Men’s tennis doesn’t begin its regular season until January, but the team will have no time off beforehand.
October officially marks the beginning of individual tournament play, which kicked off Saturday at the Saint Francis Health System Intercollegiate Tennis Association All-American Championships.
Seniors Logan Staggs and Martin Redlicki, along with junior Maxime Cressy, traveled to Tulsa, Oklahoma, for the first fall tournament.
“The goal over the summer was to be able to come into the fall and be able to play well,” said senior Austin Rapp. “You never want to use the fall as like preparation for the season, you want to be ready to go right away for the first tournament.”
Redlicki is one of 48 automatic qualifiers entered into the main draw that begins Thursday. The senior left-hander played seven matches at No. 1 singles in 2016 and is currently 24th in the preseason rankings. Redlicki and sophomore Evan Zhu, ranked 78th, were named the Pac-12 Doubles Team of the Year last season and the duo will likely return to the Bruins’ top doubles position.
“I’ve been really happy with the amount of play that all of the guys have been participating in during the summer,” said coach Billy Martin. “They did probably as good a job as I think any of my teams have done, as far as playing in tournaments. We’ve really got the foundation of a good team.”
Staggs defeated Jannek Opitz from Western Michigan 6-2, 6-1 in the first round of the qualifiers before also beating Sebastian Heim from UC Irvine the next day 6-1,6-4. The senior earned a berth in the main draw after a third victory over Nick Braun of Mississippi State 6-2, 6-2.
Staggs is 75th in the preseason ranking after amassing a 21-4 singles record in 2016. He also earned a bronze medal in the mixed doubles semifinals with fellow Bruin Jada Hart at the 29th Summer Universiade in Taipei in August.
“Everybody there was so into the games,” Staggs said. “Everyone was just excited to see you there. I played some really good college players and some foreigners which was great too, so I thought it really got me going for the season.”
In Tulsa, Cressy posted a victory over Yale’s Dylan King in the qualifying rounds, 4-6, 6-3, 6-0 before falling to Michael Geerts from Arizona State 6-2,7-5 in the second round. The junior played at No. 4 singles in 2016 and won three of his four doubles matches in the NCAA Tournament with partner and then-freshman Ben Goldberg.
Most members of the team will compete in tournaments around California and Nevada over the next few months. But one Bruin will be absent.
After playing at No. 2 singles and No. 1 doubles last year, Zhu will take the fall quarter off to compete in various professional tournaments before rejoining the squad.
The Bruins lost several notable seniors to graduation, specifically Gage Brymer and Joseph Di Guilio. Brymer suffered an abrupt injury before the first round of the NCAA Tournament, providing an opportunity for Zhu and Cressy to make their debuts at their new singles slots of No. 2 and No. 4 respectively.
UCLA welcomed four promising new freshmen to this year’s roster as Bryce Pereira, Lucas Bellamy, Keegan Smith and Connor Hance join the 2017 team.
Martin expects several of his rookies to make an impact right away.
“We will absolutely need some of them to step up,” Martin said. “Keegan Smith has had an incredibly good summer, and showed some great results against good-level players so I would say he’s looking the sharpest … I think he’s going to be fighting for one of the top spots on the team.”
Rapp said the team dynamic is likely to be the best he’s had in his years at UCLA, considering the freshmen are all local to Southern California.
“We lost a few guys from last year but their shoes got filled pretty quick,” Rapp said. “All four of them are SoCal kids and I’ve known them all since I was 10 years old. And they’ve all known each other since that age as well so I think it’s a really healthy thing.”
Martin highlighted Perreira specifically in bolstering the team’s doubles game, calling the freshman a naturally great doubles player.
“I’ve always known (Bryce Perreira)’s going to be absolutely helpful for us in doubles … he’s really one of the most talented incoming freshmen I’ve ever had for doubles play,” Martin said. “Usually kids coming into college for us are good singles players but really don’t have much of a clue on doubles.”
Some of the most important skills for doubles, Martin said, include serve-and-volley, hand quickness and approaching, whereas the singles game largely involves staying on the baseline and grinding out points. Martin said he saw precisely that when he watched Perreira play a few summers ago in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
The veteran coach said he would use the fall quarter to try out different pairs together to test out who would ultimately have good chemistry with another teammate.
“I want it to be competitive,” Martin said. I tell everybody when they leave, great job, but please come back ready to fight for your spot.”
The Bruins will be vying for their spots away from last year’s Sunset Canyon Recreation Center courts. Construction projects previously barred the team from using the Los Angeles Tennis Center, but team has returned to LATC this season.
“To be honest, it’s good to be back. We made a good home of our Sunset courts while it lasted,” Rapp said. “Hopefully we can carry that momentum down here. It’s a good vibe and we feel like we own the place when other teams come in.”
The location change affects a few things during competitions, Staggs said, as the fan support feels more condensed at Sunset Canyon. LATC is so large that it feels emptier even with a crowd.
Martin said he was happy to be getting back to LATC, and hopes to continue last year’s undefeated 19-0 home record.
“Sunset was awful good to us … I was kidding with the guys that if we lose a match down here, I’m heading right back up to Sunset,” Martin said.