Some people were always meant to live their lives out of a
suitcase, packing their bags for another continent at the age of
14.
Freshman tennis player Haythem Abid left his home of Tunis,
Tunisia, at about that age when he traveled to Spain and joined the
Bruguera Tennis Academy Top Team in Barcelona, Spain. The academy,
co-owned by two-time French Open winner Sergi Bruguera, allows
young players to follow their tennis dreams while pursuing their
education.
“When I got there I quit school for a year and
concentrated on tennis,” Abid said. “I had a good
ranking, but I had doubts about the future and preferred to go back
to school.”
And this idea stuck with him until this year, as he crossed over
to the U.S. to play for the Bruins in January and played every No.
2 singles and doubles match of the season.
“I am very happy with the way he has adjusted to
everything here. There was a lot of pressure on him,” UCLA
tennis coach Billy Martin said.
The fall season is usually a good way for freshmen to adapt to
new collegiate surroundings. Abid, on the other
hand, had about two weeks to do just that.
“I had to throw him to the wolves right away in dual
matches,” Martin said.
In fact, when Abid won his match in the first meet of the season
against San Diego, two weeks after joining the Bruins, it was the
first competitive tennis match Abid had played in seven months.
“To maintain my eligibility I just practiced and watched
the others compete for months,” Abid said. “It was very
hard, but now that I have been here a few months I can say it was
worth it.”
But no challenge for Abid was as tough as adjusting to hard
court surfaces. The freshman had always played on clay until that
time.
“I thought I would adapt straight away. I was
wrong,” Abid said. “I am playing a lot better now, but
there is so much room for improvement.”
But playing an individual sport as part of a team was one thing
he knew. A member of the Tunisian Davis Cup Team since 2001, the
freshman has played 25 Davis Cup matches and won most of them.
“It meant a lot to me that he had this experience,”
Martin said. “I thought that if his country believed he had
the maturity to represent them, he could definitely handle it
here.”
With a 17-9 record for his first season, Abid’s powerful
forehand and newfound love for his net game have made many of his
opponents fall.
Abid competed in an ATP Challenger’s tournament in Tunisia
at the beginning of the month, winning his first-round match
against top-150-ranked Spanish player Alex Calatrava.
“I must have gotten better because I played great matches
against strong players,” Abid said.
He might be new to the NCAA Championships, but Abid has watched
the archives of his current teammates’ victory and is hungry
for more.
“I want to celebrate the way they did even more,”
Abid said.
The freshman has not forgotten about his dream of becoming a
professional tennis player and knows four years with the Bruins
will allow him to improve and possibly make that a reality. But
until then, Abid seems to be happy with his first season at
UCLA.
“This is a good school,” he said. “My parents
are happy; the weather is sweet and the music on the west side is
fantastic,” he said.