Alabama
Bama Spring Shootout
Edson Ortiz is Hungry to Finish Strong for Alabama Men’s Tennis
1/7/2021 2:38:00 PM | Men's Tennis
The senior returns to the court this weekend at the Bama Spring Shootout with Texas after his spring and fall seasons were cut short
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – To say that Edson Ortiz can't wait for the Alabama men's tennis spring season to get underway, is something of an understatement.
When the COVID-19 pandemic brought everything to a close last spring, Ortiz was playing some of the best tennis of his career. He was nationally ranked and on track to finish his Crimson Tide career in style. Then word came down that the season was over.
"It was a strange last season the way things just ended," Ortiz said. "It was supposed to be my last season, so I had a lot of questions, like 'Is that it for me?' and "Is it really going to end like this?'."
As it turned out, he and his fellow seniors were granted another year of eligibility. He would once again wear the crimson and white of Alabama in competition. Knowing that he had another shot at his senior year, Ortiz began to prepare, working as hard as he could to make the most of this second chance to finish strong.
"We got lucky, getting an extra year," Ortiz said. "So, from the time we found that out I was practicing and working out as much as I could to be prepared for this season."
He rolled into the fall in great shape and ready to compete, opening at the Tiger Fall Invitational, where he combined with Gabriel Diaz Freire to roll to an 8-6 win over the Auburn duo of Tad Maclean and Finn Murgett.
Then came the Bulldog Challenge, where an injury on day one cut short his fall season, but Ortiz faced the challenge with his usual positive attitude.
"I think a lot of people would have gotten down about that," Ortiz said. "But for me, I was like 'I have four or five weeks of recovery and then I'm back on the court.' So, I just worked hard to get ready for the season and now I'm fine, injury free, and I'm ready to go."
The sudden stop to his seasons last spring and this fall have him more than ready to get back out on the courts to compete for the Crimson Tide. This weekend's Bama Spring Shootout with Texas is especially exciting since he missed this fall's home tournament.
"I'm really, really hungry for this," Ortiz said. "I've been looking forward to this since last March. It's a really good feeling that we get to compete again."
With last year's seniors getting an extra year of eligibility and all of them returning, the Crimson Tide has an extremely veteran lineup this spring – including graduate students Ortiz, Gabriel Diaz Freire, Alexey Nesterov, Vincent Rettke and Zhe Zhou and seniors Grant Stuckey, Riccardo Roberto, Patrick Kaukovalta, Jeremy Gschwendtner and Sam Fischer.
"It's really, really, really nice," Ortiz said. "I've been really lucky that I've been playing with the same guys pretty much the whole time I've been here, with a few new faces each year, but mostly this same group has been together for a long time. It's a good feeling to finish my career with all these guys that I started with and share these last moments and last matches with them."
Ortiz is also ready to bring his trademark energy to the top of the Crimson Tide's lineup.
"Playing No. 1 like I did last year, you're in the middle of everything, and I always try to bring a lot of energy to the court and a lot of energy to the team," Ortiz said. "It's not something I focus on during matches, it just comes naturally."
The Chihuahua, Mexico, native brings that same energy and enthusiasm to the classroom, where he is a four-year ITA Scholar-Athlete and the 2020 Southeastern Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
"Academics are very important to me," Ortiz said. "I'm not only an athlete at Alabama, but a student-athlete and the student part comes first. It's something that has been important since I was in elementary school. I had to have good grades before they would let me go play in national tournaments, so it goes way back for me."
Ortiz has already finished up one Alabama degree, graduating last summer with a bachelor's exercise science. He is currently working on a master's degree in hospitality management.
The Bama Spring Shootout runs Jan. 8-10 at the Roberta Alison Baumgardner Tennis Facility, with Friday's and Saturday's matches getting underway at 1 p.m. and Sunday's starting at 10 a.m. Due to health and safety considerations in addition to the current guidelines, attendance at Alabama tennis home indoor competitions are closed to spectators. The matches are slated to be streamed live at www.rolltide.com/indoor/.
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