Every August, the lights shine upon the Los Angeles Tennis
Center for the Mercedes-Benz Cup.
The spotlight is put on some of the best professional tennis
players in the world as they compete on UCLA’s home
courts.
Saturday, when No. 6 UCLA takes on No. 7 Baylor, the lights will
shine once again, and the players on the court may be mistaken as
playing at the same level as the pros.
That’s because the two teams, UCLA (10-3) and Baylor
(7-3), have been the finalists of the past two national
championships and are traditionally two of the top men’s
tennis programs in the nation.
“The last two times we played Baylor were at the national
championship, when teams play in the evening, so we wanted to
recreate that atmosphere,” UCLA coach Billy Martin said of
the decision to play under the lights for the first time since
1997.
In 2004, Baylor clinched the NCAA title against UCLA, and last
year the Bruins brought the title back to Westwood by winning their
first national title since 1984.
With all the factors involved in the recent past and with both
teams in a transition phase, the atmosphere around this match is
unique.
“I think it is a bigger rivalry than against USC,”
freshman Michael Look said.
Although Look was not in the U.S. last year, he said that just
by seeing and listening to his teammates he understands what this
is all about.
“I watched the DVD of last year’s final with them,
and they still get so excited and very proud, so I kind of
understand what this really means,” Look said.
Juniors Benjamin Kohlloeffel and Philipp Gruendler are the only
remaining Bruins who contributed to last year’s championship
team, but that hasn’t changed their feelings toward
Baylor.
“It is always very exciting to play against them and a
thrill to be part of important matches like this one,”
Gruendler said.
Both UCLA and Baylor, who lost their top two players from last
season, are very young this season and a lot of the rivalry has
been lost. But without any seniors on their roster, both teams
should be on top of the national rankings in the coming years.
“We always have great matches against them, and as both
teams are in the same situation, we will see what we can do,”
Martin said.
The Bruins have already shown this season that they can compete
against some of the top-ranked teams in the country, losing 4-3 in
matches against top-five teams Georgia and Pepperdine.
“We proved that we could be competitive against the No. 1
(Georgia) and No. 3 (Pepperdine) teams in the country, and will
keep working toward that,” Martin said.
The lineup, however, is still up in the air heading into
Saturday’s match, and Martin said the Bruins cannot afford to
risk last-minute catastrophes.
Look has taken the place of Gruendler in recent matches, and it
is unsure whether Look will get the call once again on
Saturday.
“Michael proved he could do it and does not deserve to sit
out, but we don’t want to keep others on the side for too
long,” Martin said. “If someone gets injured, his
replacement can’t be clueless after sitting too many matches
out.”