Zach Svajda of Pacific Beach holds the distinction of being one of only three 15-year-olds in the world to currently hold an ATP World Tour ranking.

Svajda earned his one point last month when the unknown player came out of nowhere to upset the No. 1-seeded player at the Claremont Club USTA Pro Circuit Futures event.

Svajda and his father and coach Tom chose not to play tournaments for the past three years but instead practice and workout with other top players at the club Tom teaches at, the Pacific Beach Tennis Club.

After falling in the first round of the main draw at the Laguna Niguel Pro Futures as a wild card, Svajda recently competed in qualifying of two $25,000 pro events in Texas. He won a round of qualifying in Harlingen before a loss. The following week in Waco, Svajda beat Derek Groomer, Zandrix Acob, and Alessandro-Damiano Ventre to qualify for the main draw.

Seeking to add to his ATP world ranking with another point, Svajda fell in three sets to Jack Findel-Hawkins of Great Britain, 2-6, 6-4, 2-6.

“I’ve tried not to change too much in my game since the SoCal tournaments,” said Svajda, who will turn 16 on Nov. 29. “I’ve been talking to my coach and we’ve been tinkering with just some small technical stuff on the serve, but nothing major. The serve is the big thing for me right now.

“I want to get my ranking inside the Top 500 in the world. That will make things easier for me getting into more pro events in 2019.”