During practice, Dennis Mkrtchian is a jokester.
Until there’s something to play for.
If coach Billy Martin has the team play for a small prize or to determine who has to run a suicide, Mkrtchian amps up the intensity, shifting into the hyper-competitive mode he normally reserves for matches.
“When there’s something on the line, it just brings something inside of him that wants to win so bad,” said Mkrtchian’s doubles partner, freshman Austin Rapp.
That competitive drive has helped Mkrtchian, the team’s co-captain and its lone senior, pile up 99 college dual-match victories even in the face of an injury-shortened junior year.
“It’s amazing how competition, especially when it’s competing for UCLA, really changes his focus,” Martin said. “I can’t tell you how many matches he’s won just on the will to win.”
Although Martin said Mkrtchian’s weak volleying game makes his game more suited for singles than doubles, Rapp said the senior is a great partner because of his determination.
“He’s going to do whatever it takes on the court. He runs down balls I’ve never seen, it’s crazy,” Rapp said. “He’s quick, sure, but he gets to balls because he wants it so bad.”
Mkrtchian’s college career hasn’t gone as he expected. After coming in as the nation’s No. 6 recruit, he has watched as many of his teammates leave school early to play professional tennis.
“I’m not going to lie. Before I came here, I was expecting to be one of the best players, but at UCLA, it’s so tough,” Mkrtchian said. “I might not have had as much individual success as some other guys my age that went to Vanderbilt or Texas A&M but I can tell you we’ve had some huge team success.”
The Bruins have recorded the most losses this year since 1988 but Mkrtchian spent his first three years on teams that dominated at the national level. During his sophomore year, Mkrtchian played No. 4 singles as UCLA reached the national championship and fell 4-3 to Virginia. Even with the loss, Mkrtchian lists that NCAA final as the greatest memory from his time at UCLA.
Entering the next year, Mkrtchian was ranked No. 45 nationally during the preseason after compiling a 42-8 dual-match record in his first two years. But a shoulder injury ended his junior season just seven matches in.
It was the third major injury of his career, after he was sidelined in high school for seven months each by foot and pectoral injuries. Mkrtchian said his past experience with injuries helps drive him.
“You’re not going to come back if you’re not hungry to come back,” Mkrtchian said. “Through different phases of my career, seeing my competitors improve while I’m sitting at home and just recovering, it’s tough. The inner fight, the inner competitor in me just hates that. So when I come out, I want to prove to everyone that I’m still the best, whatever people may say.”
The shoulder injury particularly motivated him to battle as he returned.
“I had two good years here, really good years, and then I was out the last half of (last) season and I think people kind of forgot about me, not at UCLA but just in general,” Mkrtchian said. “And that kind of angered me. I didn’t like that and I wanted to come back and show to everyone and to myself that I’ve still got it.”
He did it quickly, reaching the final of January’s Sherwood Collegiate Cup by defeating Baylor’s Julian Lenz, currently the No. 2-ranked player in the country, in a dramatic three-set contest.
He has carried the momentum into the season, reaching a career-high No. 36 ranking by posting a 13-5 dual-match record, largely at No. 2 singles.
Martin said the two have met each other halfway this year after spending previous years grappling over Mkrtchian’s practice intensity, which is noticeably different from his fiery demeanor in matches. Mkrtchian said that this year he needed to address his backhand, a decision that has allowed him to step up into a higher spot in the lineup, but Martin said he still wishes he could have motivated Mkrtchian to work harder.
“From a coaching standpoint, it’s always hard for me to see him come out and not maybe give 100 percent in practice every day,” Martin said. “I think had he done that for four years, he would have been a much better player than he is now. And he’s already a great player.”
But Mkrtchian has made a greater commitment to academics than many Division I athletes, securing the highest GPA in the team for the past two years and finishing in the top four among senior male athletes, according to Martin.
“The classroom matters to him the same, if not more, as what happens on the tennis court,” Rapp said. “I would say it is (rare) among good athletes. You look at guys in every sport, not that they’re bad students but they don’t take sacrifices from their sport to go into the classroom and he does.”
Rapp said rather than demanding his younger teammates step it up academically, Mkrtchian instead tries to show them how important it is to succeed off the court by congratulating them for good grades or for receiving internships.
“Being an athlete is not an excuse to not do as well in class. You can’t be like, ‘Oh, we travel so much, we have so much practice, it’s so unfair,’” Mkrtchian said. “No, no, no, that’s not an excuse, man. If you do bad in school, it’s on you, not the sport.”
This quarter, Mkrtchian is interning eight hours a week for the Law Offices of Jonathan Ricasa in Westwood. Instead of grabbing coffee or filing paperwork, Mkrtchian said he’s had a chance to draft documents and research laws for the office.
Whereas many players come in with dreams of someday playing in the US Open or Wimbledon, Mkrtchian said he came into college knowing he would likely attend law school rather than play professionally. So for all his frustration with Mkrtchian’s practice habits over the years, Martin said he understands that Mkrtchian has devoted effort to other pursuits.
“Ten years from now, he might be our biggest donor, which is going to be cool,” Martin said. “That’s his mental path but yet he really wants to go down fighting hard for our team this year, which is very admirable.”
Mkrtchian said part of what attracted him to law was the aspect of competition.
He said he plans to take a gap year next year and occasionally coach youth players but does not picture himself working in tennis in the long term.
“He loves this sport but he loves winning way more,” Rapp said.
As he transitions from one court to another, Mkrtchian said he hopes that competitive drive will propel him to similar success.