Joseph Kasnetz might be the best Hawaii tennis player you never heard of. He broke into the world doubles rankings recently with a win in Bulgaria, played another $10,000 ITF Futures event in Guam this week and will scour Europe for more this summer.

He grew up surfing with Carissa Moore, among others. Kasnetz took his first tennis lesson at age 11. Two years later he met Stefan Pampulov, a Hawaii Pacific All-American from Bulgaria, who stepped down as the HPU coach last month.

"He showed me a side of tennis I’d never seen before," Kasnetz recalled. "I got motivated."

He has been working with Pampulov ever since. The coach’s first memory of his student has nothing to do with tennis talent.

"He was the hardest worker," Pampulov said. "A couple kids were more talented at that age, but they had many more hours than him. He was working hard and never gave up."

The Kasnetz’s commitment is so fierce their Portlock house was designed around a tennis court built to U.S. Open specifications, with lights. Joseph went to middle school at Saint Louis, then took online classes before his tennis travel became so intense he passed his GED high school equivalency after ninth grade.

"I travel alone mostly now," said Kasnetz, 19. "I enjoy it. You learn so much. It’s really a classroom, all the different cultures and people and customs."

He was selected to represent Hawaii at the prestigious Easter Bowl in his early teens, but Kasnetz has played very little competitive tennis here. His focus has always been international. Like Pampulov, he speaks English, Russian, German and Bulgarian, and prefers clay courts.

"On clay, you really have to construct a point," Kasnetz said. "Tennis on clay is much more of an art. You have to be very patient."

The growth of his game can be traced to five-hour training days over the past five years.

"I feel like in the last five or six months things have started to click for me," Kasnetz said. "Everything is tennis and I’m starting to see the fruits of my labor now a little bit."

Pampulov describes his student’s game as well-rounded, tough to attack, but also without a serious weapon. He is not worried Kasnetz will burn out before he can legally buy a beer.

"He enjoys tennis, he loves it," Pampulov said. "He’s got a very positive attitude about it. The big guys you hear about these days — (Roger) Federer, (Pete) Sampras, those guys were not great when they were juniors.

"All those people have the same characteristics. They are really hard workers, kept doing what they love, had their vision and … they were not the most talented players, but they had a long-term goal, which they followed, and eventually they were top 10."

After spending his summer in the European "Mecca" of Futures events, Kasnetz will come home to train again. He hopes to earn his way into the $50,000 Honolulu Challenger in January, by getting his rankings up or winning one of the wild cards that will be offered later in the year.

He plans to enjoy the process. "I’m looking forward to having success," Kasnetz said. "Going to sleep every night knowing I did my job today and it was a progressive day and I’ll do it again tomorrow. Keep going up and up."

Kasnetz lost to second-seeded Toshihide Matsui, 6-3, 6-1, in the first round of the Guam Futures, at the Guam Hilton Resort & Spa Tennis Club in Tumon, earlier this week. Former Rainbow Daniel Llarenas, originally from Guam and now working at the Guam Hilton, also lost in the first round, 6-1, 6-3, to Jun Ito. Both Hawaii players lost in the first round of doubles, dropping third-set super-tiebreakers.