“Mental toughness” is the phrase being preached at Nielsen Tennis Stadium by players and coaches alike from the University of Wisconsin women’s tennis team.
With a record of 5-12 and a current six-game losing streak, the team hopes to put an end to the slide on Saturday when they host Purdue, a team currently enduring a five-game losing streak.
Despite the less-than satisfactory record and a winless Big Ten season thus far, the team remains confident in their physical abilities and is looking to the mental aspect of tennis to get back on track.
“We know that it’s not a technical issue — it’s more of a mental issue,” head coach Brian Fleishman said. “We’re not playing horrible tennis right now, we just aren’t getting over that hump.”
In attempts to become “a more competitive and tougher team,” Fleishman is using some unusual methods, namely sleep deprivation. At the end of practice, the players have practice matches against each other, and the losers are required to come in the next morning for a 6:30 a.m. practice. This policy forces them to not only be focused and competitive during the match in order to avoid punishment, but also builds mental toughness in the players who do lose by making them focus at an hour that makes it difficult.
However, toughness is not only preached by the coach, but also sought after by the players.
When asked to name the one thing the team needed to improve, senior Liz Carpenter did not hesitate to respond.
“Toughness,” she said. “Being able to want it more than the other team and not giving up when things get hard. That’s pretty much the only thing our team needs to work on.”
Carpenter, the No. 1 singles player, is looking to improve on her record (6-11, 2-3 Big Ten), and in doing so set an example for the team.
Fleishman is looking for his top players to continue to play well, and is looking for younger players to step up.
“Our top four players are playing extremely well — they are just playing some tough competition,” Fleishman said. “I would like to see our younger players, our freshmen, step up and fill the void from Alaina Trgovich, who went down earlier in the season with an ACL tear. We are trying to ask more of them and see if they can handle us putting a little more pressure on them.”
While not a freshman, a player looking to help fill that void is sophomore Jessica Seyferth. Despite that her team is still winless in Big Ten play, Seyferth remains hopeful.
“We are all working extra hard and putting in extra effort in the morning and practice. We are staying focused and improving the things we need to work on from past matches and moving forward,” Seyferth said. “We are right there — it’s just a few points here and there that will win us matches.”
Carpenter echoes her teammate’s belief that perseverance will be beneficial.
“We have had a tough start of the season, but I think going into this weekend, all those tough matches will pay off,” Carpenter said.
While remaining hopeful they will be vindicated for their hard work, the team is not forsaking tactical strategies.
“We are playing around with our doubles lineup a little bit. We still haven’t found some right combinations,” Fleishman said. “We have had to make some changes, just trying to mix things up a little bit to see if we can get back on track again and get our first Big Ten win.”
