Tennis duo takes on the great indoors

Last year, No. 3 senior Robert Farah and sophomore Steve Johnson lost in the finals of the ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships.

This time around, the Trojan tandem is looking to bring home the title.

“I feel like we’re a good doubles team indoors. We’ve done well lately, so we come in with some confidence,” Farah said.

The tournament begins Nov. 5 and lasts until Nov. 8 at Yale University in New Haven, Conn. It consists of 16 doubles teams and 32 singles players.

Farah and Johnson earned a berth into the tournament two weeks ago when they defeated Pepperdine’s Bassam Beidas and Alex Llompart in the ITA Regionals championship match.

The duo, however, enter the tournament unseeded after a first-round loss in the All-American Championship tournament in early October.

No. 3 Farah and No. 18 Johnson will also try their luck in singles this weekend. Both players received an entry into the tournament after reaching the semifinal round in singles play at the All-American Championships. Farah is seeded No. 3 in the tournament and Johnson is seeded No. 5.

Last year, Farah lost to Daniel Vallverdu of Miami in the quarterfinals. This is Johnson’s first time playing singles at the tournament, as well as his first time being seeded in a college tournament.

“I’m one of the favorites instead of one of the guys who can pull upsets. It’s kind of nice being the underdog, but I like to be the favorite — extra pressure,” Johnson said.

Johnson was also recently selected to represent the United States at the Master’U BNP Paribas tournament. The tournament is an intercollegiate competition featuring eight countries around the world. He was one of three men selected to represent the United States.

Despite the fact that the USC duo doesn’t see as much indoor action as some other schools, the two don’t feel like they’re at a disadvantage this weekend.

“You hit the ball cleaner indoors and that’s always a plus coming from USC where it’s windy and the sun is in your face,” Farah said. “I can’t pull out the excuse that it’s indoors.”

This weekend, the Trojans hope to enjoy success in singles as well as doubles. Farah said he hopes he and Johnson will win doubles and both reach the finals in singles.

Johnson also hopes to do well by his teammate and secure the doubles title.

“Robert doesn’t really feel like having three finalist trophies in his room so we’re going to try to get him a win,” Johnson said of Farah, who has lost in the finals twice.

For now, the Trojans are looking to stay focused.

“I just need to maintain the ways I played these past few weeks,” Johnson said. “I’ve been playing really well and I’m just trying to stay at the same level.”

The rest of the Trojans will compete locally this weekend at the Southern California Intercollegiates from Nov. 5 to Nov. 8 at UCLA.

Freshman Joel Giger and sophomore Ben Lankenau will compete in the qualifying rounds. Freshman JT Sundling, No. 5-seeded sophomore Daniel Nguyen, senior Jason McNaughton and No. 5-seeded sophomore Matt Kecki will compete in the main draw.

No. 2-seeded Nguyen and Sundling and Kecki and McNaughton will also team up to compete in the main draw of 16 for doubles.