Josh Mayhew is such a constant, daily presence at tennis courts across Hillsborough, he’s on a first name basis with opposing players from rival Orange High School.
Even though he attends Cedar Ridge, a standard workday for Mayhew starts at 6:45 each morning when he drives to Orange High’s tennis courts to hit balls with friends or by himself. After classes, he’ll have a hitting session, followed by cardio training. On match days, if Cedar Ridge’s finishes its business quickly and successfully enough, Mayhew will hang around and hit balls off the fence to himself long after the sun goes down, even if the only people remaining have their backs turned to him as they watch a nearby softball game.
All that effort has led Mayhew to achieve unprecedented accomplishments at Cedar Ridge. This summer, he added one more.
In June, Mayhew was honored as the Best Men’s Tennis Player in the state of North Carolina during the HighSchoolOT Honors. Mayhew was awarded during a ceremony at the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts in Raleigh on June 18.
Mayhew, who will start his senior season later this month, was also named the Central Carolina Conference Player of the Year. It comes after he led Cedar Ridge to its first conference championship in men’s tennis as a 3A school. The Red Wolves also reached the 3A State Dual Team Playoffs under head coach Steve Mayhew, a former player at Orange.
Individually, Mayhew reached the 3A State Men’s Tennis Final in May. A week earlier, Mayhew played for the Mideast Regional Final at the Burlington Tennis Center. He became the first Cedar Ridge men’s tennis player to reach the state and regional finals twice.
Last spring, Mayhew went 13-2 in singles play. His only two losses came against Terry Sanford freshman Drew Hedgecoe, who claimed the state championship.
In both of his varsity seasons, Mayhew’s only losses for each respective season have come against the eventual state singles champions. In 2021, Chapel Hill’s Dennis Perumov won the state and regional championships.
Last spring, Mayhew opened the 3A State Tennis Tournament with a 6-0, 6-2 victory over J.J. Woerner of First Flight at the Piedmont Indoor Tennis Center in Greensboro. In the quarterfinals, Mayhew defeated Shiv Patel of South Point 6-0, 6-2. Mayhew reached his second straight state final with a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Ajay Swisher of St. Stephens.
Mayhew has led Cedar Ridge to its most successful years since moving to 3A in 2013. Between 2016-2020, the Red Wolves had just one winning season. In his first full varsity season in 2021, Mayhew helped Cedar Ridge to a 9-4 season.
In the 2021 state tournament, Mayhew defeated Nicholas Clementi of Charlotte Catholic 6-3, 6-1 in the opening round at the Burlington Tennis Center. In the quarterfinals, Mayhew fought through some cramps in the second set to defeat Ben Jones of Clayton 7-5, 7-5. In the semifinals, Mayhew upended Soham Pradhan of Marvin Ridge 6-2, 6-4. He became just the second singles player in Hillsborough tennis history to reach a state final.
Orange’s Britton Webb reached the 2A State Final in 2005, where he lost to Cardinal Gibbons’ Will Rollinson, who eventually won three state championships.
Immediately after facing Hedgecoe for the state championship, Mayhew was right back at work in various individual tournaments across the region. There was one in Rome, Georgia, and another in Cary.
Mayhew’s younger sister, Cameron, will start her junior season for the Cedar Ridge women’s team when they travel to face Southern Alamance in its season opener next Tuesday. Cameron Mayhew qualified for the Mideast Regionals singles tournament in June 2021, her freshman year.
The Cedar Ridge women’s tennis team will have its home opener against Voyager Academy on August 30.