When Kellen Bates turned 5 years old, all he wanted for his birthday was a tennis lesson.

Thirteen years later, his enthusiasm for the sport hasn’t changed.

The Glacier High School senior is going for his fourth straight Class AA state singles title at the state tournament Thursday and Friday in Great Falls, and he’s a heavy favorite with a 62-0 high school record.

He’s lost just two sets in his four years of high school competition and is set to join Indiana University’s tennis team after graduation, but Bates said he doesn’t feel any outside pressure to win another state title. The pressure he feels is internal.

“I feel like I’m putting more pressure on myself, not necessarily that there’s more pressure on me,” Bates said.

“I can always get better and that’s usually the thing that’s on my mind.”

Standing 6-foot-3 with a lanky 170-pound frame, Bates is a quiet but confident ball-striker with curly, dark brown hair. His biggest weapon is his forehand, followed closely by his left-handed kick serve that bounces high to the backhand side of right-handed opponents, but even when his best shots aren’t working, he always finds a way to win.

Bates double faulted 14 times in last week’s Northern AA divisional final against Glacier teammate Hunter Blalack and didn’t have his two-handed backhand because of a right thumb injury, but he still managed a 6-3, 6-3 victory against one of the toughest opponents he’s faced all season.

“He’s really a good competitor first and foremost,” Blalack said of Bates. “He just has a really good grasp on the game, how he can stay in it and different things he can do to win. He doesn’t just have one go-to thing.”

Glacier tennis coach Josh Munro said Bates’ patience helps him succeed even when he doesn’t have his full bag of tricks.

“He might not be striking the ball quite as well as he wants to be, but he’s still patient,” Munro said. “That really is the key to his game right now.”

Missoula Hellgate’s Alex Braun, considered Bates’ top challenger for the state title, has faced Bates in numerous tournaments over the years, but hasn’t beaten his rival since they were in middle school. They’ve faced off in two high school tournaments this spring, but both matches were suspended due to darkness with Bates up a set.

“He’s very consistent with his groundstroke game, and he’s good at applying pressure every point he plays,” Braun said of Bates. “He definitely rallies and finds ways to pick you apart. He finds the short ball and once he gets it he’s not afraid to step in and rip it.”

Bates’ longtime coach, Jimmy Cripe, said Bates showed enormous potential the first time he showed up for a lesson.

“There was something pretty special about Kellen even at 5 years old,” Cripe said. “He just had the love for the game. You could tell how much he loved hitting the tennis ball.”

Bates played many other sports growing up, including soccer, baseball and hockey, but tennis was always his favorite. His sister Liana, who is two years older, also excelled at tennis and the two pushed each other to improve.

“Besides my coach, I’ve probably hit more balls with my sister than anybody else,” Bates said. “I definitely hate losing to her more than anybody else. We were pretty competitive.”

Liana won the Class AA girls’ state singles title as a high school senior and is currently a sophomore with the Montana State University tennis team.

“Without each other neither one of them would be the player that they are,” Cripe said. “It’s invaluable to have a hitting partner in the bedroom next door. I think that was a benefit to both of them.”

Bates played his first Montana USTA tournament when he was 8 years old and competed in his first sectional tournament outside the state three years later. When he got to high school he began to focus exclusively on tennis and rose as high as No. 2 in the USTA Intermountain Region under-16 rankings.

Now he plays a mix of Intermountain and national tournaments in addition to his high school competitions. Summer is his busiest season, but he practices at least an hour a day year-round.

“Most of my life is made up of tennis and academics,’ he said. “My schedule’s pretty hectic usually. I’ll go for a trip, maybe miss a couple days of school, be back for two weeks and go on another trip, so a lot of the time when I’m back at home is spent catching up and trying to maybe get ahead before I leave, so I haven’t really had that much time to do other stuff, like fish or ski, the past couple years.”

While he’s dominated his high school opponents, Bates hasn’t been as consistent in regional and national competitions. He reached the final in the doubles draw of an under-18 sectional tournament in January in Salt Lake City, but lost in the round of 16 in singles. He won the doubles championship at the ITA Easter Circuit tournament April 2 in Las Vegas, but once again lost in the round of 16 in the singles draw.

“I’m not quite where I’d like to be tennis-wise,” he said. “No matter how good I get I guess I’d never be quite where I want to be, because I always want to be better.”

Cripe said Bates’ toughest challenge is often staying out of his own way.

“As a coach I’m really trying to get him to not think so much,” Cripe said. “He’s a really bright kid, he’s brilliant academically and he tends to overthink, overanalyze. Getting him to relax and compete and not think so much out there would be what we’re working on.

“He’s always been pretty calm. I’d like to see him show a little more intensity and emotion just because then I know he’s not overanalyzing.”

Bates’ analytical side is apparent listening to him break down his game.

“I try to use the whole court and use my lefty-ness to my advantage,” he said. “My best shot is probably my serve on any given day, so I try to use that as a weapon to set up my other good shot, which is my forehand. A good day for me would be serving well and hitting the forehand well, and I feel pretty confident when I do that because if I can get one break of serve I can win every set.”

Bates had numerous college options but chose Indiana because of its academic reputation and the opportunity to play Big Ten tennis. He also strongly considered Montana and Montana State.

“It was obviously a tough choice for me, but I felt like I’m going to have more opportunities at Indiana,” he said. “That’s ultimately why I chose it.”

Bates heads into the state tournament looking to become the fourth four-time boys singles champion in Montana history. He’ll play Great Falls C.M. Russell’s Will Runkel in the first round.