Last week, Charlton notched career victory No. 184 with the Oregon men’s tennis program, across singles and doubles play. By keeping himself healthy and adaptable, Charlton has participated in more wins than anyone else in the history of the program.
Charlton has been tough enough to play through minor bumps and bruises, and smart enough to adapt his training regimen to keep himself as healthy as possible. He’s been versatile enough to thrive with multiple doubles partners, and to succeed both with the attacking mindset doubles requires and the more methodical pace of singles play.
It was as a freshman, watching Thomas Laurent set the program record for singles wins with 96, that Charlton first entertained the idea of one day seeing his own name in the UO record book.
“That sort of caught my attention — that’s pretty special, that’s something cool,” said Charlton, a native of Traralgon, Australia. “If I could maybe leave a mark on the Oregon men’s tennis program, that’d be pretty special.”
Charlton got off to a strong start as a freshman in 2018-19, notching 20 wins in both singles and doubles play. He entered this spring in sight of Robin Cambier’s record of 183 wins from 2010-14, and against Utah last week Charlton got to 184 with a doubles victory alongside partner Quinn Vandecasteele.
That win came a week after Charlton took the court for the Ducks in a dual against Portland State. That was a few hours after Oregon beat BYU earlier in the day, and UO coach Nils Schyllander gave Charlton the option of sitting out against the Viks. But Charlton hasn’t missed a match yet in his UO career, and he wasn’t about to do so that day.
“I’ve never wanted to miss an opportunity in terms of when I step on the court,” he said. “I’ve always been like, ‘Let’s give everything I’ve got to get the win.’ Because I don’t want to look back and think I could have done more, and regretted that.”
Charlton’s ironman streak has required him to be adaptable in his training plan. He played through shin splints as a freshman, back when he’d spend hour upon hour practicing. As the years have progressed, he’s become more attuned to proper rest and recovery, and to what’s necessary in practice to keep himself sharp for matches.
“I’m much more conscious of my time spent on court in practice,” he said. “Try to get what I need to get in, in the quickest amount of time as possible. Because I need my body to be as fresh and…
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