The Bruins will not be able to rely on familiar faces for doubles success this season.
Following the departures of graduated seniors Martin Redlicki and Austin Rapp, and potentially current junior Evan Zhu, UCLA men’s tennis may be without three of its six starting doubles players from last year.
“(Redlicki) has been such an unbelievable doubles player for four years in a row. He’s a two-time NCAA doubles champion, and yes, (Rapp) always did a good job for us,” said Coach Billy Martin. “We’re still waiting to hear about (Zhu), so we could potentially lose three really great doubles players, so that’s always a shakeup.”
Martin said UCLA may now look toward some of its younger players to fill the gaps in the doubles lineup, but creating effective doubles teams for the upcoming season has been difficult.
Martin said he works to find players with skill sets that complement one another, while also hiding each individual player’s weaknesses.
“If someone has a really weak side, then we want to make sure that their weak side is in the middle of the court so the other person can take the shot and there’s no confusion,” Martin said.
Martin said the search to find players with complementary skill sets who will work well together is ongoing.
“I can’t tell you how many times during the summer, I’m looking at guys coming in and I say, ‘Gosh, this is going to be a really great pair. I can just sense it,'” Martin said. “Then, it ends up being no chemistry.”
Martin said that no amount of practice can create a bond that certain teams do not possess.
“In a lot of cases this fall, we just haven’t been able to find that chemistry,” Martin said.
However, Martin said two Bruins seemed headed in the right direction. Sophomore Bryce Pereira teamed up with freshman Max Wild in two tournaments this fall and Martin said he was impressed with the pairing.
The pair advanced to the quarterfinals at the Southern California Intercollegiate Championships in Los Angeles and won the doubles draw of the Larry Easley Memorial Classic in Las Vegas.
Pereira explained that it can be difficult sometimes to adjust to new partners.
“Sometimes you are too good of a friend with the other person, so you don’t play well with one another, or you just don’t like the other person,” Pereira said. “You have to balance out. There’s always a lot of pros and cons when you play with others.”
Wild attributed the pair’s good chemistry to Pereira’s previous doubles experience.
“I’ve always thought of (Pereira) being such a great doubles player and he did so well for us last year – it made it that much more exciting for me to play with his experience,” Wild said.
Martin said that, although they are difficult to deal with, shakeups occur every three to four years.
“The players realize it, the coaches realize it, so we have to do everything we can to have our bases covered,” he said.