Tej Bhagra a tennis star and so much more

Jun. 20—True story: Tej Bhagra spends most of his days at home clutching and swinging his tennis racquet.

“It drives me nuts,” his mother, Anjali, said with a warm smile. “He’s swinging that racquet all the time.”

He has swung it so much and with such confidence and skill, that Bhagra — an 18-year-old who graduated from Mayo High School earlier this month — has skyrocketed all the way to a No. 19 boys tennis ranking out of his 2026 graduating class, all tennis-playing members of the country combined.

“He’s the best player coming out of high school that I’ve ever coached,” said one of his teaching professionals at the Rochester Athletic Club, Steve Tacl, in his 20th year at the club. “He’s the highest-ranked player we’ve ever had.”

He also might be the most diverse tennis player on record at the RAC. Bhagra, the younger brother of Ojas Bhagra, another former hyper-involved student/athlete at Mayo who went on to Vanderbilt University and is about to get started at Mayo Medical School, showed Tej the way.

The younger brother took his example and ran with it.

Tej writes a monthly blog called “Finance Fingers,” centered on economic trends and tendencies. This is the same guy who championed the Legislature to sponsor a bill that would make personal finance class mandatory in high school. He did that in his freshman year, and it worked. Finance classes are now a mandatory part of the high school curriculum in Minnesota. This was after Tej and a teacher presented in front of the Minnesota House and Finance Committee, pushing the bill until it passed.

Tej also writes a monthly column for the Post Bulletin, addressing an assortment of things that interest him. His most recent one delved into how some of the most important work we do is not visible right away, or ever. That so much of life is built on delayed satisfaction and that we so often fail to recognize things until they are gone, such as our health.

He is also a member of the Minnesota Youth Council as one of the youth representatives from the 1st Congressional District. The Youth Council focuses on shaping statewide policies and decision-making processes through youth voices, public awareness of critical youth issues and encourages the adoption of laws and regulations that help youth.

Among his most inspired efforts has been trying to introduce legislation that would curb the use of flavored vapes among youth. That group meets bi-weekly. The campaign is called “Love Your Lungs Olmsted.” Tej first got the idea when he was 14 and saw kids in the public bathrooms vaping and the room a thick cloud of smoke, as well as seeing extended family members vaping.

“It’s just reality,” Tej said. “And that includes some of my friends from the community who vape. Nicotine is so addictive and there is so much nicotine in every vape. Typically, one vape equals an entire pack of cigarettes. It’s a copious amount of nicotine and you can get addicted to it.”

And this is also the same guy who was the class vice president at Mayo. So yes, this is no sit-around fellow. Throughout the year, they fundraise for certain things. That included $53,000 this year that they then donated to the Dorothy Day House and the Women’s Shelter in Rochester.

“It is a huge effort, school-wide,” Tej said.

Also on Tej’s list of things to do is work as a tennis instructor twice per week — three hours at a time — at the Rochester Athletic Club. It’s a paid position, and Tej has taken to it.

Tej had a number of college suitors after his tennis skills. Illinois, Alabama and Wisconsin were among those showing the most interest.

As much as those schools impressed him, the undersized Tej (5-foot-8, 130 pounds) came away most impressed from a visit he made to Ivy League school Brown, in Providence, Rhode Island.

Also a standout student, Tej was struck by the combination of academics and athletics that Brown was showing.

The team has since hired a new coach who has impressed Tej. Even though the version of players that Tej got a look at weren’t connecting for many wins, he was struck by their connectedness and energy.

“When I watched them, it seemed they were doing a lot of things together outside of tennis,” Tej said. “You see some teams that are tight-knit on the tennis court, but they don’t necessarily spend a lot of time together off the court. I think Brown has an amazing environment where they have the opportunity to train and become the best players possible but also time to build a life. They don’t typecast you as just being a tennis player. Brown really struck that balance.”

Tej hasn’t played high school tennis in two years. He quit after reaching the top of the heap at the conclusion of his sophomore year, Tej winning the state singles title that season.

He had to fight to win that championship as a sophomore, Tej coming back after trailing in both sets. Tej was down 4-2 in the first set when he started his comeback and trailed 4-3 and love-40 in the second set when he came back. He went on to win in straight sets by identical scores of 6-4, 6-4 to capture the championship.

It was vintage Tej, never giving up in either set and then having so much to show for it.

“Yeah, when I notice that something is not over, I’m not going to say it’s over until it’s over,” Tej said. “There is no timer in tennis so you can bounce back from virtually anything. So I told myself to just keep fighting. So if you stay on them, they can break.”

Tej abandoned high school tennis and plays in a nationwide assortment of tournaments that include many past and present college players. He’s doing that with a special eye toward the competition he will be up against at Brown, which competes at the Division I level.

He’s been given a taste of what he can accomplish at that level.

He did that in a recent high-level tournament at Newport Beach, just outside of Los Angeles. Tej made it all the way to the championship match. After winning the first set 6-4, he was up 3-2 in the second but had things slip away and lost the set 6-4.

“I was really feeling it physically,” Tej said. “It was the hottest day of the tournament and I’d played four intense matches before that one as well.”

After splitting the first two sets, Tej trailed 5-3 in the final set.

“In my mind I was contemplating defeat,” Tej said. “But sometimes you have to let your mind think that. And then you’re like, ‘OK, you know what? I have nothing to lose. Just keep playing. Just keep fighting and see what happens. I went on to win that match 7-6 in the third set. That was a big deal because it was like winning a pro tournament.”

Putting in a solid effort is the standard for Tej Bhagra.

And he doesn’t just do it for himself.

“He is absolutely the most caring son we ever could have asked for,” Anjali said. “I know I can depend on Tej for whatever we could ask for.”

For that, Anjali gives ample credit to the Rochester community that has helped raise him.

“Tej has had great mentors,” said Anjali, putting big brother Ojas near the top of that list. “The community has given him so much.”