WOMEN
Florida Southern women’s tennis team wants to work the mistakes made at South Regional Championship to have better results in the next tournament.
“For next time, I would like to change our game and be more aggressive to the net,” Magdalena Riutort, junior, said.
According to Riutort the mistake made at the tournament in doubles was instead of being more aggressive to the net they placed the ball in a way the opponent could reach it easily.
The biggest challenge at the match for Sabine Goge, senior tennis player, was warming up early and the matches were hours later. Trying to relax, prepare the mind and body in hot environment weather was difficult for her.
To Riutort challenges were different.
“Honestly, we blocked ourselves and the match was so fast that we did not have time to react and analyze the situation,” Riutort said.
In the doubles semifinals, Riutort mentioned it was a shame the last match in the semifinals, because Riutort and Goge, were already tired from the other matches.
According to Goge at the doubles they were seeded as number three in the ranking, therefore, they did what they had to, which is getting to semifinals. Goge said they tried their best.
“This is because it was not a normal match. We played a plus set to eight games, there is no chance
to react on the opponent’s strategy,” Riutort said.
Top 3 doubles in the region Riutort and Goge did all what they could in the court and still the opponents were winning the points.
Riutort is happy playing with Goge because they understand each other on the court including games strategies. Riutort strength is the forehand and Goge has her strength in backhand.
“In doubles, I do feel satisfied with the results, but in singles I am not happy with the results because I could have won,” Riutort said.
Goge mentioned it was a “huge competition” so she accepted the results in doubles.
In singles, according to Goge she thought she could have won but she came up short.
“Since the first ball she [opponent] played very well and I guess I was not ready for that. I made too many mistakes. I think I wanted to play too good and even better than her. I should have just p
layed my own game,” Goge said.
Riutort could not prepare herself very well for this Championship because she was doing an internship over the summer, and also because she suffered injuries that made her stay away from a tennis racket for a while.
“I would not have changed the internship for tennis practices. I learned a lot in the internship. I am not going to live based on tennis. I am going to live with business, which I am studying,” Riutort said.
MEN
Florida Southern men’s tennis team is not satisfied with the results at the South Regional Championship.
“I played doubles with Benoit Paradis [senior tennis player]. We played at night. We did not played very well. It wasn’t our best match,” Emanuel Lueber, junior tennis player said.
According to Lueber, he had problems with the lights. He could not see the ball.
“It is not an excuse, but I don’t know why I had some problems with the lights,” Lueber said.
Paradis did not win because according to him he had back luck, and also because he did not have a “good draw.”
The week before the Championship it was raining every day, so they only practiced twice.
Paradis says to avoid losing in the next tournament, they need to practice more and stay positive.
“Mentally, I thought I was prepared, physically not really.The preparation was not the best [because of the rain],” Lueber said.
Paradis suggests that eating provides energy for the match, warming up, stretching and focusing is how he prepares for the game.
“On court I just think of doing my best, “ Paradis said. “I always do my best, but this time was just bad luck,”
The tiebreaker was challenging for Lueber. He felt more pressure at this point in the game.
”The tiebreaker is like a new thing, it is shorter. You have to focus on every point. I played against someone that I think I am better than him, but it was pretty hard because you have to win every point to win the match. Otherwise he is going to win even though you know you are a better player,” Lueber said.
Lueber enjoys playing singles and doubles. Paradis and Lueber try to be positive when things are not going right, they are not negative if one of them misses a point.
According to Paradis, Lueber and him get along well. They always talk before the match and points about what strategies they are going to do
“We always try to be positive and work with each other, because only that way you will get better,” Lueber said.
Lueber thinks that next time he should not be nervous, but instead go into the game being confident.
“I try not to think too much on my opponent, just go into the match and think about my game and try to play my game,” Lueber said. “I think if I can play my game, I can win against a lot of players. Before the match I usually run about five minutes to warm myself up and then I prepare mentally for the game, stay positive and try to have fun,”
Lueber feels more prepared for the next match. The more matches he plays, he improves.
Paradis is a senior and after he is done with school, he will play tennis only for fun and focus on working.
“I will miss the competitive aspect of it, but playing for fun, I will enjoy it too,” Paradis said.
Photo courtesy of fscmocs.com
