On most spring afternoons, a small crowd of UCLA students on their way back from class gathers just inside the top entrance of the Los Angeles Tennis Center. Gazing down at the rows of empty blue seats and gold benches, they linger long enough to witness yet another endless rally on the stadium’s center court below.
On this particular afternoon, Harel Srugo paces the south baseline of the stadium’s center court and, with near perfect form, smacks a succession of forehand and backhand line drives back across the net. Although he has been out here almost every day this season, there is something different about his stroke this week.
Shirtless and sweating, the senior captain of the No. 7 UCLA men’s tennis team wipes his face with a towel after finishing another long afternoon workout. A supporter inquires when he’s likely to rejoin the Bruins in team competition. Srugo smiles and jokes casually, telling him May 19.
That’s the date of the NCAA Championships.
Fortunately for UCLA, Srugo’s comeback came 10 days ahead of that date, just in time for the start of the NCAA Tournament. But Srugo considers this season anything but lucky.
One year ago, Srugo and his Bruin teammates were riding a wave of incredible success.
“I couldn’t have dreamt for a better year for the team and for myself,” Srugo said, reflecting on UCLA’s 2008 campaign in which the team finished 25-2 and reached the NCAA semifinals.
“It was an unbelievable surprise.”
After playing his first two collegiate seasons at Virginia’s Old Dominion, it wouldn’t take long for Srugo to fit in with the UCLA tennis program. When an impromptu decision by coach Billy Martin placed him at the Bruins’ No. 1 position for the first match of that season, he beat the No. 22 player in the nation, solidifying his place in the lineup.
He would post a 15-7 dual match record on the year ““ all in matches against the opponent’s top player ““ and was riding high coming into the 2009 season, just like the Bruins as a whole.
There was no reason not to assume that the Bruins had even better chances at a national title this time around. Junior Haythem Abid, UCLA’s former No. 1, returned from an injury redshirt season, and the Bruins added two former No. 1 players ““ transfer students junior Matt Brooklyn and sophomore Amit Inbar.
“Expectations were high,” Srugo said. “I thought this could be the year; our team is looking really, really strong. And then, very stupidly, I injured my thumb.”
While visiting friends in New York, Srugo tore a ligament in his left hand, a small accident that would lead to big consequences.
“Being from Israel and not being very used to the snow, I went out sledding,” he said. “I slipped and I fell.”
When the team started dual match play at the end of January, the right-handed Srugo still could not hit a two-handed backhand. Every time he put his left hand on the racket, it hurt.
Realizing the severity of his situation, he began the process of teaching himself a one-handed backhand. And it was not easy.
“I’ve had a two-handed backhand for 20 years,” he said. “If you’re a tennis player you know that it’s not an easy thing to switch.”
In the team’s first month of play, Srugo played at the team’s No. 3 singles spot, but only intermittently. In the first five matches, he played both singles and doubles, as he would have at optimum health.
After Srugo lost three singles matches in a row at his lowered place in the team hierarchy, Martin finally pulled him from the singles lineup altogether. Opponents had caught on to his affliction and were now capitalizing on the obvious weakness.
“He’s just been such an incomplete Harel Srugo in singles,” Martin said. “In doubles, he’s been able to do a fantastic job in hiding it. But against good players, even at the three and four, he’s just been too exploited with the backhand side.”
Srugo paired up with teammate and fellow Israeli Inbar to play doubles for much of the rest of the regular season. The duo racked up a perfect 11-0 record, while Srugo played with a cast on his left hand.
“He is to me the energy of our team,” Martin said of Srugo, whom the team had dubbed “the one-armed bandit.”
“He exemplifies, in my opinion, a great team leader on and off the court, especially with his enthusiasm, his energy, whether he’s winning or losing. He’s always giving 100 percent,” Martin added.
But such a peripheral role was not enough for Srugo. Especially with the team suffering other injuries and setbacks to key players, Martin was dipping into his bench on a consistent basis, and Srugo felt like he was not contributing enough.
“Being just a doubles player was really hard for me,” he said. “I felt great that the team was doing well, but I wasn’t satisfied with my individual accomplishments.”
Despite sporadic spurts of what could have been devastating absences from Srugo, Brooklyn, Abid and sophomore Holden Seguso, the team still rolled though the middle of the season. After a slow start, UCLA did not lose in conference play. The Bruins won their final 10 regular season matches en route to a sixth-straight Pac-10 title, which they clinched in a home match over rival USC.
But Srugo was absent from the singles court during the season-capping victory. It was clear that time was running out in his collegiate career.
“As someone who is used to playing on this court,” Srugo said, pausing a second to point to the Los Angeles Tennis Center’s center court, “to go suddenly to only play doubles or be on the sideline, it’s very hard.”
As the Bruins’ date with the NCAA Tournament’s first round got closer and closer, Srugo pushed himself harder and harder at practice, still struggling with the injury’s effects on his psyche and left hand.
“I can’t expect myself to play at the same level that I used to play last season because I’m not the same physically,” he said. “So I can’t expect to play the same level of tennis. It’s easy to say, but it’s not very easy to handle, so I’m just trying to … finish the year and my tennis career as best as I can.”
Then, just a few days before the tournament began, Srugo tried hitting two-handed backhands again. The pain was definitely receding, and the time was now or never.
“It wasn’t pretty in the beginning because my left hand was not used to being active for a few months,” he said. “But it didn’t hurt, and I played a few sets in practice before (the first round). I told Billy, “˜If you want to try me against a relatively weak team, then we’ll see how it goes.'”
Martin showed confidence in his captain by inserting Srugo at the No. 3 spot on his NCAA Tournament lineup, the order of which he cannot shuffle for the entirety of the competition. While Martin could have assigned Srugo a lower seed to safeguard the team in case Srugo struggled, he inserted him in the upper half, confident his captain would perform.
And with No. 2 Abid sitting out the first round to nurse an injury of his own, Srugo moved up to take his spot.
Playing at his highest position of the season against Southern Illinois, Srugo jumped out to a 6-4, 5-0 lead ““ one game away from victory ““ before his teammates clinched the match.
The next day, Srugo, now the No. 3, was the one to clinch, beating Hawaii’s Leo Rosenberg 6-4, 6-4, to officially send his team to College Station, Texas, for the round of 16.
“When you win that fourth point, for me, on my last home match here at UCLA, there can’t be a greater sense of being proud,” he said. “Having to deal with this really annoying injury and relatively bad season, there’s no better feeling. It couldn’t have been a better ending for this part of our season.”
Both Srugo and the Bruins still have much to prove though, and playing among the country’s top 16 squads is where they must do it. Martin, who has made it to the NCAA quarterfinals in each of his 15 years as coach, believes that Srugo’s revival just might be the thing that pushes his team over the top.
“I feel we can compete with any team down there,” Martin said. “I think we’ve shown ourselves that we can come close, but a player like Harel could make the difference for us.”
Although his remaining matches as a UCLA athlete can be counted on one hand, Srugo said he doesn’t feel any extra pressure because of it. After working all season to make up lost ground, he just wants the chance to perform with his team when it really counts.
“I feel very fortunate actually to play these last few matches,” he said. “I’m trying to leave it all out there. There is a feeling that we have, and I think everyone is in the same frame of mind. Everybody started to believe that this team is coming along well, and everyone is coming back to their normal shape at the right time, and if that happens then we have a good shot.”