Competition is on for this season, but it will be a unique experience compared to seasons in the past. There are teams with large advantages over others and matches and tournaments can get cancelled just like that.  

Over the quarantine, some players were able to practice and compete, and others weren’t. This put certain players at a disadvantage, especially in tennis, a sport that requires a competitive rhythm and high level of play.  

Co-Head Coach Chris Brandi acknowledged this fact, stating that the pandemic is affecting a lot of people, even tennis pros.  

“Even some of the best players in the world aren’t where they want to be,” Brandi said. “I would argue that tennis is one of the most difficult sports to come back from because there’s a timing element. If you don’t have a rhythm of playing, it’s challenging to play at a high level.” 

But there were positives to the quarantine period too, and one of them was recognized by LSU Senior Joey Thomas. He talked about being able to reflect on their play and what they needed to improve.  

“We’ve had a lot of time to think about what went wrong, what we can improve on and how we could get better,” Thomas said. “I think a lot of the guys on our team came back and improved on a lot of those aspects of their lives. We can see it on the tennis courts and in their grades.” 

With the team only getting to play in three tournaments over the fall, competition is limited. But limited competition is better than no competition because coaches will get to evaluate their players against other competition, and the players will get to improve and test their strengths and weaknesses.  

“The goal of any fall is to just get better,” Brandi said when talking about what they want to achieve this fall. “Different guys are in different stages of their development, and by the end of this fall, we’ll have an idea of where everybody will fit.” 

There is one more glaring problem: the threat of the coronavirus. While there is competition scheduled on paper, that could change in the blink of an eye if one player involved were to contract it or even come into contact with it. This fact has also posed problems in practice, Brandi said.  

“The biggest adjustment is that we’ll get momentum in practice, and then three or four guys can’t come for two weeks,” Brandi said. “We [could be] getting ready for a tournament, and everything falls apart.” 

But despite the limited season and potential for it to collapse, the team can practice together at the end of the day. Joey Thomas stated that tournaments or no tournaments, the team will improve. it’s just good to be somewhat back to normal. 

“It doesn’t matter if we’re playing no tournaments or five tournaments,” Thomas said. “We’re going to practice as hard as we can no matter what.”  

“It’s a privilege to come back here and play tennis and see the coaches and teammates. There’s no better feeling, and everybody is super pumped and motivated because of it.”