

After meeting junior Stefan Dostanic, you might not guess that he’s a nationally ranked athlete. His relaxed posture and enduring smile feels familiar and his friendly, laid-back demeanor can easily make one forget they’re speaking with the fourth-best player in all of collegiate tennis.

But if you saw him on the court, you’d have no doubt. As his teammates can attest, Dostanic carries a completely different energy on-court propelling his run up the ITA ranks this season.

“Dostanic is very laid back off the tennis court,” said his doubles partner, senior Bradley Frye. “Then, when he’s on the tennis court, it’s like this switch is turned on; he just becomes this badass tennis player.”

Dostanic currently leads all ITA-ranked Division I players in total wins with 33. USC Head Coach Brett Masi expressed his appreciation of Dostanic’s success, even going as far as to say that a player such as Dostanic can be counted as an automatic point on the board against most teams.

While the junior certainly makes it look easy, Dostanic’s process is far from it. His success can be attributed to his relentlessly disciplined work ethic, a trait that long precedes his tenure as a Trojan.

Born in Irvine, California, Dostanic first picked up the racket when he was five years old. He played tennis — along with basketball and soccer — for most of his childhood. But by his freshman year at Woodbridge High School, he wanted to focus on tennis, drawn to the independence the sport offered.

“I think something that made it special for me was the individualistic part about it… I just really liked how in tennis, it was really just myself out there on the court,” Dostanic said. “I didn’t have to rely on my teammates to win or lose, it was just make or break with myself.”

It’s safe to say Dostanic is more familiar with the “make” portion of the expression. 

In a 2018 interview with the Orange County Register, Ryan Sabado, Dostanic’s high school coach, called him a “perfectionist” — quite the appropriate title given the season he had just completed. In his junior year at Woodbridge, Dostanic went 78-0. Not only did he go undefeated, but he didn’t lose a single set all season.

After capturing singles titles in the Pacific Coast League finals, CIF Southern Section championships, and the prestigious Ojai Tennis Tournament, Dostanic decided to take his senior year off and prepare for collegiate tennis. 

He credits this gap year, along with the team-first nature of high school tennis, as having prepared him for success at the next level.

“That year was probably one of the most productive years I’ve had,” Dostanic said. 

The then-17-year-old would train for around five hours per day at the U.S. Tennis Association facility in Carson, California, on top of maintaining a full online course load. As the prestigious Kalamazoo tournament drew nearer, this number increased to seven hours per day, not including the three-mile run Dostanic dubbed his “lunch break.” 

Dostanic credits this “one last big push” for his immediate success at USC. However, his journey to becoming a Trojan started much earlier, even before he had played in his first high school match. 

Dostanic grew up close friends with Colter Smith — son of former USC Head Coach Peter Smith — and played alongside him for two years at USC before Colter transferred to Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. Having grown up close to the Trojan family, Dostanic saw USC up close for the first time and knew it was the place for him. 

“When I was like 12, 13 years old, I came to some USC-UCLA matches, and I saw the campus and just kind of knew it was where I wanted to be,” Dostanic said. “I committed right away to SC, I didn’t really talk to many colleges.”

Dostanic’s freshman year saw the newly-hired Masi inherit a stacked roster of competitors led by junior Daniel Cukierman and senior Brandon Holt. 

The Trojans boasted five ITA-ranked players and a No. 5 ranked doubles squad, launching them to a three-week run as the No. 1 team in the nation that year. Dostanic had pulled together a six-match win streak, and the Trojans were poised for a national championship — everything was looking up.

Then, March 2020 rolled around. Coronavirus lockdowns shut down nearly every major event around the world, and college tennis was not spared. Dostanic and the Trojans saw their season canceled before the postseason had even begun, losing their chance to play on the national stage.

“It was pretty devastating. Myself and the team knew that we were the best team in the country,” Dostanic said. “And then when Holt didn’t come back the next year, we knew that was a big loss for us. It just felt like a missed opportunity.”

Dostanic had big shoes to fill — and he did. 

Ending the season ranked No. 98 in singles, Dostanic tallied an overall record of 21-3, defeating six ranked opponents along the way. The most impressive aspect of his sophomore season, however, was his doubles performance. After a bumpy start together the year before, Dostanic and Frye ended the 2020-21 season with an overall doubles record of 17-1.

“Our chemistry overall has gotten so much better,” said Frye, recalling their 8-7 start in Dostanic’s freshman year. “I think that has also come from us just growing together. And, I’d say we’re really good friends and we do lots of stuff off the court, which then correlates how we act together on the court.”

Dostanic hasn’t forgotten what happened in 2020 and sees this year as his chance for a title run. Currently ranked No. 4 in singles and No. 12 in doubles with Frye, neither an NCAA singles or doubles title would seem far-fetched for the junior. 

“We’re really hoping for a Pac-12 championship, and I really think this team can do some good stuff in the NCAA tournament as well. Make a deep run there, for sure,” Dostanic said. “And for myself, my goal is to try to win NCAA in individuals and also in doubles.”

While many know USC Athletics for the history of the iconic football team, men’s tennis certainly carries its own legacy. With 21 national championships, 15 singles champions and 21 doubles titles, the team room alone can be a bit intimidating to newcomers. 

Regardless, Masi believes Dostanic has what it takes to earn his place on the wall.

“If you look around this room, the success slaps you in the face pretty quickly. It’s around you. And it’s tough sometimes for players, but he handles it really well,” Masi said. “He wants to be one of the key people that are on this wall, and he eyes that every single day. He wants to be one of the best players in the world one day as a tennis player.”

Titles and accolades aside, Dostanic is just a kid that loves the game. He can’t quite imagine his life without tennis, saying it’s this passion that pushes him onto the court every day.

“I got to choose which sport I wanted to play, and I think that was big for me. I wasn’t just brought up playing only tennis, but I played many other sports and I got to see what it was like to be on teams, and I was just drawn to tennis,” Dostanic said. “I think I still have that same kind of love for the game and passion, and I’ll keep playing as long as I have that.”