Buikema, Thibaudeau Contribute to Alabama Doubles Turnaround
3/26/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. ?? Last season, the Alabama men's tennis team got off to a slow start. It opened the season 2-2, but had dropped three of its first four doubles points, forcing the team to come back in singles to win any match.
Alabama's singles players were consistent, head coach Billy Pate knew, but losing the doubles point early was forcing the team to climb out of a hole to win a match and was wearing on his squad.
"The doubles have got to improve, and we're working on that," Pate said last February after a 6-1 loss to Michigan. "It's something the last few years that's been a bit of an Achilles [heel] for us, but we're working through it and we're getting better. That comes with experience."
This season, Pate and Alabama have turned an Achilles heel into the team's biggest strength during a remarkable run to open the 2007 spring season ?? a run that has seen Alabama climb to No. 11 in national rankings after a 13-3 start.
This season, the Tide opened the year winning its first 12 doubles points, and 15 of its first 16.
"I think that certainly helps, winning the doubles point and knowing we have a chance against any team in the country in doubles," Pate said. "I think that you look at a team and you don't want to have any holes, and we really don't now. Last year we were good but we had a couple of holes, and now we've filled them. Doubles is a strength. Our depth is a strength."
The turnaround of the Alabama doubles may be due largely to its No. 1 doubles team of sophomores Dan Buikema and Mat Thibaudeau. The pair has been ranked as high as No. 27 nationally in doubles this season, and currently sits at 28th.
The process of putting the sophomores together, Pate said, went beyond learning each other's game or getting to know one another. It was a total process that began last summer, when the two became both roommates, then best friends.
"We were able to put them together at the end of last year and decided to start working over the summer with their dynamics and getting used to playing with each other every single time and knowing each other," Pate said. "They're best friends, they know each other's game, and they're able to really feed off each other."
The pair's strong start is a direct reflection, Thibaudeau said, of the amount of time the two spend together. When not playing, they are usually talking about doubles, whether it's while watching TV, eating, going over performance DVDs or simply sitting around their apartment.
"We've got a good relationship," the Quebec native said. "We live together, we eat together and we basically do everything together. We come early and hit together and always practice doubles."
Buikema, native of Battle Creek, Mich., agreed.
"Living together we spend about 24 hours a day together, and we talk about doubles all the time at our apartment. If we didn't live together we wouldn't have that opportunity. If we're just watching TV or something, I'm probably thinking about doubles or he's thinking about it, and we're able to talk about it."
Spending such a large amount of time together and working extensively with one another has had an effect not just on the group's off-the-court relationship, but their game on it as well. Knowing what the other is doing allows each of them to take risks and play within his own game, while being able to rely on what his partner is doing behind him.
That sense of trust, Buikema said, has spread to the rest of the team.
"When we're going up against a 20th-ranked team or a 4th-ranked team, and our teammates look over at us and see us beat them, that gives them energy to win the doubles point," he said. "Last year we didn't have a true No. 1 team, and this year we've beat some really good teams and it's given our whole team a boost.
"We play together all the time. The ball goes so fast that if you look back to see what he's going to do and you turn around, the ball's going to be in your face."
The strength of the doubles performances throughout the team has put Alabama at an early advantage during each of its matches thus far this season. Taking a 1-0 lead into singles, Pate said, takes pressure off some of the singles players by not being forced to win four of the six matches to earn a win, as was the case much of 2006.
The confidence the team has gained in its strong start to the season has been reflected in its goals ?? after beating the likes of Clemson, Princeton, Columbia, Vanderbilt, and 7th-ranked Ole Miss, the team knows now that nothing is out of reach, including a national championship.
"As a doubles team we began the year trying to make NCAAs," Buikema said. "Now, after beating teams like Virginia and Ole Miss, our goals have changed a little bit. I think we can win the NCAA tournament and make all-Americans. Our preseason goal was to make top 16, now it's to win it. Anything's possible. Goals change as good things happen."
Pate, who is in his fifth season coaching the Crimson Tide, has noticed the shift in his team's mindset as well.
"They've got a great attitude and they work hard, and all the ingredients are there for a successful career, we just need to stay the course and not look too far ahead and focus on the task at hand every day, and we expect great things from them," Pate said.
"The mindset's changed, and the stakes are a little higher now that the expectations are up."
-UA-
By Scott Latta
