When rain blows into Baton Rouge, several LSU teams are left unfazed. They are able to ignore Mother Nature and practice or even play games without interruptions.
LSU men’s tennis is less fortunate. Bad weather can derail the team’s practice schedule and cause matches to be abandoned.
The Tigers can’t avoid the rain, so they learned to cope with it.
“It is a little [weird],” said senior Chris Simpson. “We’ve kind of gotten used to it, though. We haven’t got the indoor facility. So we can’t always play every match.
The Tigers were thwarted by the rain on Feb. 1 and were forced to cancel their match against Wisconsin.
Before the cancellation was made official, the Tigers mental toughness was tested as they waited to find out if they might play after only a delay. The uncertainty forced them to stay loose and keep one eye focused on the possibility of playing.
As workers rushed to get the courts dry, some Tigers juggled a soccer ball while others tossed a football to keep their minds at ease.
LSU coach Jeff Brown said it’s important to stay loose so long as too much energy isn’t wasted.
Simpson said kicking a soccer ball helped the team relax in case it had to go out and play the match.
“We just kind of messed around with the soccer ball a little bit because it takes our mind off it,” Simpson said. “We just try to take our mind off the game a bit just to relax so we’re not too tight. If we just sat in the locker room just waiting, then we’ll be so nervous, and we just won’t know what to do.”

Not only does the rain test LSU’s resolve, it disrupts the practice schedule throughout the week.
Following the canceled Wisconsin match, the team had several days of practice canceled due to weather. Many players were unable to get on the court to prepare for their then-upcoming matches against Jackson State and Alcorn State until late in the week.
Although weather prevented the team from practicing, Brown saw it as an opportunity to give his players a few days off. Looking at the schedule, he said it may have been the last time for a while he could give them an extended break with competitive matches in the coming weeks.
Brown said if the weather is an issue in the build up to Sunday’s match against Rice, the Tigers might look into practicing on the indoor courts at the Independence Park Tennis Center on Independence Boulevard.
However, the Tigers will soon have indoor courts of their own when construction of the team’s new facility is completed.
Junior Boris Arias said the new facility will be just what the team needs to deal with the weather.
“Every time it rains, we can’t practice, and it affects us a lot,” Arias said. “But now with the new facility, we can practice even if it rains.”
The new facility will have six indoor courts and 12 outdoor courts.
Brown said he thinks the facility is still a couple of months from being finished, but it will be an invaluable resource for the Tigers who no longer have to cancel practices or matches because of the rain.
“It’s limitless what you can really do with a facility like that,” Brown said.
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