It’s hard to resist making the comparison.
They’re both German. They’re both talented tennis
players. They were even friends growing up. One leaves the team,
the other replaces him, and UCLA tennis doesn’t miss a beat,
right?
Well, sort of.
It’s true that Tobias Clemens, UCLA’s all-time
leader in singles victories, and sophomore Benjamin Kohlloeffel
became friends playing tennis in Germany. It’s true that
Kohlloeffel wouldn’t be in Westwood were it not for the
influence of Clemens. But to extend the comparison any further and
conceive of them as a single entity is not something either of them
want.
“I don’t want to go for whatever he achieved,”
Kohlloeffel said. “I’m a different person.
“It’s not my goal. He was his own player, his own
personality, and I just try to do as well as possible.”
So far, the sophomore has done pretty darn well. He has
seamlessly entered the singles and doubles lineups for the
second-ranked Bruins after sitting out all of last season.
After a solid fall season and impressive start to the dual match
season, there’s certainly reason to believe Kohlloeffel,
ranked No. 8 in the country, may be the piece that the Bruins have
been missing in their bid for the national title that has eluded
the program since 1984.
It’s hard to imagine losing a player of Clemens’
caliber and potentially having a better team than the one that lost
in the NCAA Championship match last season, but the Bruins believe
that with Kohlloeffel in the lineup, that may very well be the
case.
“Certainly, losing Toby was a big loss, but I think Ben
has filled in very, very well,” UCLA coach Billy Martin said.
“Toby wasn’t a great doubles player, and he’d be
the first one to tell you that. The overall picture is that Ben has
really added quite a bit for us.”
Interestingly, if fans were to rewind two years and enter the
mind of a slightly younger Kohlloeffel at home in Germany, they
wouldn’t be able to find a grand plan to travel to the United
States and play collegiate tennis. In fact, they wouldn’t
find any thoughts about it, because the truth is that Kohlloeffel
never considered college in America.
That is, until he got a call from an old friend.
“To be honest, I didn’t want to come to the U.S. at
first, because I wasn’t ready to leave my home and to leave
Germany,” Kohlloeffel said. “So I didn’t think
about it at all until May or June before I came.”
Clemens and Kohlloeffel met when Kohlloeffel, now 22, was 15 or
16. They remained friends, and ultimately Clemens was the reason
his younger countryman considered UCLA.
“It was absolutely through Toby,” said Martin, who
received a suggestion from Clemens that he contact Kohlloeffel
about the possibility of his becoming a Bruin.
In the end, everything worked out, and now Kohlloeffel, who is
24-3 in singles play, is emerging from Clemens’ considerable
shadow. That’s because, according to NCAA rules, he had to
remain on the sidelines all last season, forfeiting one year of
eligibility because he had been playing tennis in Germany.
Though Kohlloeffel was with the team last season, he
wasn’t really there, and that was a difficult distinction for
him to deal with.
When the Bruins lost 4-0 to Baylor in the NCAA Championship last
May, all Kohlloeffel could do was watch. He came to UCLA to play
tennis, and for a whole year, he couldn’t.
“It’s just annoying out there, because you want to
do something,” he said.
“You practice with them all day long, you know
what’s going on, but you can’t participate. All you can
do is cheer, and that’s really tough.
“It kind of kills you mentally.”
He got to spend a whole season watching: watching Clemens’
final chance for an NCAA title fall just short and watching as
Baylor thoroughly dismantled the Bruins in the title match. This
season, he won’t be a spectator, and he won’t simply be
the guy who replaced Tobias Clemens.
After the obvious comparisons between the two run out, it
becomes clear that their personalities on the court are actually
quite different. Kohlloeffel seldom shows any emotion. He is so
polite it seems unnatural. Clemens, conversely, was fiery and
animated. He would argue questionable calls, curse himself or his
opponent in German, and grind out the majority of his points.
“He’s a different player,” Kohlloeffel said.
“Just because we’re both from Germany and sometimes
play the same spot on the team doesn’t mean we’re
similar.
“He’s just totally different on the court than I am.
That’s just the way it is.”
The interesting thing for the Bruins, of course, will be to see
how having the personality of Kohlloeffel near the top of the
lineup will differ from the last few seasons, where Clemens was the
face and voice of the team.
“Unlike last year, we are a much better team as a
whole,” senior Kris Kwinta said. “We bond together
really well.”
Whether that is a reflection of Kohlloeffel’s laid-back
personality or simply the result of most of the team being together
for one more season is open to interpretation.
“(Kohlloeffel’s) really a good guy,” Martin
said. “He keeps us loose. Toby was a little bit more intense
than Ben.
“He’s very relaxed, really easygoing. He’s
such a nice guy; he just gets along with everybody so
well.”
No one has anything disparaging to say about Kohlloeffel, and
with good reason. He’s funny, articulate and exceedingly
polite. For example, several weeks ago in a match against UC
Irvine, Kohlloeffel got a bug in his eye while he was playing. As
he was going to the trainer to have it taken care of, he apologized
to his opponent about the delay.
“That’s the way I was raised,” he said.
“When you hit a net ball or something, you apologize. I
don’t want to be extremely polite to anybody, but it’s
just normal.”
“There’s nothing negative to say about him,”
said Luben Pampoulov, Kohlloeffel’s doubles teammate and
roommate.
Watching him play, it’s difficult to imagine Kohlloeffel
ever getting frustrated or flustered. That’s how composed he
is and how solid his shots are.
But he is human.
“I’m under control 90 or 95 percent of my
matches,” he said. “But when it’s going bad, I
can be pretty bad on the court, too. It might flip really fast, and
I could go crazy, and you probably wouldn’t recognize me.
“It shouldn’t happen too many times, but it will. So
when it happens, don’t get angry. Don’t get mad at
me.”
It’s just another example of an apologetic Kohlloeffel
when he has so little for which to be sorry.
With Kohlloeffel in the fold, the Bruins feel confident that
this could be their year. But does Kohlloeffel think the team is
better? His answer is predictably modest.
“I think our lineup is pretty much the same,”
Kohlloeffel said. “I don’t think we have a better
team.”
Maybe not better, but different. Kohlloeffel insists that he
isn’t trying to fill Clemens’ shoes, because they are
both unique individuals. His own shoes appear to be plenty big
enough.