Tennis confident after weekend tournament play

Courtesy Rice Athletics Senior Trinity Grear returns the ball in a game. Rice men’s tennis competed at the International Tennis Association Men’s All American Championships in Tulsa, OK over the weekend while the women’s team played at the Houston Invitational.

By Cadan Hanson 10/4/23 12:21am

Last weekend, the men’s and women’s tennis teams returned to the court to compete in the International Tennis Association Men’s All American Championships and the Houston Invitational, respectively. These early fall tournaments helped the teams get in more competitions in preparation for the ITA Texas Regionals Tournament in Fort Worth later in the fall.

Women’s tennis head coach Elizabeth Schmidt was happy with the way that her squad performed, especially in a tune-up for Regionals.

“It was good to get more competition this weekend, and it gave us a good gauge of things we need to continue to work on as we lead up to Regionals,” Schmidt said.

The women’s team started their second tournament of the season splitting their doubles matches 2-2.

On the first day of singles, Rice dropped three of their four singles matches against the University of Texas at Arlington as junior Saara Orav picked up the lone win (6-0, 6-3). Day two was more successful, with the Owls sweeping all four of their singles matches against the United States Air Force Academy. On the final day of competition, the Owls lost three of their four singles matches besides freshman Divna Ratkovic’s win in a close three-set match, 5-7, 7-6 (7-0), 10-9.

After going 2-1 on the weekend individually and helping the team to a 6-6 singles weekend record, Ratkovic said the team’s support has boosted everyone’s confidence.

“I feel more confident every match,” Ratkovic said. “My team’s performance has [had an] impact on me because the better they are, the better it is for the team and our confidence on the court. We fight, we want to win and that is the mentality that pushes us going forward and that positively impacts our confidence.”

The men’s team had two players competing in the ITA Men’s All American Championships, in Tulsa, Okla. last weekend. Junior transfer Arthus de la Bassetiere came back from an early one-set deficit to win in the first round (3-6, 6-2, 6-1) against Carl Gustavson from St. John’s University but fell in the second round against Thomas Pinho of the University of Texas at San Antonio to end his tournament run.

Senior Trinity Grear was able to advance to the fourth round after three straight wins, but in his fourth match of the weekend, Great lost a tightly contested third set against Linus Carlsson Halldin to end his tournament run (6-4, 3-6, 6-7).

“The toughest part was the physical part. As tennis players, we’re pretty accustomed to only having to play one match a day, but this tournament required two matches in a day at a very high level, which took a lot of effort,” Grear said. “I had a lot of chances in my fourth round match but I just didn’t get over the finish line unfortunately. Despite that, I’m feeling good about my form and I’m looking forward to taking the positives from this weekend into matches down the road.”

Grear was pleased with the team’s overall performance from the weekend.

“[de la Bassetiere] and I both played a few competitive matches which is exactly what we traveled to Tusla to do in the first place,” Grear said. “These matches have taught us both a lot about our games and we’ll use what we’ve learned to improve going forward and in events later on in the season.”

Going forward, the men’s and women’s teams will have time off before the ITA Texas Regional Tournament, starting Oct. 12 for the women’s team and Oct. 19 for the men’s squad. Depending on their performance, both teams will have a chance to send athletes in either singles or doubles to the ITA Fall Nationals in San Diego, Calif. starting Nov. 1.

For Grear, the performance in early season tournaments is creating a snowball effect, boosting their confidence with Regionals and Nationals approaching.

“We have the level and all the pieces we need to compete with the best teams in the country,” Grear said. “It’s just a matter of staying healthy and being diligent in refining our games, whether that be physically, technically, mentally or a combination.”