They’ve waited. And waited. And waited. And now they have
one more week left to wait. The players on the fourth-seeded UCLA
men’s tennis team haven’t played in a dual match since
an April 17 victory over California, and now they’re starting
to get a little bit antsy. “Everything we’ve been
working for is coming up in the next week,” coach Billy
Martin said. “It’s a really exciting time.” UCLA
has one final week of preparation before it hosts Oral Roberts in
the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday. “Right
now it’s touching up, working on a few little things in your
game, and really mentally preparing,” Martin said. “To
me, that’s the name of the game ““ not getting too
stressed out, not letting the importance of the event get
overwhelming.” Martin feels the only work the team can really
do now is mental, because at this point, the pains from a year of
rigorous physical conditioning are beginning to pay dividends.
“I feel like I’m in the best shape of the year,”
junior Alberto Francis said. Just as important as the conditioning
of the players is their health. UCLA has been lucky thus far in
that regard, as injuries haven’t hindered players’
ability to compete. Martin hopes things stay that way. “Knock
on wood, gosh darn it,” he said. “We’ve been very
fortunate with that.” Francis, who will play at No. 4 for the
Bruins during the NCAA Tournament, is particularly excited to be
completely healthy. Before this season, he had undergone three
surgeries in two years. “I haven’t been injured all
year,” Francis said. “It’s pretty
surprising.”
RIDING HIGH FROM OJAI: Though sophomore Chris
Surapol won’t be competing in singles during the NCAA
Tournament, the Bruins can rest assured that they have a very solid
player waiting on the sidelines. Surapol, who plays with senior
Tobias Clemens at No. 3 doubles, recently won the Pac-10
Invitational draw at the Pac-10 Championships in Ojai, Calif. He
defeated Stanford’s Carter Morris in the final two weeks ago.
Perhaps most impressive is the fact that Surapol didn’t play
great tennis en route to the title. “That tournament I really
struggled, to tell you the truth,” Surapol said. “I
just played bad, but I came out with the win somehow.
“That’s the toughest thing about tennis, to learn how
to win when you’re not playing well.” That UCLA’s
No. 7 player was able to win a tournament comprised of the No. 5
and 6 players of other Pac-10 teams shows something about the depth
of the Bruins. In fact, three of the four players that made the
invitational semifinals play for UCLA. “It just shows how
strong we are,” Surapol said.
DROP SHOTS: Since junior Luben Pampoulov joined
the lineup in early April, UCLA’s No. 2 doubles pairing of
Pampoulov and Gruendler has not lost a match … Martin’s
finalized NCAA Tournament singles lineup is Clemens (No. 1),
Pampoulov (No. 2), Chris Lam (No. 3), Francis (No. 4), Kris Kwinta
(No. 5) and Gruendler (No. 6) … Clemens is the No. 5 seed in the
NCAA singles championship, while Pampoulov is listed as the first
alternate.