Men’s tennis struggles in tournament
While most Trojans were enjoying their final week off before the start of the spring semester, members of the USC men’s tennis team were busy competing in the Southern California USTA Pro Futures event taking place at Marks Stadium on the USC campus. The ITF Men’s Circuit event, which took place from January 5 to January 11, featured both singles and doubles action. It was the first tournament USC’s men’s tennis team had competed in since the Jack Kramer Intercollegiate Tournament in November.
Despite the advantage of playing on their home court, the USC men’s tennis squad had a rough tournament full of early round losses. In singles play, senior Yannick Hanfmann fell to Mackenzie McDonald in round one 7-6(4), 6-2. Senior Jonny Wang didn’t fare well either, losing his first round matchup against Adrien Puget 6-1, 6-2. Senior Roberto Quiroz was unable to make it to the second round, losing to Frederik Nielsen, who was ranked #4 in the tournament, by a score of 6-2, 7-5.
Even former USC men’s tennis star Daniel Nguyen, who was ranked #2 in the tournament, was unable to escape the first round. Nguyen dominated the opening set against his first round opponent Nathan Ponwith with a score of 6-0. However, Ponwith out-dueled Nguyen in the second set and won 6-4. Ponwith carried his momentum into the third and final set, winning it with a commanding score of 6-0 and knocking Nguyen out of contention in the singles tournament.
Senior Eric Johnson was the only Trojan who made it past the first round. In round one, Johnson had a hard fought battle with Tom Fawcett, but won in two close sets by a score of 6-4, 7-5. However, Johnson would not make it any further as he was taken down in two sets by Ponwith, who still had momentum from his underdog victory over Nguyen in round one, in round two by a score of 7-5, 6-0.
Doubles action didn’t have much more success than singles action for the USC men’s tennis team, which added to the disappointment for the nation’s number one college men’s tennis team. Hanfmann and Quiroz took down fellow Trojans pair Nick Crystal and Thibault Forget in round one 6-4, 6-0. However, Hanfmann and Quiroz were eliminated from doubles competition in the quarterfinals, losing to the tournament’s #1 ranked pairing of James Cluskey and Frederik Nielsen 7-6(2), 6-3. Nguyen also teamed up with past Michigan University tennis star Jason Jung, but the pair was taken down in the first round by Mackenzie McDonald and Martin Redlicki by a score of 6-3, 6-1.
At practice following the tournament, USC men’s tennis coach Peter Smith didn’t sugarcoat his thoughts about his team’s performance during the tournament. “We sucked,” said Smith. “It was not only disappointing to me, it was disappointing to the guys.”
Smith believes the winter break and footwork were the main reasons why his team played poorly.
“The guys didn’t come back from vacation in shape,” said Smith. “They weren’t match-tough. They weren’t ready to play. I would say only two of the guys were really ready to play … We weren’t in shape enough to work our feet hard enough.”
However, Smith also believes that the timing couldn’t be better if his team had to suffer a major loss.
“It’s good to get that out of the way,” Smith said. “A nice little wakeup call. I think the day we lost five matches, three singles [and] two doubles, the ranking came out [and] we were number one in the country. So, that’s good that we’re getting that message across that you can’t BS around and expect to still be competitive.”
For the immediate future, Smith’s plan to get the team back to its winning ways is simple. “We just need to get together as a team and start working out and practicing,” Smith said.