On Saturday, February 2, I made a trip to the Taube Tennis Center on the campus of Stanford University to see the Stanford men take on the #6 ranked University of Southern California Trojans. Once I knew I would be traveling to Palo Alto and San Jose for a business meeting, I looked on the Stanford site to see if they had any home matches scheduled. As fate would have it, I was rewarded as my trip coincided with the Cardinal taking on the Trojans. Although Stanford was ranked #42 going into the match, this is the place where the standard for college tennis excellence has been established.
The match was initially scheduled for 1 p.m., but due to the threat of rain the match was moved up to 12:30 and the teams started the day by playing the singles first. I arrived at the end of the first set and at that time USC was in control. I focused on the one match where Stanford had the lead which was at No. 1 singles. Stanford's Alex Clayton, ranked #2 in the NCAA beat ninth ranked Robert Farah in straight sets for Stanford's only win on the day. Clayton has a fantastic one-handed backhand and it was a real treat to watch him use it effectively against Farah. Stanford ended up losing the match 5-1, as rain started to make its way into the area and the teams decided not to play the doubles point. I was disappointed, as doubles are my favorite part of a college match.
The real highlight of the day turned out to be a brief conversation I had with former Stanford head coach Dick Gould. Coach Gould is a great guy and over the course of his career did so much to strengthen the game of college tennis. I am glad I had the chance to meet him and thank him for all he has done for the game. In his 38 years of coaching his teams won the national championship 17 times. That is simply a record of success few coaches could ever hope to achieve. Wow! Coach Gould retired after the 2003-04 season and is currently the director of tennis for Stanford. He is a fixture at Stanford's home matches, so be on the lookout for him if you are at the Taube Tennis Center.
Speaking of the Stanford tennis facility, it is really a world class college tennis facility. You are right on top of the action no matter where you sit and I learned from one of the ushers that the stands get filled for matches regularly, especially when the team is one of the top teams in the country. Inside the facility is a trophy room and the walls are filled with national championship awards of all kinds from the men's and women's programs. Stanford is simply the standard for college tennis excellence and you can see it all right there in the trophy room. It is very impressive.
I was able to return to the facility at the end of the week and had the chance to see the men's team practice for their upcoming match the following day against BYU. I also watched the BYU team go through its practice session before I headed over to the Maples Pavillion right next door to see the No. 9 Stanford men's basketball team beat Oregon by nearly 30 points. The basketball facility is also great and both the Stanford men and women are in the top 10 right now. The tradition of excellence really encompasses so many sports at Stanford.
Stanford ended up beating BYU 7-0 the day I left town.
I look forward to the next opportunity I have to watch Stanford tennis on campus. It is a great experience.
Time.
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