A player or team can have all the talent in the world and still fail to win matches against the best. The best tennis teams in the country don’t become that way just from strong recruitment, but from building the confidence and wisdom of their players and molding them to become as efficient as they can be.
One of the most exciting things about this LSU men’s tennis team is its immensely talented group of underclassmen. The team currently features eight underclassmen (two juniors, two sophomores and four freshmen), the majority of whom were five-star recruits and above.
Successful recruitment like this can be amazing for a team looking to climb their way up the rankings, but they don’t automatically transport themselves to the top as soon as they acquire them.
According to Coach Chris Brandi, the team must understand the intensity level that is required to be able to take on the best teams in the nation.
“A lot of the new guys though, they obviously haven’t played at this level,” Brandi said. “You’ve got really go to work, put it in and take your time. It takes a lot of consistency to get to the level we need, and we’re not there yet. We haven’t earned it yet to put it bluntly.”
Though a team can improve a lot from practice and training, the most important improvement tool is obtained on the courts against the best teams in the nation: experience.
The Tigers have obtained a lot of experience in a short time, facing off against three of the best teams in the SEC (Texas A&M, Tennessee, and Ole Miss) and multiple other ranked teams. Their schedule doesn’t get any easier, with their last event featuring three more ranked teams (Alabama, Kentucky, and Vanderbilt).
There are positives and negatives that come from having a tough start to the season like this. Your team gets to face the best of the best and learn as a result, but it can be detrimental for the confidence of young players to consistently lose.
Coach Brandi understands this but believes that his team can endure the challenge, stating that the team has a lot of confidence in themselves. He believes that playing these teams early will be good for them in the long run.
“My father and I are actually happy to have played this tough of competition early on,” Brandi said. “We’ve got video of these matches that our guys can watch, and they can learn from their mistakes and what they’re opponents are doing well.”
The team will have one more event to showcase their skills and improvements before they are finished with competition until the spring. A lot of the unknowns will remain unsolved until January, but Coach Brandi believes the team is on the right track.
“I think we’re on the right track now and these young guys get it,” Brandi said. “They got smashed in the face, they’re tired of that and we’re going to find out what we’re made of in the spring.”
