I spent a good portion of my first year here at UCLA writing
about men’s tennis.
It’s certainly not the most glamorous of jobs at the Daily
Bruin ““ that honor belongs to Bob Costa, our award-winning
bowling writer ““ but a nice gig, nonetheless.
Anyway, in my year of covering the Bruins, who finished the
season ranked third nationally after losing to Vanderbilt in the
NCAA semifinals, I learned some things.
I learned about tennis.
I learned about birds.
I learned about life.
I learned so much that it just seems to make sense for me to
share some of my knowledge with the world. And so, without further
ado, the top 10 things I learned when writing about men’s
tennis:
10. College tennis is not professional tennis, as you’ll
see at the Mercedes-Benz Cup this week. I went into this job as a
scared little freshman, having never played competitive tennis in
my life.
But I passed the qualifying test set down by my editor, knowing
that “zero” in tennis is called “love.”
Pretty tough, huh? At my first match, I learned a few things that I
didn’t pick up watching Anna Kournikova on television.
First, not all tennis players look that good. Second, it’s
OK if a serve hits the net in college tennis. I was always under
the impression that this was called a “let,” like in
the pros and I was about ready to yell in protest when the umpire
let it go. Well, I was wrong, and there’s nothing more
exciting, or frustrating, than seeing a let ace.
9. Betrayal hurts. It doesn’t matter how it happens. After
tennis star Jean-Julien Rojer informed his team he would be
returning to help in an NCAA Tournament run after playing
professional tournaments, he backed out. Well, he didn’t, and
though the Bruins had success without him, what he did was kind of
like stabbing a knife into someone’s back.
In a related story, Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick aren’t
at this year’s Mercedes-Benz Cup, because they are leaving
for the Legg Mason Classic in Washington, D.C.
8. Tennis is a lot better than hockey. My first beat at the
Daily Bruin was covering the hockey team. And though the team is
comprised of a bunch of great guys, I’ll take tennis any day.
What is icing? I turn that off in my video game.
7. Sports can unite even the most bitter of rivals. I hate USC.
And I think most UCLA students feel the same way. But after the
Bruins defeated the Trojans 4-0 in the second round of the NCAA
Tournament on May 11, the players were brought together by sport as
they gathered in the UCLA team room. And that sport wasn’t
tennis. Bruins and Trojans alike cheered as the Lakers beat the
Spurs 99-95 in Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals.
6. Those upper seats at the Los Angeles Tennis Center
aren’t too comfortable. And that’s where I was
instructed to sit so I could keep tabs on all the matches. My back
will never be the same.
5. Tennis players are athletes too. I remember one conversation
I had with tennis star Tobias Clemens, the co-Pac-10 Player of the
Year and an individual who was ranked in the top 10 nationally all
season. Clemens is extremely gifted, and a great representative of
UCLA.
Yet he said that he’s never even met UCLA athletic
director Dan Guerrero, the man who supposedly represents him. And
that’s a shame. Athletic directors should represent everyone,
not just the athletes that bring in money.
4. Even legends forget names. Before a UCLA match against
Stanford, I called up Stanford coach Dick Gould. The guy is a
legend, straight up. He has more wins and national championships
than any other tennis coach in history. His family is incredible.
UCLA head coach Billy Martin even called him the “John Wooden
of tennis.” And he took the time to talk with me on the
phone. But when I met him in person, re-introduced myself and got
quotes after Stanford beat UCLA 4-3 in a heartbreaking match, he
called me Brian. Oops. I guess I’m not that memorable.
3. Some people are just plain rude. I attended the NCAA
Championships in Athens, Ga. I saw some things there that I
would’ve preferred not to see. When UCLA played Vanderbilt in
the semifinals, many of the Vanderbilt fans came with American
flags and chanted “U-S-A, U-S-A.” They were attempting
to make the point that Vanderbilt had American-born players while
UCLA had foreign-born players. The last time I checked, we were all
human beings. Well, they made their point, an showed a complete
lack of class in doing so.
2. Other people are just plain nice. Grant Chen was the No. 1
tennis player at Dos Pueblos High School in Santa Barbara. He is
now the team manager at UCLA. Though Chen probably could’ve
played collegiate tennis elsewhere, he chose to attend UCLA, and in
the process, has become an integral part of the tennis program
““ so integral, in fact, that without him the program probably
wouldn’t run. I’ve never seen Chen acting anything but
good-natured, and he is a constant reminder of what is right with
the world.
1. Life is utterly unpredictable. In the deciding match of
UCLA’s 4-3 loss to Vanderbilt, Vanderbilt’s Chad Harris
was serving to UCLA’s Marcin Matkowski. He tossed the ball
up, smashed the serve, and feathers scattered everywhere. It turns
out that a bird had swooped down into the line of the ball,
exploding in the process. There was a 10-minute delay while bird
blood was cleaned off the court. Matkowski won the game. Harris won
the match. The bird lost everything. Life is precious. Enjoy
it.