Georgia Tech Visits Wake Forest

When I left the house on Sunday morning March 30, I was pretty sure the weather conditions would force the men's tennis match between Georgia Tech and Wake Forest indoors. I was right. When I arrived at the indoor tennis center there were a number of cars parked outside and when I walked in the facility for the first time, the first person I ran into was Kenny Thorne, head coach of the Yellow Jackets.

Kenny and I spent a few minutes catching up. He asked about my new job and then we talked about how the season was progressing. Even though the team has struggled a little bit lately, it certainly has not diminished Kenny's enthusiasm or his optimism. He loves tennis and he loves his team and the GT program. He still has great hopes for the team this season and with the recruits he has coming in he has great aspirations for the program next year. He invited me to say hello to the team as they were warming up.

I talked briefly with senior David North. The team's former number one has experienced back problems over the last two seasons and has not played much. He said he was ready to play on Saturday although he would only be playing singles. David is from South Africa and he let me know that his good friend Kevin Anderson, also from South Africa, beat Novak Djokovic just a few days before on Friday, March 27 at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami. He told me they played all the time in juniors in South Africa and they he probably beat Kevin 25 times or so. Anderson's win was a big one for sure. I know David was really happy for him although he hadn't had the chance to talk with him since the win.

I spent a few minutes with assistant coach Josh Hausman and then seniors Scott Blackmon and George Gvelesiani. Scott has been playing well this season, but George had not been in the lineup in the last few matches. I'd get to see them both play doubles and singles in this match as Scott was playing the number one position and George was in the number six position.

The doubles point was up for grabs when George and Guillermo Gomez won at number two, 8-3, while Scott and Ryan Smith lost at number three, 8-3. The GT ones ended up losing 8-6 in a tight match and the Jackets were down 1-0.

I stayed focused on the number one and number six matches. The Wake Forest indoor facility is very nice with eight courts, four on each side with a viewing area down the middle between the two groups of courts. Scott and George played directly opposite of each other. George had a tough time with Andrew Brasseaux, going down in straight sets 6-3, 6-1. Brasseaux's one-handed backhand was very effective and he ended up winning a number of points off of it. Scott also faced a tough match against Mariusz Adamski. Scott was playing tough in the second set but he did not have enough to beat Adamski, losing 6-3, 7-5. I spent some time with them after their matches and while they were disappointed they were also looking to bounce back.

On court two, David North was hitting some nice ground strokes to start the match, but he ended up twisting his ankle in the third game and retired after the fourth game, down 3-1. The Jackets did get two nice wins. At number three, freshman Guillermo Gomez lost the first set 7-6, bounced back in the second set 6-4 and won the third set tie-breaker 10-8. At number four, freshman Eliot Potvin won in straight sets 6-2, 7-6. I thought it was a great effort from the youngest members on the team and it helped disappoint the Demon Deacons a bit, as they were looking for a 7-0 sweep.

There was a nice crowd on hand to support the Yellow Jackets and the team showed a lot of class when they came over to thank all of us who came out to cheer them on. With the loss the Jackets fell to 11-9 and 1-6 in the ACC. They'll need a few good wins to be considered for the NCAA tournament.

The Yellow Jackets return to North Carolina on April 11 and 13 when they take on North Carolina and Duke. I have put the matches on my calendar and I look forward to making the drive over to Raleigh - Durham to support them.

Time.