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It felt like the world was crashing down on Andrew Lavine.

Having just moved to a new city in the summer of 2021, Lavine was struggling to adjust. His game was declining and he couldn’t find the right coach to help. Lavine’s dream of playing NCAA Division I tennis seemed to be fading.

Little did Lavine know, that was nothing compared to what he would soon endure.

In October of 2021, his mom started to feel sick. The Texas native moved in with his grandparents while his parents focused on his mom’s health and taking her to treatments.

Rachel Lavine died unexpectedly in December from amyloidosis, a rare disease that occurs when abnormal proteins called amyloid fibrils build up in organs and tissues, causing them to malfunction.

“We were heartbroken and tennis was the least of our concerns,” Andrew Lavine said. “It took time for me to get back into tennis, but I knew I wanted to make my mother proud and not give up.”

Lavine’s journey over the last three years has been filled with mixed emotions. He was overcome with grief and sadness, yet eventually found joy and motivation on the tennis court again. His family members provided unwavering support throughout, even as they all grieved their own loss.

“Eventually I got back into playing tournaments with not the best training and things did not work out,” Lavine said. “I was truly in some dark times beyond tennis.”

Navigating the Road to Recovery

Lavine was born in Bellaire, Texas, and was handed a racquet in the crib by his grandfather, Juan Bracho, who moved to the United States from Mexico to play for the University of North Texas.

Lavine and his older brother, Alex, trained with their grandfather at the Juan Bracho Tennis Academy (JBTA) on city-owned park courts in the Houston area. Lavine eventually chose tennis over baseball, basketball and football.

But once the family relocated to Austin, for his dad’s job, Lavine began to struggle on the court.

“My game was in shambles,” Lavine said. “I had trained with my grandfather my whole life and it just wasn't the same. I was super distracted and a bit lost.”

The death of his mother made Lavine spiral even more. At first, it motivated him to work even harder. He woke up at 5 a.m. to run and stayed on the courts until the lights cut out at 8 p.m.

But the results still didn’t come.

Lavine decided to take nine months away from tournaments to spend more time with his family and find a good coach that could help him through his struggles.

During that period, he watched the 2022 NCAA Men’s Tennis Championships on television and saw Florida’s Ben Shelton capture the men’s individual singles title.

“I remember seeing him bring his swag to college tennis,” Lavine said. “I really got pumped up watching him as a lefty. During these times, I visualized myself getting to Division I tennis.”

Getting Back on Track

Lavine returned to tournament play, traveling around Texas with his older brother, Alex, who is a senior at Texas A&M. Lavine was a two-star recruit at the time and still wasn’t able to produce many big wins.

Things began to change once Lavine started training with coach Scott McCain at ATX D1 Tennis.

“He was a great influence on me,” Lavine said. “He taught me toughness and the desire it took to win. I improved drastically from there, going from a two-star to a four-star entering 2024.”

After Lavine won an L5 event in Texas, he began reaching out to Division I coaches across the country. The responses were a bit deflating, with some coaches saying his best route was to play club tennis.

But after all he’d endured, Lavine didn’t give up. He did some more research and called the assistant coach at UC Riverside.

“He answered and he loved my story and said they had potential for getting me on the team,” Lavine said. “That assistant ended up leaving, but the new assistant coach Rob Pearson and the head coach Mattias Johansson were phenomenal and had me out for a visit. I just knew they believed in me.”

Lavine verbally committed to UCR last September before heading to Barcelona, Spain for three months to train at Gomez Tennis Academy.

“It was to improve my game, but also to get life experience living on my own for three months,” he said. “It was life changing and amazing.”

Using His ‘Superpower”

Lavine officially signed with the Highlanders once he returned to the U.S. It was an emotional moment for everyone in the family. As a child, Lavine told his mom he wanted to play Division I college tennis and she encouraged him to chase his dream.

“She always knew that was Andrew’s goal,” his older brother said. “She would be so proud of him for being able to get to this point.”

Lavine’s dad, Benjamin, agreed.

“Andrew has endured a lot of pain and setbacks, nevertheless he is achieving his dream to play college tennis,” he said. “It’s a goal my wife knew that Andrew wanted to accomplish.”

Lavine wishes his mom was still alive to witness everything he’s doing and share in the memories. But he takes comfort in knowing her inspiration helped guide him through some unspeakable challenges and dark times.

“If you are dealing with losing a loved one as a teen, you have something inside of you that others don’t. It’s a superpower,” Lavine said. “It’s not easy having this tragedy, but you have to live with it and use it to thrive. Make your loved one proud.”

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About Rhiannon Potkey

Rhiannon Potkey is a veteran sportswriter with more than two decades of experience in journalism. Potkey has covered many sports at many levels and has a passion for finding great stories. Potkey has covered the U.S. Open, junior sectional and national events, college conference championships and Davis Cup matches. Potkey is currently Content Strategist for Tennis Recruiting. You can reach Rhiannon by email at [email protected].