Lone Star Leftovers

©Colette Lewis 2005—
Somewhere over Arkansas—

As I head back home, thoroughly impressed with the Austin airport, I’m ready to close the book on my first NCAA Division 1 experience. Short version--The facility: first-class; the tournament: well-run; the officiating: top-drawer, the tennis: simply outstanding. If they could just arrange to air condition all of Texas somehow, I’d be back for dual matches in Aggieland in a Texas heartbeat.

Now for the long version:

My timing was certainly good –arriving in Austin ahead of schedule last Tuesday (thanks Delta) and making the less-than-two hour drive to College Station in time to see the singles matches of the team finals was just how I’d planned it.

BEARS VS. BRUINS
Being a novice at the NCAAs, I had no right to expect one of the best team finals ever, with UCLA coming back from 3-1 down to win their first NCAA title in 21 years.

And, despite the loss, a shoutout to the legion of Baylor tennis fans. By making the 90-mile drive from Waco, their presence raised the intensity Tuesday evening to a level that rivaled the humidity. All credit to UCLA for not succumbing to the hometown atmosphere that Bear Nation created. But when the unthinkable happened, the Baylor faithful had the class to stand and applaud, a demonstration of sportsmanship the French fans could certainly learn from.

And speaking of Baylor, Matt Knoll has built a monster of a program in the Republic of Football. Heck, Baylor even had a bunch of tailgating RVers all week in the Mitchell Tennis Center’s parking lot. Asked if the 2005-6 season would be a rebuilding one, now that Dorsch and Becker, the last two NCAA singles champions have graduated, Knoll firmly refused to allow that option. But he is looking for a few good recruits. Not necessarily from Germany.

IT’S NOT JUST ADIDAS THAT HAS LOGO PROBLEMS
The logo controversy has visibly infiltrated college tennis too. John Isner and Antonio Ruiz played the doubles finals match with black tape on their chests to cover up a Nike logo deemed too large. Sam Warburg came to a media interview with a hole in his Stanford Cardinal Dri-Fit where he had snipped off the offending 1/4 inch of swoosh.


PROGRAMMING NOTE
TV crews bookended the tournament, with ESPN 2 covering the team championships--a special challenge because the deciding match can never be predicted beforehand--and the Tennis Channel appeared for the Men’s individual final day. Now, I’ve been know to watch a poker show now and then, but believe me when I say live NCAA tennis is better. Unfortunately, both networks aired their productions on tape-delay.

YOU GOTTA HAVE FRIENDS
But somebody DID cover the event live-- Ken Thomas, founder, proprietor and production crew of RadioTennis.com, who adds a sense of fun to any event. A former collegiate player at Wisconsin, Ken provides streaming internet play by play broadcasts, and can be found at college dual matches, professional venues, juniors championships; anywhere top level is tennis is played, Ken has mic, will travel. (Full disclosure—Ken has always welcomed me as a guest color commentator, and is so laid back that he allows me to come and go as I please during broadcasts). Here’s hoping that after two years, he gets the recognition and remuneration his dedication to tennis deserves.

A special thanks to local Eagle reporter Robert Premeaux and Texas A & M 12th Man Magazine editor Dallas Shipp, both of whom will have me looking back on College Station with fondness. Whether it was a restaurant tip or a perceptive media room question or a quote assist, they were never too busy, despite their deadlines, to help a fledgling reporter. Thanks guys, and I’ll see you in 2009, when both the women’s and men’s championships will descend upon Aggieland.

BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR:
I had seen Old Dominion’s Izak van der Merwe play at the ITA Individual Indoor in Ann Arbor last November, where he lost in the semifinals to eventual champion Ryler DeHeart. From that performance alone, I knew he was good. He’s better than that. Though unseeded due to some puzzling losses this spring, at College Station, he took out Sam Warburg, the country’s top ranked player and Benjamin Becker, the 2004 NCAA champion, and still wasn’t finished, upending UCLA’s talented Benjamin Kohlloeffel too before losing to Pierrik Ysern of France in the semis. Ysern slowed the pace and kept van der Merwe’s backhand under pressure, and because the six-foot four-inch South African’s big league serve wasn’t at its best in that match, he fell in straight sets. But as a young college graduate (21 in January), he has options many others do not, and he can try his hand at pro tennis with an ace in the hole. So to speak.

Ditto Jonathan Chu. If he needs my encouragement to take a break from the pressures of academic and athletic juggling and devote himself fully to professional tennis for the next two or three years, he definitely has it. It's scary to think how good he could be if he focuses his time and energy completely on tennis. And I'm confident that if he doesn't thrive at tennis's next level, he'll do just fine with that Harvard degree, thank you.

Texas A & M has developed a very strong program under coach Tim Cass and prospects are bright for next season. With Jerry Makowski, the only seeded freshman in the individual event, and top junior Conor Pollock, (spotted in College Station during the tournament,) committing to the Aggies, Cass has talent to work with. And more than once I saw a shirtless Makowski hitting with teammates and drilling with associate coach Steve Moore despite the oppressive heat, even though Makowski’s season was technically over when he lost in the round of 16.




THANKS, I NEEDED THAT
Speaking of the heat—a Corps of Cadets salute for air-conditioned press facilities. I know it’s a lazy way to watch a match, but the box is so well positioned that the only thing you miss is the sound. And the live match scoring and jumbotron screen was a fabulous way keep up with early round matches on the grandstand courts.


With school out there was not much happening in College Station, but I’m happy I found time on Memorial Day to attend the one major tourist attraction—the George Bush Library and Museum, which is so close to the courts that it is visible from the press box. It’s too easy to take for granted the sacrifices and heroism of leaders, and I’m delighted to have been reminded that political views are secondary to common decency. George Bush, a well-known tennis player and fan, by the way, certainly exemplifies that.

AUSTIN CITY LIMITS
I’ve got to think recruiting for the University of Texas has gotten easier since Andy Roddick moved back to Austin. On Tuesday, Roger Gubser, who plays three singles for the Longhorns, headed from a hit at Austin Tennis Academy with Blake Davis, one of the country’s top 14-year olds, to a workout session with Andy Roddick.



Doug Davis, Blake’s father and director of high performance at Austin Tennis Academy gave me a brief tour and history lesson at the beautiful new facility in the rolling oak-dotted hlls 15 miles west of Austin. Emerging from the ashes of the St. Stephens Academy, the facility, less than two years old, is at capacity with an expansion underway. A fitness center/locker room building is under construction, and two more courts will join the ten already there. To build a juniors-only program from the ground up is nobody’s idea of easy, but director Eric Schmidhauser is obviously up to the task. The setting and the energy there-- the kids of all ages and sizes in their ATA t-shirts drilling or playing or working one on one with coaches—had me dreaming of a similar (but alas indoor) facility in Kalamazoo.

WAIT UNTIL NEXT YEAR
I'm very excited about attending the first men's and women's combined NCAA Division 1 championships next year at Stanford. From what I've heard Dick Gould is determined to make this groundbreaking--and daunting--endeavor seem effortless. I'm expecting the ambiance to differ from that of College Station, if only because Stanford students will still be on campus, but I doubt it will be any more fun.