Navy veteran Efren Mojica reflects on life of service, tennis success

While Veterans Day is just one day of the year, we’re grateful every day for veterans across the country for their service to our country. Here in USTA Heart of America, several members of our district are proudly serving—or have served—in the military.

With Veterans Day occurring Nov. 11 in the United States, we’d like to take this chance to shine a deserving spotlight on one of those members, Efren Mojica, whose start in tennis led to him attending a service academy and who continued into a career in the Navy.

Originally from northeast Ohio, Mojica started playing tennis at a young age and quickly rose through the ranks of junior tennis in the USTA Midwest. He was ranked No. 1 in Boys’ 16s and 18s in northeast Ohio, and he reached a career-high of No. 8 in the Midwest 18s. Mojica shared that former ATP pro Todd Martin was No. 1 that year—talk about tough competition!

Mojica went on to become a member of the Northeast Ohio Junior Davis Cup Team. He was invited to join the Western Section Junior Davis Cup Team, and he was the Ohio High School singles state champion in 1989. In addition to these tremendous accomplishments for a young player, he also became an Ohio High School state finalist from 1987-88, a regional champion from 1988-89 and district champion from 1986-89.

His resume as a junior player caught the attention of the United States Naval Academy, where Mojica continued his success on the court as a member of the United States Navy Division I tennis team. Off the court he entered active duty after graduation, where he served seven years as a surface warfare officer with a Naval instructor sub-specialty.

“I wanted to serve my country and perhaps travel the world while doing so,” Mojica said.

He went on to serve as an instructor of leadership in the U.S. Naval Academy’s Department of Leadership, Ethics, and Law, where he was responsible for developing and teaching the leadership curriculum for the freshman and junior Midshipmen. Mojica concluded active duty as a Navy lieutenant.

Following his military service Mojica returned to the courts as a player, volunteer and longtime coach. As a player, Mojica’s USTA men’s league team competed at the League National Championships in 2016.