FRUITPORT – As high school tennis got rolling in late March, things didn’t look very promising for Fruitport’s Grace Sweet.

The standout junior broke her left wrist toward the end of the basketball season, spent some time in a cast, and the effects of the injury lingered into the tennis season.

But Sweet braved her way out onto the court, anyway, and has been winning most of her matches despite the discomfort that has lingered throughout the spring.

Now, with the season headed into its final stretch, it looks like Sweet is back to full strength and could accomplish a lot over the next few weeks.

She connected on her first big challenge on Wednesday, winning the No. 1 singles championship at the Greater Muskegon Athletic Association City Tournament at Mona Shores High School.

Sweet was dominant, defeating North Muskegon’s Marilyn Gaston 6-1, 6-3 in her first match and Reeths-Puffer’s Brooke Titus 6-0, 6-1 in the championship match.

The city title was the second in a row for Sweet, who won at No. 2 singles last season.

This was the third straight year that Fruitport has won the No. 1 singles championship at the girls city meet. Allison Blakeman captured the crown in 2001 and Hope Busscher did the same last year.

Sweet improved her record to 17-1 overall this season, then pushed it up to 18-1 with another victory in a dual match against Coopersville on Thursday.

“I was overjoyed to win at No. 1 this year,” Sweet said about her latest city title. “I had played Reeths-Puffer earlier in the year and I didn’t play to the best of my ability, so I was happy to get another chance to improve. Winning at No. 2 last year was a big deal for me because it was my first big title, but at No. 1 this year, I feel that I was determined to prove my playing ability. I was very excited by the end of the day.”

Sweet admits that her late-season basketball injury had her worried about her ability to play tennis this spring.

“It was a heartbreaking injury for me because I knew that tennis was coming up soon and I couldn’t imagine not being able to play,” she said.

“I was not able to play for the first three weeks. I sat at tryouts and practices until after spring break. It was difficult to sit and watch everybody play because I wanted to be out on the court with my team.

“I was nervous to start playing competitively the day after I got my cast off, but everything came back quickly. It stopped being an issue when I was able to get past the mental block of hurting it.

“I was very timid at the beginning of April because I was not fully back to playing normally, but overall I feel a lot better now than I did when I started a month ago.”

Sweet will try to capture her second straight conference title in the O-K Blue tournament on Friday, then will go for her second straight regional championship next week.

She won both while playing No. 2 singles last year, while teammate Hope Busscher played No. 1. As Fruitport Coach Brad Busscher puts it, “There weren’t too many No. 2 players like her last year. Grace and Hope had tremendous seasons.”

The 2022 season ended in a frustrating way for Sweet, however, because Fruitport fell one point short at regionals of qualifying as a team for the state finals. Under state rules, only No. 1 singles players can qualify for state as individuals.

That means Sweet missed the chance to compete for a No. 2 singles state championship, despite being a regional champion.

This year is different, because Sweet is a No. 1 singles player and would qualify for state if she wins regionals again, regardless of where the Trojans finish in the team standings.

She isn’t thinking that far ahead, though. At the moment Sweet is just happy to be healthy and playing well, and is taking the rest of the season day-by-day.

“My goal for the rest of the season is to continue to play my best,” she said. “It would be amazing to win conference and regionals this year, as I did last year, but I honestly just want to take it one match at a time and get as far as I can this season, hopefully joined by the rest of my team. I want to play every match with the same drive as I always do and continue to improve for the future.”