UIL state tennis: Grapevine star wins third state title, W.T. White medals for first time

Grapevine High tennis players Noah Malin (left) and Sara Gyorgy slap hands after scoring a point against their coach during practice at their school in Grapevine, Texas, May 5, 2026. The two are heading to the state tennis tournament, competing in the Class 5A mixed doubles division. (Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News)

SAN ANTONIO — Dallas ISD's drought without winning a gold medal in boys singles at the UIL state tennis championships had seemingly taken on a life of its own. The albatross had lasted for nearly a century. In recent years, there has been a glimmer that a breakthrough was near.

W.T. White's Brodie Keller was the next in line to attempt to erase the dry spell. And while he didn't end Dallas ISD's gold-medal famine, he might have still made history.

Keller fell to Frisco Lebanon Trail's Aaditt Rishi 6-3, 6-2 on Friday in the UIL Class 5A boys singles final at Northside ISD Tennis Center. He is believed to be the first W.T. White tennis player to earn a medal at the state tournament. Kimball's Cruz Beltran nabbed bronze in 4A singles.

Rishi, who won mixed doubles state titles the past two seasons, was one of two Dallas-area athletes to win in singles. Allen's Sebastian Zavala stopped Katy Seven Lakes' Aidan Xu 6-3, 6-2 in 6A boys singles.

"I really wanted the state championship to represent my school, for my family, for my coach, for myself, too," said Keller, who came up shy of becoming the first Dallas ISD athlete to win a state crown in boys singles since Oak Cliff's Doc Barr in 1929. "My opponent played a really good match. Sometimes you've just got to tip your hat to the other guy. I knew it was going to be a dogfight. I think he played a really good match, and he got a couple of big points."