Dennis Seidenberg is an NHL veteran with 859 games played, most recently with the New York Islanders. But until his late teens, tennis was his sport.
The German played satellite tournaments as a youngster, before an invitation to play for his country's national hockey team steered him along that path.
"At some point I thought I was going to try to go for tennis," he recalled, "but it actually went the other way."
On Wednesday, Seidenberg (pictured above, right, with son) returned to the tennis scene, visiting the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center to watch countryman Dominik Koepfer take on Reilly Opelka in the Louis Armstrong Stadium nightcap.
Seidenberg, 38, grew up in Villingen, very close to the 25-year-old world No. 118's hometown of Furtwangen. Though the two have never met, they share a few connections.
Both were coached by Jürgen Müller during their junior tennis careers. Seidenberg is also close friends with Flagler College director of tennis/men's tennis head coach Thomas Hipp (above, left), who is a regular hitting partner with Koepfer and in town for Wednesday night's match.
Koepfer (pictured below) is a former college player himself, having graduated from Tulane in 2016.
With his high-level experience in two drastically different sports, Seidenberg cited mental toughness as a common thread between both.
"You've still got to focus on your own game and doing your job when you're in a hockey game," he explained. "Which is the same when youre playing tennis. [In hockey] you've got to take care of yourself and do your best to contribute to your team."
Seidenberg has seen first-hand the passion of New York sports fans, having played in the Barclays Center and the Nassau Coliseum as an Islander. On Tuesday, his countryman Koepfer will take on the role of the "away team" when he plays the American Opelka and the U.S. crowd.
While Seidenberg stopped short of offering a prediction, he did say this:
"Just coming from a German... I hope [Koepfer] wins. But I just want to see a good match, and whoever is better at the end goes forward."
Win or lose, he hopes to meet his compatriot after the match.
Pictured below: Dennis Seidenberg in action for the Hannover Scorpions of the DEL (Germany's national hockey league) in 2012.
