Palm Springs puts on heat, m. tennis cools down
By Mark Shapiro
Daily Bruin Contributor
Last weekend’s Palm Springs Invitational Tournament seemed like
a golden opportunity for the UCLA men’s tennis team to put up some
strong individual efforts against elevated competition. A mixture
of injuries and family concerns, however, made the tournament a
trivial matter for Bruin No. 1 Justin Gimelstob.
After coming up with a tough three-set victory in his first
round against New Mexico’s Jason Cook, Gimelstob encountered the
flu. Gimelstob defaulted his next match in order to recover and
talk to his family.
"I wasn’t very good," Gimelstob said. "I didn’t have much energy
and I figured it would be best for me to try and recover."
Gimelstob’s family matters will not force him to leave the team
for an extended period of time, and he will play in the upcoming
match against New Mexico.
"I don’t think that I’ll be leaving the team," Gimelstob said.
"The best thing is for me to go on with my normal stuff. I might
go, but for now, I’m staying. It was a tough time and I didn’t feel
like competing. I was emotionally drained."
UCLA head coach Billy Martin echoed Gimelstob’s sentiments and
saw no point in pushing him in a tournament that would effect
neither his ranking nor the team.
"It was better for him to come home (to UCLA) and get his head
straight," Martin said. "There was no way he could compete, but
he’s not going anywhere."
On the court, several Bruins were able to post some impressive
results against players from California, Pepperdine, USC and Texas
Christian University, all nationally ranked schools. Junior Eric
Taino led UCLA’s contingent at the tourney with the absence of
Bruin No. 2 Srdjan Muskatirovic, and made the strongest showing by
advancing to the quarterfinals before falling to Michael Hill,
Cal’s top singles player.
"This doesn’t surprise anyone, especially not me," Martin said.
"He’s very good and is playing as good as any No. 1 in the country
right now. He was able to give Hill a good battle."
Hill was the resident Bruin killer, as he also knocked off
junior Jason Thompson in the round of 16, 7-5, 6-3. Sophomore Matt
Breen also put on a good show in advancing to the round of 16,
especially in his 6-1, 6-1 pasting of Pepperdine’s No. 3, Michael
Jessup.
"It’s good to see how they match up against guys who play
higher," Martin said. "For Breen and Thompson it was very good and
they got to play a lot of matches."
The other Bruins didn’t fare quite as well, as Heath Montgomery
fell in the first round to a touring pro, and freshman Brandon
Kramer also went down in the first round after a tough three-set
match. In doubles, Thompson and Eric Lin fell in the second round,
while Taino and Breen fell in the first round to a team from Texas
Christian University.