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As spring school semesters around the country come to a close, many junior players have jumped on the chance to spend more time on the courts. We caught up with a few players who are heating up the courts in this month's Prince Hot 100 Lists.

The Prince Hot 100 lists are published each month, and the June Hot 100 lists feature the one hundred boys and girls who most improved their rankings during the month of May. You can find out more about the Prince Hot 100 - and how the lists are calculated - by reading here.

The latest lists, published this week, are available here:

• Boys' Hot 100
• Girls' Hot 100

We visited with a few of these top performers...

Roundup

Daniel Lin (Northridge, Calif.)

Four-star sophomore Daniel Lin struggled with confidence for much of his tennis career. "Daniel has worked really hard during practice and with coaches, but he has had problems translating all the hard work into match play," his mother, Li Lui, said. "He became tentative and doubted his ability on the court."

Setting a goal, however, helped the rising sophomore improve. He aspires to get into the Winter Nationals for 2015 and developed an action plan to meet this goal.

"He has shown steady improvement on mental strength, which helped him to have a couple of good wins in the past month," Li Lui said. "Those victories all translated into his self-awareness and confidence, which consequently helped him in the later matches."

Daniel Lin agrees with his mother that his mental growth is the reason for his recent success.

"My good playing in the past month is something I can attribute to my newfound mental strength and my rising confidence," Lin said. "I've been working on keeping my emotions in check during a match. This assisted me wonderfully in May, and I was surprised at how calmness can help win a match."

Lin was able to witness the direct impacts of this mental shift. "I watched my opponents break down, something I used to watch myself do. After beginning to win matches with my mental serenity, I began to gain confidence in all my shots, and I was not afraid to hit them when I needed to."

The Northridge native enjoyed notable success last month, winning the West Coast Junior Open and reaching the semifinals of the Santa Barbara Summer Tournament. His good play earned him a 12-1 record for May.

Of these matches, however, it was actually his one loss that he cited as his best match of May. He believes it showcased his newfound mental strength. He met five-star Weiyi Zhu in the round of 32 of the Woody Hunt South Bay Tournament, who had defeated Lin when they played previously.

"I walked on court not expecting much, but I was determined to try my best against such a great opponent. I was amazed at my performance from the start, barely losing the first set and dominating the second set," Lin said. "While Weiyi finished off the game with his victory, I was able to see my potential against him - and I realized that I am on his level."

Lin now believes that he has the confidence he needs to succeed. "Lately, I have been more aggressive in my tactics, and this is probably the result of increased confidence," he said. "Nowadays, I know I can dictate the point with my strokes instead of counter-punching."