Tennis has always brought Ryan Pulliam home.
Whether he was playing for his club team at West Virginia University, working at a tennis center or coaching at Fairmont State, when July rolled around he would feel the familiar tug of the Public Courts tournament.
Pulliam's summer joyride ended Friday night as he and his partner David Lamm dropped their men's 4.0 doubles semifinal to Casey Hudson and Logan Jarrett 6-4, 6-1 at Schoenbaum Courts in Kanawha City.
The 28-year-old Pulliam's devotion to the sport has only intensified during his tennis journey.
He got a late start, relatively speaking for tennis, picking up a racket at Charleston Catholic High School. Pulliam moved on to play at the club level for the Mountaineers, who don't field a varsity men's team.
In 2009, Pulliam took a full-time job as manager and co-director of West View Tennis Center in Morgantown. He also guided Fairmont State's program as men's head coach in the Division II Mountain East Conference for three years beginning in the 2012-13 season.
After parting ways with Fairmont State recently, Pulliam, who majored in exercise physiology at WVU, returned to the Kanawha Valley this summer, working as a certified personal trainer at Nautilus in Cross Lanes and the Charleston YWCA. He's also teaching tennis at the Cross Lanes Recreation Association. One of his pupils, Katie Eddy, advanced to today's championships in girls 15-and-under singles.
"It's kind of a big passion and I've made it a lifestyle,'' said Pulliam of tennis. "It's been nice. The more I started doing it the more I realized I didn't want to do anything else. It's not a bad gig even on a bad day like [Friday] when you lose. I'd rather be out here than anything else.''
Pulliam said he enjoyed his time at Fairmont State, building the team from scratch and ending on a high note this season.
"We had the most wins in a decade at least,'' he said. "I stepped in with nobody on the roster so it was kind of like my little team. Each year I added new No. 1 and 2 seeds, bumping everybody down.
"Mostly everybody from West Virginia. With the club background I have a big emphasis on development so I took players ... I had no international [players]. We worked hard. There were times we practiced till midnight.
"College gets into the coaching strategy and the team takes on my personality. They kind of play how I coach them. When you get to that level everybody can play. Then it gets to the point of how talented the coach is as far as how you're going to practice and attack matches. That's the most attractive coaching and teaching you can do. I just had a great experience and that's something you don't want to quit doing.''
Pulliam has been competing in Public Courts the past five years in 4.0-rated events for men's singles and doubles.
"It's funny, one of the things with working with a team and at a club, we hosted tournaments every year, but I never had the chance to play,'' he said. "We were always working. This is my favorite time of the year. I love coming down here. Everybody just sits and hangs out after work.
"Before I really got into tennis it's kind of one of those things where you're watching some of those great players at my time, Mark Hanna, he's one I always looked up to, Adam White and Erica White. It's something you look at, 'Man, that would be so cool.'
"Once I started playing I couldn't get enough of it. Every year I mark the calendar. Even when I was in Morgantown I made a point to come down every week and bring some of my buddies down to play, hang out and watch tennis.''
Pulliam said he's undecided which direction his life will take, but one thing he is sure of is that tennis will play a prominent role.
"I'm always going to stick with tennis,'' he said. "I love every bit of it from vacuuming courts at a club to teaching to coaching the college guys. I'm open to every opportunity I can find.
"When you love every bit of it you can stay happy doing whatever. I just love it all. There are a lot more things [I] could be doing to be a little more financially set, but I'm just happy every day doing this. It's hard to not enjoy yourself out here.''
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The men's and women's open singles divisions will highlight today's finals at Schoenbaum Courts. The men will get underway at 9 a.m. followed by the women at 10:30 a.m.
Top-seeded James Kent, a former Capital High School and WVU player, will be gunning for a ninth title against Chris Pratt in the men's open final. Pratt defeated defending champion and seven-time champ Patrick Walker in the quarterfinals earlier this week. Kent set the Public Courts record with his eighth title in 2013.
Two newcomers will vie for the women's open title when No. 1 Brittany Franco, a native of Florida who competes at West Virginia State, squares off with No. 2 Danielle Vines, a 16-year-old from Tennessee who is visiting family over the summer.
Reach Tommy R. Atkinson at tatkinson@wvgazette.com or 304-348-4811.