The UW men’s tennis team will compete in its second tournament this fall as it travels to Lansing, Mich., for the ITA Midwest Regionals from Thursday, Oct. 18, to Sunday, Oct. 22.
The Badgers are looking to build upon a strong performance in the Milwaukee Tennis Classic last month in which the team posted a combined 20-8 record in singles and doubles play. Senior leader Billy Bertha and junior Alex Robles led the squad, winning three straight matches to take home the Doubles Championship, while Robles was runner-up for championship singles play.
“I think Milwaukee was really good; it was kind of nice to get some match play in, I think we got a little confidence,” Bertha said.
The Badgers finished with the best record of the four schools at the tournament, which included Ball State, DePaul and Marquette.
Going into this weekend’s tournament, the Badgers know competition is expected to be a little bit fiercer than at the Milwaukee Classic. In attendance are No. 21 Michigan, No. 15 Illinois and No. 4 Ohio State.
“Ohio State is always one of the toughest schools,” junior Petr Satral said of the Buckeyes. “Hopefully we will have a better result than them.” Ohio State has five players in the top 16 seeds of the singles bracket and three of the top seeds in the doubles bracket.
In the first round of doubles play, the Badgers send their power duo of Bertha and Robles to do battle with a pair of freshmen from Valparaiso, Daniel Oakes and Michael Savaglio. While Bertha and Robles know they’ve got more years of tournament experience under their belts, they also know they cannot take their opponents lightly.
“It’s going to be a little bit more cutthroat because it’s once you lose, you’re knocked out,” Bertha said of the upcoming tournament.
The Badgers also have two other doubles pairs competing in the Midwest Regionals. Senior Alexander Kostanov and freshman Jakhongir Jalalov team up to take on a pair from Marquette, and Badger’s Oskar Wikberg and Petr Satral match up against Cleveland State in the first round.
In singles play, Bertha, Robles, Kostanov and Satral will compete for the Badgers in the hope of advancing well into the 64-man singles tournament. Robles takes on third-seeded Greg Andrews from Notre Dame in what could be a huge upset for the Badgers.
While the Badgers know competition will be tough at the ITA Midwest Regionals, they are hungry to prove they deserve recognition on the national leaderboards.
When asked about how practice has gone in preparation for the tournament, Bertha said, “It’s been good; we’ve been working hard doing a lot of weights and sprints. And now we’re trying to focus more on doing more match play to get ready for the tournament.”
The Badgers are coming off a one-month layoff from tournament play, so they are looking forward to getting back out there and competing on a big stage. Badgers head coach Greg Van Emburgh has been preparing the guys for the past month, and he said he thinks they are ready to play.
“The work ethic is there; this group of eight brings it everyday. They’ve been working hard in practice and trying to get as much done as they can in their conditioning as well,” Van Emburgh said. “We’re getting what we need and you know the last time we played a tournament was mid-September, so they’re ready to go.”
Excitement is building as the Badgers look to continue their strong start to the season when they begin play in the Midwest Regionals. Qualifiers begin Thursday afternoon, and then play heats up Friday morning, when singles and doubles kick off.
