Commack's Edward Liao commits to Yale for tennis
Edward Liao from Commack won the state boys tennis championship singles title at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on June 4, 2023. Credit: Louis Lanzano
Edward Liao’s 17th birthday present arrived a day later.
Liao, a rising senior at Commack and Newsday’s 2023 Long Island Player of the Year for boys tennis, was playing a USTA event in Michigan on June 29 when he learned that Dartmouth coach Xander Centenari was leaving the post. The 2023 state singles champion had been so enamored of the Big Green and Centenari that he’d committed a year ahead of most recruits in his class.
The next day Liao was delighted to see that Yale coach Chris Drake had flown up to watch him play in the tournament’s quarterfinal round. The whirlwind courtship ended this week with the 6-4 righthander choosing Yale as his new destination. He said two other Ivy League schools became options but “I liked everything about Yale and could see myself happy there.”
“It really meant a lot to me that he would fly to Michigan to see me — it was a big gesture,” Liao said. “I really liked him, too.”
“A coach at the college level is a very big thing,” Commack coach Jimmy Delevante said. “A player is away from home for the first time and that coach is going to develop and take care of him. Who the coach is can make a very big difference.”
This spring Liao led Commack to the Suffolk large school team title, captured his third straight county singles crown and won three-set semifinal and final matches for the state title. He finished the season with a 23-0 record and his second selection of Newsday's Long Island Player of the Year in three seasons.
“When the coach stepped down, I was able to re-open my recruiting,” Liao said. “There wasn’t a lot of time to decide because players in my year have been making decisions, but Yale seemed so welcoming. A lot of guys on their team reached out to me and they answered all my questions . . . and the team culture sounded great.”
Yale two-time All-Ivy League pick Theo Dean, who plays at first singles, spent 30 minutes on the phone with Liao and made a big impression, he said.
Liao has been receiving instruction locally at the John McEnroe Tennis Academy. His serve is considered one of his biggest weapons, but he said that improving it has been a focus for the summer.
“It’s already a weapon,” Liao said, “but it can be more consistent and be developed even more.”
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
