Into Tennis as a 30-Something
USTA SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
USTA SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Karue Sell in action at the 2024 SoCal Pro Series at Barnes Tennis Center.
(Photo – Jon Mulvey/USTA SoCal)
Just over 21 months and counting into his return to professional tennis, Karue Sell can say, unequivocally, that his comeback has exceeded his expectations. So much so that perhaps a term more fitting in his case, rather than comeback, is a ‘surgeahead.’
The Torrance resident and native of Jaragua do Sul, Brazil is taking a short break from the ATP Challenger Tour to enter his only SoCal Pro Series tournament of 2025 in this week’s $15,000 ITF World Tennis Tour/USTA Pro Circuit event at Lakewood Tennis Center.
At his current ATP ranking of No. 286, six-time ITF singles champion Sell is the highest-ranked player to play in this year’s SoCal Pro Series. It’s been a wild ride back on the pro tennis circuit since Sell, 31, jumpstarted his career in September 2023 after nearly a four-year hiatus.
He was ranked as high as No. 371 in the ATP’s world rankings in July 2018 but stopped playing pro tennis in October 2019, after a first-round defeat in a $25,000 Futures event in Claremont, because he could no longer afford to fund his career’s travel demands and expenses. His ranking plummeted to No. 967 by the end of that year. Through inactivity, his ranking dropped to No. 1,425 at the end of 2021.
The decision to tour in tennis again was mostly born out of his own curiosity as his life was about to flip the page into a new decade.
“It wasn’t really anything planned. I figured maybe I’ll try to get an ATP point,” Sell said. “I was thinking, ‘I’m turning 30 and maybe it’s my last shot to play good tennis.’ That finality of it being the last time to play as an athlete, and all. I wanted to see if I could break my career-high (ATP) ranking.”
Karue Sell fist pumps at the 2024 SoCal Pro Series at Barnes Tennis Center.
(Photo – Lexie Wanninger/USTA SoCal)
Sell looks the part of a wise sage now as he currently sports an ATP ranking 28 spots short of his career-high No. 258 ranking achieved in November. He won two $25,000 Futures events last year and racked up significant ranking points during a five-week stretch in August-September where he bookended a $25,000 Futures title in his native Brazil with semifinal berths in Challenger Tour events in Bogota, Colombia and Las Vegas.
He began his competitive comeback with a quarterfinal appearance in a $15,000 Futures tournament in Tunisia. In his second tournament back a month later (October 2023), he won a $15,000 event in Morelia, Mexico. That brought himself much validation and drive to carry on.
“I knew I was a better player in terms of understanding the game, certainly more than when I was on tour the first time or in college,” Sell said. “I wanted to challenge myself to play at the highest level that I can, hopefully playing a couple more ATP events and Grand Slams. You’re playing and gaining points and then it’s like, ‘Oh, this is real! You’re close to (qualifying for) a Grand Slam!’ I’m near that level. I do think it’s very doable.”
Karue Sell rallies the Bruins during a high-energy team huddle at a UCLA men’s tennis match.
Sell arrives in Lakewood as one of the oldest players, if not the oldest, in the men’s singles draw. He also comes in as the No. 1 seed among a bracket littered with 20-something pros and much of Southern California’s best collegiate and teenage junior talent going.
Sell used to be that player in his first iteration as a tennis player aspiring to play on the sport’s highest stages.
As a junior tennis player, he played in the junior championships at the US Open, Australian Open and French Open. As a collegian, he played during a glory period (2013-16) for the UCLA men’s tennis program that was a 2013 NCAA Division I Tournament runner-up and 2014 NCAA semifinalist while playing alongside future ATP Tour teammates Marcos Giron (ATP No. 46 ranking), Mackie McDonald (ATP No. 90), and Maxime Cressy. Within three years of graduating from UCLA, Sell collected three ITF Futures singles and doubles titles apiece.
Karue Sell as a junior tennis player.
In spite of past accomplishments, he is confident about who would win today’s hypothetical match between the Karue Sell of past and present.
“I would hope that today’s Karue wins,” Sell said. “I’m just a more complete player. I understand this game now. I feel, physically, at my best.”
While he believes he’s a fitter player now, the only attributes Sell wishes he still carried from his past are that natural youthful athleticism and faster physical recoveries from aches and pains.
It partially helps to explain why Sell is playing the SoCal Pro Series in Lakewood for the second consecutive year. He injured his right shoulder following a Challenger event in Chile in March, took three weeks off for recovery, and in his first event back, he tore a muscle in his right calf in a first-round defeat at an April Challenger tournament in Sarasota, Florida that sidelined him for another five weeks.
Sell, who reached the Lakewood semifinals last year five weeks after dropping a three-set final to Learner Tien in the 2024 SoCal Pro Series opener in San Diego, professes he is fully healthy this week.
Karue Sell and Learner Tien share a sportsmanlike handshake after battling in the 2024 SoCal Pro Series men’s singles final at Barnes Tennis Center.
