Seven months ago, a controversial call in a crucial tie-breaking match stopped the UCLA men’s tennis team inches short of winning UCLA’s 109th championship, ending its season in heartrending fashion.
The players made it clear how much that loss hurt, and how badly the team wants to avenge it.
Thankfully for the Bruins, they’re in a prime position to do just that as they play their first matches at the Sherwood Collegiate Cup on Friday before opening their season against UC Irvine on Jan. 22. Nearly all of last year’s squad is returning, augmented by a strong incoming freshman class. The team is stacked with talent and depth, highlighted by the fact that, for the first time since 2005, the Bruins have five nationally ranked players – No. 1 Clay Thompson, No. 11 Marcos Giron, No. 62 Mackenzie McDonald, No. 64 Karue Sell, and No. 120 Gage Brymer.
Furthermore, with three seniors – Thompson, Adrien Puget, and Brendan Wee – headlining the squad, the Bruins have another quality they’ve lacked in recent years – experience. According to Thompson, the familiarity with college tennis he and his fellow seniors have will be highly beneficial throughout the season.
“We’ve always been a deep team, and our No. 4 through 6 guys have always been some of the best players in the country,” Thompson said. “But our Nos. 1 through 3 have always been underclassmen. And while they’ve been good, they just haven’t had the same composure that seniors would have playing there.”
Thompson said he was also excited to be able to share his experience with the highly talented incoming freshmen. One of the nation’s best recruiting classes, made up of freshmen McDonald, Bryner, Michael Guzman, Joseph Di Giulio and Travis Martin – will add layers of depth to an already talented squad.
“We have such good freshmen,” Thompson said, “Mackie (McDonald) is amazing, such a good player. It’ll be tough for them to adapt to college, to play in that sort of team environment, but it will be good to see them develop.”
Coach Billy Martin echoed this sentiment when speaking of how they would add to the team.
“The more I get to see them, the more I love to be with them as a coach,” Martin said. “They’re coachable, not really hard-headed. All of them are really open to coaching, work really hard, and are very hard competitors – and they’re also really fun guys to be around.”
The team had a chance to see this informal side of the freshmen at the team’s retreat in Palm Springs during winter break. The retreat, an emerging team tradition in its second year, provided the team a chance to bond and spend time with each other. According to Martin, the retreat was extremely valuable in developing team chemistry.
Highlighting the importance of the retreat, many team members cited chemistry as a vital requirement for success this year, emphasizing its importance even in an individual sport like tennis.
“We really have to come together as a team this year,” said Giron. ”That’ll really help with our focus and staying on track, so we don’t get distracted by other things too much.
Martin concurred, highlighting that the team isn’t letting its excitement over its high level of talent distract it from the challenges ahead. The most proximal one will be making up for the absence of Puget, who is still recovering from patellar tendinitis and will be absent for at least the beginning of the season. The team’s depth will help in that regard, and the freshmen, particularly Brymer and Di Giulio, will likely fill Puget’s role until his return.
This young talent also excited Thompson, who emphasized the team’s level of focus heading into the season.
“We’ll need to understand that we’re working towards a higher goal, put our personal egos aside and understand that this transcends everything, and that we really understand that this is a team effort.”