It could have been an emotional moment or even an affirming
milestone.
For Benjamin Kohlloeffel, it was just a text message in the
middle of class on a Tuesday morning.
The 24-year-old junior out of Herne, Germany was informed by
teammate Jaysen Chung that he had become the No. 1 singles tennis
player in the country.
His whole career didn’t flash before his eyes, and he
didn’t become speechless.
“I thought to myself, “˜Oh that’s
nice,'” Kohlloeffel said.
Those who are close to Kohlloeffel wouldn’t have been
surprised. Teammates and coaches know him as a mature player on and
off the court, but such rigor has not stopped the junior from
remembering how to laugh.
“No. 2 could be No. 3, No. 1 could be No. 4, but I guess
it is nice to have been No. 1 in your career,” Kohlloeffel
said.
While some players might set such a ranking as their ultimate
collegiate goal, Kohlloeffel thinks it is “nice.” The
junior is too humble to be one of those guys who gets caught up in
the numbers.
But if Kohlloeffel ever felt the need to boast, he would have a
lot to say. He was the No. 2 singles player on the 2005 national
championship team and he is the first top-ranked UCLA singles
player since Justin Gimelstob in 1996.
“We know exactly what each one of us is doing,”
junior Philipp Gruendler, Kohlloeffel’s double’s
partner, said. “I can rely on his shot, he can rely on
mine.”
When the news broke that Kohlloeffel was the top college player
in the country, his teammates were excited but not entirely
shocked.
“It was about time (he became No. 1). He was second,
third, second again ““ he proved he is one of the top
players,” Gruendler said.
Yet it could have quite easily never happened. Born and raised
in Herne, the junior spent his childhood playing tennis and soccer
with his older brother, Tobias. His life, let alone his athletic
career, could look very different today if he made the simple
choice to focus on soccer and not tennis.
“People watch you, say you have talent, send you to
different coaches and that is how (I ended up playing
tennis),” Kohlloeffel said.
Kohlloeffel, in fact, hadn’t considered playing college
tennis until he received a phone call from former Bruin and friend
Tobias Clemens, who convinced Kohlloeffel to make the trip across
the ocean. Clemens made the same move earlier, moving from Germany
to the United States.
“I could not imagine being away from home for such a long
time,” Kohlloeffel said. “But I was not sure of what I
wanted to do with my life, so I thought I would give it a try for a
year.”
It is three years later, and the junior is still hanging around
Westwood. UCLA coach Billy Martin believes he has become the leader
of the team. But he is not a magic piece in the UCLA men’s
tennis puzzle, because that is not how the Bruins work, and
certainly not how Kohlloeffel wants to be seen.
“My goal coming here was not to become No. 1, it was to
win it with the team,” the junior said. “The individual
rankings are just something extra, like a bonus.”
“We know who he is; the ranking does not mean that
much,” Gruendler said. “But it is good to have on the
team someone who wins about 80 percent of his matches.”
But Kohlloeffel is not entirely perfect. Despite working on his
serve, forehand, presence at the net, and elevating his entire game
up a level in the past three years, there is still room for
improvement.
“He is more aggressive and more confident than before, but
he has to stop being such a perfectionist and forgive himself a bit
more,” Martin said.
This season could have been a transition year for the UCLA
men’s tennis team, and no one would have been critical of
them for not winning as many matches as last year. Instead, they
are now 4-0 in the Pac-10 and the possibility of a national title
is not out of reach and is once again at the top of
Kohlloeffel’s priorities.
“We are not No. 1 as a team, so that is a big goal,”
Kohlloeffel said.
The German player has two more years to reach that goal, and
then fate will play a part in deciding his future. Now 24 years
old, a professional career is unlikely to be in the cards for
Kohlloeffel. The junior believes time is running against him.
“Had it been four years ago, I would have definitely given
it a shot,” he said. “But who knows, if I get a wild
card for Indian Wells again and end up winning the tournament, then
maybe I will,” Kohlloeffel said jokingly.
Winning a major professional tournament such as the Pacific Life
Open, which Kohlloeffel took part in earlier this year, is not the
easiest thing to do, but stranger things have happened. Until then,
the junior will focus on graduating in December of next year, and
he has two more chances, including one this season, to win the
National Singles Title at the NCAA Championships.
“Now that he is No. 1 there is nowhere to go and it can be
a tough position,” Martin said. “But he is capable of
winning it. I have known this for a while.”