(Photo – Lexie Wanninger/USTA SoCal)
He soon plans to jump back on the Challenger Tour’s moving train on a destination for, ideally, the top 200 in the ATP rankings and gaining those qualifying opportunities at ATP tournaments and Grand Slams.
Said Sell: “I’m playing Lakewood because it’s near home. I just came back from a four-week trip. It’s been a tough year; a couple of injuries, a couple of tough losses. I feel I need some training. I feel I lost a bit of my rhythm. I want to get in as many matches as I can.”
“On the Challenger Tour, all it takes is one great week. If you can put together a title, a final, it can really change your life. It puts a little pressure on me, but it’s fun. I want to ride this out as long as I can. I’ll definitely play next year as well, then I’ll reassess. I feel like I’m not slowing down. I feel like my game is improving,” explained Sell. “Physically, it’s a matter of whether I can hold up.”
Karue Sell unloads a backhand during a fierce UCLA Men’s Tennis matchup, showcasing the skill that made him a Bruin standout.
Sell’s layoff allowed him time at home to get other aspects of his personal life in order and develop a more substantial business plan to sustain himself in tennis. He never lost the passion to play, but the time away did enable him to cultivate a romance much more influential and rewarding in his life for the long term.
Sell got married to the love of his life, Sarah, in July 2024, two weeks after playing the Lakewood event. His wife does not come from a tennis circle but from a competitive sporting background which allows her to relate to what Sell goes through, emotionally and mentally, as an athlete.
He says marriage and having such a solid foundation in his personal life has given him a renewed sense of perspective and maturity which helps keep his tennis in its proper place in his 30-something life and keep that fun pressure of competing in tennis from consuming him.
Sarah doesn’t travel with Karue full-time, and the two have a fairly steadfast rule that Karue will not play more than three tournaments in a row away from their Torrance home. Karue is trying to keep to a schedule that is more domestic within North America and less international.
Sarah did join Karue for his two biggest events abroad this year, when he played in qualifying at the ATP 500 tournament in Rio de Janeiro in February and when he made the main draw for an ATP 250 event a month ago in Geneva, Switzerland.
“It’s already chaotic to be a professional tennis player. For me, she’s super supportive,” Sell said. “She helps me work through a mental breakdown. She was a competitive skier so she understands the ups and downs, the mental aspect of it. And if there are times when I might get a little soft, she can kick me in the (butt) when I need it.”
“As much as I enjoy playing tennis, it’s really not the most important part of my life in the way that it used to be. Knowing things are good at home, that’s really big. She’s a big part of why I’ve succeeded more than I’ve expected. I think she’s liking tennis maybe more than she lets on,” he explained.
Karue and Sarah Sell share a joyful moment on their wedding day, celebrating love off the court.
Sell dabbled in coaching and offering lessons locally in between his pro touring stents – during this time, Sell worked with Naomi Osaka during her ascension to becoming the world’s No. 1-ranked WTA player,and took brief volunteer assistant coaching positions at Pepperdine then UCLA – but he has mostly shelved that.
He still trains with Giron for fun from time to time when the ATP Tour pro returns home to Redondo Beach, and the former Bruins teammates got together for two hitting sessions in the past two weeks.
Often when playing Futures events, Sell travels with a camera and attempts to mount it to the back fence of the court he is playing on as a means of chronicling the 2.0 version of his tennis career. This is where his new-and-improved business model created during his layoff comes into play.
Karue Sell is honored on Senior Day alongside his UCLA teammates, capping off a memorable collegiate career in Westwood.
Sell turned to social media to start a vlog series entitled “Turning Pro at 30” on his YouTube channel (@Karue-Sell) that has amassed 173,000 subscribers. Sell uses the series as a personal video diary of sorts to elaborate and provide insight on his journey back on the pro circuit. It is the type of content geared towards tennis junkies and young players who might benefit from listening to Sell’s sage words of wisdom.
Among the content on the site are his own personal reviews on past Futures and Challenger matches as well as a practice set he played last year with Rancho Santa Fe native and Los Angeles County resident Taylor Fritz, the world’s highest ranking American at No. 4.
His YouTube page also promotes a tennis-oriented app, MprooV, that former Bruins teammate Clay Thompson started. The pair collaborate on the app, with Thompson’s sponsorship of Sell helping him to fund most of his touring expenses.
Sell also has nearly 60,000 followers on his tennis Instagram (@karueselltennis), 25,000 followers on his personal Instagram (@karuesell), and over 3,000 followers through his TikTok space (@karuesell_), but his YouTube channel is his bread and butter.
Said Sell: “I put most of my effort into YouTube. I like long-form content. With the channel, and the size that it is, I’m able to get some good sponsorships. You have multiple income revenues. It winds up being a decent salary. Putting out a lot of content, that’s really what pays the bills.”
Sell’s resurgence in professional tennis has paid personal dividends beyond what he could have imagined almost two years ago. He’s hoping a seventh ITF singles crown in Lakewood this week is another step towards reaching the ATP Tour stage in this second act of his career.
Karue Sell during his singles quarterfinal match at the 2024 SoCal Pro Series at Lakewood Tennis Center.
(Photo – Jon Mulvey/USTA SoCal)
