Where are they now:

He started playing tennis with a baseball bat, and now, 23 years later, former Husky alumnus Daniel Chu is trying to make his mark as a professional tennis player in the Association of Tennis Professionals circuit and is contending with the best players in the world.

His career at Washington was highlighted by all sorts of accolades from being one of only two Huskies to have ever been a three-time First Team Pac-10 All-Academic team member to holding the school’s all-time record for doubles wins with another Husky alumnus, former doubles partner Alex Slovic.

However, if Chu, nicknamed “Chewy,” didn’t mention these outstanding achievements or his profession as a professional athlete himself, most people wouldn’t have the slightest idea.

These days, when he’s not on the road competing in various tournaments or residing in his Vancouver, B.C., home, this tennis phenomenon can be found at the Nordstrom Tennis Center, the home and heart of Husky tennis and the place that skyrocketed his career.

During this last tennis season, Chu experienced his first match at Washington in the stands, watching and supporting his old team, most notably his younger brother, junior David Chu.

More often than not, he was found among the crowd clad in sweats, ready to pick up a racket and play after the match with anyone willing to hit with him, but not before greeting the numerous tennis fans who came up to him to talk about life as a professional tennis player or just to say hello to a player whose game they’ve watched progress over four years. Even though they’ve only watched from the stands, it’s as if they were all father figures watching a son grow up. The cordial exchange between Chu and the fans makes bystanders believe that he’s had a personal connection with them for years.

That personal connection isn’t fabricated; Washington was the place where Chu matured into the player he is today.

“While getting recruited to UW I didn’t really know a lot about the net … [and] didn’t even have a conditioning or workout routine,” Chu said. “Matt Anger is a great coach and he definitely helped me out with all that,” he added. “He kind of prepared me for my game style that way.”

Solid net play is essential to any well-rounded match but is especially important in doubles play.

It’s evident that his years at Washington prepared him for the next step, as Chu has already earned an ATP doubles ranking of 1030 less than a year after graduating.

Climbing up the rankings doesn’t come without a price though.

The worst part about traveling from tournament to tournament is getting the logistics down and managing it all, Chu said.

“Traveling on your own and doing everything on your own kind of sucks,” he said. “In college you have your team supporting you and the crowd at your back so you’ve got a lot of support, but when you’re on the road, you’re on your own,” Chu said. “There’s a lot more pressure in performing on the road than in college.”

But there is an upside to it.

“The best part is probably visiting new places,” Chu said. “You get to go to different places, learn different cultures and explore the world.”

An extra bonus is that the traveling adds to his ever-increasing fan base.

“The last tournament I won in doubles there were a lot of ball kids who came out and asked me to sign their tennis balls and T-shirts. It was a lot of fun to see them all come out,” Chu said.

It might have even brought back memories of how he had gravitated toward the sport at the early age of 7.

“I just started in the backyard hitting around with my dad. I actually had a big red baseball bat and hit around with that thing, but I eventually picked up a racket,” Chu explained.

As to how playing without the proper equipment progressed into being the No. 1 junior player for Canada and now getting competitive in the ATP rankings, Chu has no idea.

He always had a knack for athletics and was a three-sport athlete growing up, participating in soccer and swimming in addition to tennis, but stuck with the sport he was best at.

“I just had a good feel for the ball and I was pretty natural at it,” Chu said.

So with more experience and fine-tuning of his game at this new level, there’s no limit to how much this former Husky tennis star has the potential to accomplish.

“Hopefully I’ll get to the Olympics to play for Canada, maybe in four years,” Chu said of his goals. “Within the next year I’ll hopefully get within the top 500 in the ATP singles race and work from there.”

Chu has gone down in the record books as one of Washington’s top doubles players of all time, but that’s just one chapter in this UW alumnus’ story, as he is only at the beginning of his career with a promising future.