It is rare in most college sports for a tournament to be held in the middle of the season in which every elite team in the country participates.
Men’s tennis is an exception.
When UCLA begins play in the prestigious USTA/ITA National Team Indoor Championships today in Chicago, it will have the opportunity to compete against the top teams in the nation.
Many of the 16 teams participating in the tournament this weekend will be in the final rounds of the NCAA Championships in May, so the Bruins will be able to gauge their level of play in relation to the country’s best.
“This weekend is the only time where all the top teams come together to fight it out,” coach Billy Martin said. “We won’t see most of these teams until the NCAA Championships, so this is a good chance for us to battle against these teams and have some great competition.”
Teams are chosen to compete in the tournament by a committee that heavily weighs a team’s current ranking to ensure that the level of competition is the highest possible.
Even though third-seeded UCLA (5-1) will not be competing against every team, the Bruins will still get a unique preview of what they can expect to face in the postseason by watching the other matches being played.
The Bruins will be using the tournament to show they are still one of the best teams in the nation, especially after their 4-3 loss to Baylor last week.
“We need to prove that we can beat any team,” sophomore Haythem Abid said. “Last week we got down against Baylor and couldn’t come back, so we need to show that we can clinch close matches.”
A major difficulty for UCLA this weekend will be the faster conditions of indoor courts.
UCLA’s home courts are outdoors. Many other teams in the tournament, however, play much of their season indoors because of weather restrictions.
“It is really hard for us to transfer to indoor courts because we never have the chance to practice indoors,” Abid said. “Our home courts are much slower, so we are at a disadvantage.”
UCLA’s first challenge will be against No. 14 seed University of Miami today in the two teams’ first matchup since 1993.
The Bruins hold a 9-0 all-time advantage over the Hurricanes, who lost their bottom three starters from last season’s team.
“It will be a good matchup for us against Miami, but I am confident we can beat them,” Martin said. “They are a younger team than last year, but we are going to be playing our best against them.”
If they get past Miami, the Bruins have a potential match against host University of Illinois looming on Saturday.
“Illinois is always one of the better indoor teams, so they will be real tough for us,” Martin said. “We snuck by them last year, so that loss is going to be fresh on their minds. It also is going to be a major advantage for them to have a big crowd supporting them.”
Even though the Bruins will have a series of difficult games this weekend, they look forward to it.
“This is a really good opportunity for us to compete against teams we normally wouldn’t, and we are going to do our best to win each match,” Abid said. “It will be very hard for us to win the tournament, though, because of the faster courts we are not used to playing on.”