While most folks spent the better part of Tuesday lounging in the living room with family and enjoying the spoils of Christmas, Taylor Meyer and Zach Sarnoff planned to spend at least a couple hours on the tennis court.

Both will play in the USTA Winter National Championships in Scottsdale, Ariz., which begins Thursday and runs until New Years Day, so their holiday celebration plans included working on their serves, groundstrokes and attacking the net.

Meyer, a senior, will play in the Boys 18 division, and Sarnoff, a junior, will play in the Boys 16 Division. Each of their draws will feature 128 of the nation’s top-ranked junior players.

Meyer has been playing in national tournaments for about four years, and he said the appeal of them is finding out how he stacks up against his peers from across the country.

“It’s always exciting just to see how far you can get,” Meyer said. “In this tournament, where you end up is where you know where you are. The last one I played, I finished top 32, and that was exciting for me to know where I stand competing nationally.”

Sarnoff, meanwhile, will make his first appearance in a USTA national event this week, and he’s hoping just to play well for the duration of his stay in Scottsdale.

“I don’t want to set any goals saying I want to get three wins or whatever,” Sarnoff said. “I just want to do my best on every single point. If I do that, I’ll be happy.”

If Meyer had any advice for his Cary Academy teammate, he said Sarnoff shouldn’t let the atmosphere psych him out.

“It’s kind of intimidating when you walk in there and there’s players signing in from Hawaii, California, anywhere really,” Meyer said. “I remember I didn’t play so well because I was intimidated. Don’t be intimidated, focus on you, play your best and good things should happen.”

In order to get into the tournament, the top 13 ranked players from each USTA region to apply are taken. While Meyer has been a part of the national picture for a few years, Sarnoff has steadily climbed up the rankings in order to get his name in the mix.

“It’s an opportunity for sure,” said Cary Academy coach Andrew Corcoran. “Every time they’re at a national tournament, they have an opportunity to play at the highest level in USTA. You can certainly get better doing that. Just getting good wins is excellent.”

Both players have been a part of the team at Cary Academy for years, and they’ll form the core of a squad that has its eyes on a state championship next spring.

Last year, the Chargers were state semifinalists before suffering a heartbreaking 5-4 loss to eventual state champion Charlotte Country Day.

“I want that really, really bad after the last couple years when we should’ve done better than we did,” Sarnoff said. “I think this year we have all the players and the pieces to get it done.”