The tennis player is named ‘Pro of the Year’ for Pacific NW.

Ross Eaton isn’t one to dwell on the past.

“I don’t look back at all,” he said. “I just keep looking forward.”

He’s got a lot to look forward to now that one of the toughest times of his life is over.

Eaton recently was honored as the “Professional of the Year” for the Pacific Northwest Region by the United States Professional Tennis Association.

He was nominated thanks to his 12-year tenure as director of tennis at Bainbridge Athletic Club and his involvement in the upgrade of the facility over the past year.

Eaton also took over the vice president and treasurer roles of the USPTA PNW region when the former vice president moved. He will be the president next year. He’s also the vice president of the USPTA executive committee, which helps determine the national direction of the organization.

Eaton has coached at numerous seminars at USPTA conventions and trade organizations since 2002 and holds a USPTA P-1 professional certification for 17 years, the highest level one can achieve.

Next year Eaton will start his work toward a Master Professional certification.

Eaton also holds a specialist degree in competitive player development (only 220 players in the country hold such a degree), which means he has coached numerous top-ranked players in the region and nation.

“I spent a lot of time volunteering my time with the USPTA this year,” he said.

His nomination wasn’t without some good-natured ribbing from his fellow committee members.

In June, Eaton, who was on the awards committee, went out of the room to interview a few people for the Assistant Pro of the Year award.

While he was gone, the committee decided to give him the award, but told him they were going with someone else upon his return.

A few days later at the awards ceremony in Yakima, he realized his fellow members were talking about him and he knew he won.

“They hadn’t been talking about anyone else and I wondered what was going on,” Eaton said. “Then they said he’s currently our vice president and I said ‘you guys totally set me up with this thing,’ which they did.”

Eaton said he didn’t set out to win the Professional of the Year award.

“It was a shock,” he said. “I’ve just been trying to give back to the organization that’s been so good to me.”

He also called the experience “humbling.”

“A lot of the people that were in that room have helped me tremendously over the past 18 years in spending time with them at conventions and bouncing ideas off of them, so it’s a humbling award to be recognized by your peers,” he said. “I’ve been doing it a long time and a lot of pros never earn it, so it’s a big honor.”

Eaton also gave credit to his co-workers and his bosses, including co-owner Ted Eisenhardt.

“He’s been instrumental in encouraging me,” he said. “The other pros have been (helpful) as well.

“It’s a team thing,” he continued. “They’ve spurned me on to do more with the USPTA and teach classes and teach other tennis pros how to teach.”

The award came after a time where his personal life threatened to take over his professional career.

Two years ago, while he was in Palm Springs Calif., for a conference, his wife April gave birth to a baby girl named Grace through an emergency c-section.

But there were complications with her birth due to being two months premature.

Grace suffered from a rare blood disease and had multiple system failures, including her liver and her kidneys.

Her lungs were underdeveloped and there were problems with her heart and her spleen, which caused her to be held at the neonatal intensive care unit in Tacoma General Hospital for two months.

“All of her electrolytes were off the charts,” Eaton said. “When I first saw her, she was that color,” pointing to the dark maroon carpet of the BAC lobby, “and her belly was completely swollen. She was just in really bad shape.

“For the next couple of weeks, they would just talk about the next couple of hours. That’s all they promised us.”

While Eaton worked, April went to the hospital for three or four hours in the morning, then after his shift Eaton would go visit their daughter for several hours while his wife watched the kids back home.

Many nights he would drive back at 2:30 in the morning.

It took blood transfusions from a former player he coached and the wife of a former coach to get Grace well.

“When she went back (for tests) the doctors didn’t have an explanation for her (improved health),” he said. “They just said go home and be happy.”

Naturally, Eaton calls Grace their “miracle baby.”

“It was pretty dicey for a while,” he said. “I had to compartmentalize (what was going on). It was tough.

“But we had a lot of support. People in the club were extremely supportive and instrumental in helping us through this, which is great.

“That’s the cool thing about this community. You can get help.”