Both women’s and men’s tennis at the University of Idaho have started off their seasons and, while things have been challenging, coaches and athletes say there is a real determination from the teams and are looking forward to upcoming travel and matches.
Players
Most of the tennis athletes are international and the enrollment of international students is decreasing amidst the pandemic, according to past reporting from The Argonaut. These players, all coming from across the globe or the continent, have stayed to play tennis through a pandemic resulting in over 500,000 deaths in the U.S. alone.
Babar Akbar, the head coach of women’s tennis, said this shows their conviction as student-athletes. Several of the players said being in the U.S. and their connection to tennis are intertwined.
“They’re all internationals,” Akbar said. “They came from all over the world. They came back to Moscow because they wanted to compete, and that says a lot about them.”
“I’ve been playing tennis pretty much my whole life,” Saffron Dowse, a freshman on the women’s tennis team from East Sussex, England, said. “Since I was little, it’s always been a dream of mine to come to the U.S. and compete at a university here.”
Bruno Casino, a sophomore on the men’s team from Santander, Spain, said being able to play tennis at UI helps with homesickness because it’s a way of having “nice roots” from the beginning of his time here. Having a team to bond with, especially one with so many other international student-athletes on it, allowed him to establish himself in a country foreign to his own.
For the women’s team specifically, “I’ve got six girls here who came from all over the world in a time where travel and everything is a bit risky,” Akbar said. “They came. They showed up. They’re ready to compete, and they’re ready to play.”
The desire to be involved in tennis at UI is the international nature of the sport, which is much more popular worldwide than other sports more popular in the U.S. like baseball and football.
“Football is almost purely American,” Daniel Hangstefer, head coach of men’s tennis, said. “With tennis being such an international sport, as a coach when I’m recruiting the whole world is my playground.”
That being said, the competition for tennis can be world-class and difficult to find an opportunity to rise up due to the sheer amount of other players. According to Topend Sports, which compiled four years of data from Google, tennis is one of the most popular sports in the world.
“I feel like internationals appreciate the opportunity at Idaho more, so they compete a little harder. I feel like that has been my experience,” Akbar said.
Acknowledging the wild times, Akbar said while this year hasn’t been ideal, he and the team are very fortunate to still be playing tennis.
The main struggle right now for the women’s team, specifically, was practicing, Akbar said. The tennis team does not have access to their indoor gyms, so for every practice, they drive an hour round trip to Lewiston. On top of that, they must travel to their matches.
All this travel can be taxing.
“They are pretty long drives, which I’m personally not used to at all,” Dowse said. “It’s been okay, but it’s just a long distance.”
Akbar said after two long months of practicing in Lewiston, he hopes the weather will turn toward spring so the team will have a better experience.
Mixed with the fatigue of travel is also some excitement.
The men’s team is looking forward to making a trip to California over spring break, where their goal is to compete, work and enjoy their time. Hangstefer said they don’t intend on doing much except practicing and taking care of the school.
“I’m really excited to go there, for the change of weather at least, because here it’s always cold,” Casino said.
Matches
The women’s team currently stands with one win and four losses. In their match against Washington State University last Friday, freshman Katherine Jhang garnered Idaho’s only point in the competition, defeating Fifa Kumhom in the singles, 1-6, 6-4, 6-3.
“These are the first matches in a while, (and) I feel like there’s just a bit of sharpness,” Dowse said. “We’re slowly getting it back. It’s noticeable in training, I feel like the team is coming more together recently, and we’re building stronger bonds, so I feel like it will reflect in the matches coming up.”
The men’s team is tied up for wins and losses, having two of each so far this season. In their match against Lewis-Clark State College last Saturday, Idaho scored their second win of the season, sweeping their opponents in all doubles and singles, 7-0.
“We won in Seattle, (but) we didn’t start as good with doubles. We didn’t have good energy,” Casino said.
The team “got after it” in the singles after Hangstefer talked to the team and told them to work on their energy, Casino said.
“In the next games, I think we are going to do well on energy in general.” Francisco Bascon, another player on the men’s team, said. “We have a good team, a good environment, and we got better as a team.”
Women’s tennis plays their next match at 11 a.m. this Saturday at Gonzaga University. The men’s tennis team will compete against Seattle University at 5 p.m. this Saturday at the LCSC courts.
Cody Roberts can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @CodyRobReports