by Tom Ziemer, Sports Writer

Scott Green describes himself as a quiet guy. It’s no surprise then that the Badger tennis co-captain’s favorite player growing up was another no-nonsense guy.

“(Pete) Sampras definitely was my favorite player,” Green said. “Just his personality, a little quieter.”

While Green may never attain “Pistol Pete’s” gaudy numbers, the Appleton native was a hotshot recruit before arriving in Madison four years ago. In his high school career at Appleton North, Green amassed a jaw-dropping career record of 103-9, including a senior season in which he never lost a single set and captured the state title.

Even for an accomplished player like Green, the transition from high school to the college game was understandably difficult.

“Coming in as a freshman, it was completely different, both physically and mentally,” Green said. “Strength-wise, I was a lot smaller than everybody else, not in height, but just in physical strength … and then mentally, just knowing that everybody that you go out there and play against is just as good as the other person. You’re never going to have a free match. It’s just a whole new game, a whole new level. The speed is just so much faster. It’s just an adjustment period.”

Despite the challenge, Green made quite an impact in his first collegiate season. The team voted Green its most improved player after watching him build a solid record. In singles competition, he picked up where he left off, winning his first four matches (not dropping a set) and was a solid cog in the Badger lineup, going 8-9 overall. The area where Green left a lasting impression was in doubles play, teaming with junior Scott Rutherford to post a 7-4 Big Ten record that included a win over the top team in the polls, Graydon Oliver and Amer Delic of Illinois. Green credits the success to the bond between he and his partner.

“Starting off freshman year, we didn’t play together, and we were just switching off partners, and everything like that,” Green said. “And then we came back at break and started playing together, started just clicking. We were pretty good friends, I mean, our personalities were pretty similar and as the season progressed we just kept getting better and better. Then, we went and beat Illinois, who was (number) one in the country at the time, and after that it was just like we had all the confidence in the world.”

Green also says that Rutherford helped him improve immensely.

“He taught me, in doubles-wise, he taught me how to play the game,” Green said. “He was an incredible doubles player, just returning, serving, up at the net, everything. He taught me pretty much how to play doubles. He taught me how to prepare for it. Doubles is a game where anything can happen, just like how to remain focused throughout a whole match and really not going for the big shot but just playing solid doubles.”

Green built on his first-year success with an impressive sophomore campaign. While his singles record was just 11-20, he teamed with Rutherford to post the most wins by a UW duo since the 1989-90 season, with a total of 18.

After two years of success, Green had a sub-par year as a junior in the 2002-03 season, winning just four singles matches and six doubles contests. Green attributes his poor play a year ago to playing higher in the lineup and generally just being worn out.

“Probably lack of focus. Just a little burn-out factor, going for two years and playing tennis constantly,” Green said. “Coming from high school and playing a bunch of other sports, I would always have a little break. And then coming in and pounding away on a court for two years, it just kind of got me a little burned out, I wouldn’t say completely. Then, playing higher in the lineup also was a struggle. Going from playing five and six, and doing fairly well there, and then going and playing four. It doesn’t seem like that big of a difference, but you can definitely tell just by the way people are playing, you can’t give away as much.”

This year, however, Green has a renewed vigor and also has a new role as one of the team’s two captains. Not surprisingly, the quiet guy from Appleton is now a quiet captain, using his actions to provide leadership on a tightly-bound Badger squad.

“In terms of being my last year, it’s just a matter of coming in and working as hard as I possibly can,” Green said. “And especially with this team this year, everybody is really good friends, everybody gets along really well. Dave [Hippee], the other captain, we have kind of two different roles. He’s more vocal than I am. I’m quieter, and I’ll go out and kind of hope to work harder than people, and just kind of lead by example that way. Dave is great at going at it the other way and getting on guys.”

After mixed results in the fall, it looks like Green’s game is back. The Badger captain has started solidly this spring, posting a 3-2 record in both singles and doubles with partner Alex Conti against some tough competition. For Green, though, the fate of the team is much more important than his own, and the senior has a simple moniker that he is using to close out his career in Madison.

“Individually is just to improve every week,” Green said. “And just to help the team get better every single week, because I know that tennis is kind of, it is an individual sport, but at the same time it’s a team sport. So it’s just going in, whether it’s in the weight room or out at practice, and working hard and getting better. And then, having the team just continue to work hard and hopefully good things will come.”