Net News, Volume 14
4/15/2022 10:07:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Home Sweet Home
"Home, Sweet Home" is a song from the opera Clari, or the Maid of Milan, which was first performed at Covent Garden, London, in 1823. The lyrics were written by American actor and playwright John Howard Payne. Just about 150 years later, the American Southern rock band, Lynard Skynard, released their second album, Second Helping, which included the very well-known tune, "Sweet Home Alabama", which has been played countless times on campus with great passion and pride. Both songs speak to the strength and comforts that a home brings as it's a place to find happiness. If one doesn't find it here, one doesn't find it anywhere.
Last weekend marked our final home matches of the year. A season that seemed like a marathon at the start but soon became a sprint once the lawns in our neighborhoods transformed from their brown tint of the winter to spring time green. We had a chilly Friday Night Lights battle against the Gators and beautiful sunshine on Palm Sunday when the Gamecocks and Blazers were in town. Our fans once again proved there is strength in numbers and filled the stands not only with their bundled up bodies but also provided cheers, hollers and screams of support.
The Crimson Chaos was in attendance for the Florida match and sponsored free Classic Chicken Sandwiches for all fans from the company that has cows inspiring us all to "Eat Mor Chikin". The doubles was intense and came down to a deciding tiebreaker. While we held a few match points, the defending national champions chomped away at those moments and stole the opening lead. The guys regrouped during the intermission and came out firing in singles. The matches went back and forth in terms of momentum and produced a couple of impressive results. Zach Foster claimed an impressive victory over fellow American freshman, Nate Bonetto, while teammate Filip Planinsek defeated college's top-ranked singles player, Ben Shelton, in three exciting sets that concluded the evening's action.
Palm Sunday featured our second consecutive Sunday cookout sponsored by the Crimson Racket Club. Alan Cunningham, the voice of Alabama Men's Tennis, fired up the charcoal in our custom-made grill, while volunteer cooks, Andrew "Boom Boom" Osucha and Eric "Wild Thing" Wilson, grilled hamburgers and hot dogs for the Crimson Tide faithful. I failed to recognize and thank our cooks from a week prior when the Razorbacks were in town. These included former Bama baller, Jeremy "Romeo" Gschwendtner and good friends Aaron "Boilermaker" Sincroft and Blake "B-Bake" Corder. The Tuscaloosa Civinettes also contributed their time and energy to make these giveaway days special. Thanks and Roll Tide to all y'all.
Our seniors, Patrick Kaukovalta and Juan Martin, were honored while the sweet smell of home cooking from the CRC grill blew through the air. Their parents were not able to make the trip to Tuscaloosa from Finland and Argentina, respectively, so we selected a couple of great fill-ins. Patrick walked on court with friend, roommate and former teammate, Jeremy Gschwendtner, while Juan strutted his stuff with our head tennis facility worker, Yaquelyn Rodriguez. Each senior also returned serves from their honorary counterparts (Alan "Mouth of the South" Cunningham & tennis administrator Jessica Pare) after the crowd cheered their highlights and contributions to Alabama tennis.
For the fourth consecutive weekend, our squad competed in a doubleheader. It's not a typical thing to see on the schedule so late in the season, but I strongly felt the more competition and tough situations these young guys faced, the better their execution would develop over time. We proceeded to put up a great fight in doubles against South Carolina but one could see that the V8 engine wasn't quite running on all cylinders from start to finish. We had doubles opportunities to jump start our Sunday Funday but the Gamecocks' experience and veteran leadership proved too strong and that trend continued in singles.Â
So it was our responsibility to recover and respond in the night cap against UAB. We had defeated the Blazers indoors earlier in the season but that was nearly twenty matches prior to this twilight affair. We jumped out to a quick lead after claiming the opening doubles matches and captured two singles points that pushed our lead to 3-0. The remaining four contests were tight and the opportunity for an upset loomed in the now chillier air as the sun had set. After our visitors from up the interstate tied the match 3-3, the outcome was determined on court two…that of senior Patrick who was playing in his final home match. He was down a service break 0-3 and the UAB team was pumped for the opportunity to make this senior's final home appearance a sad one. While there certainly was drama, there was incredible support and spirit provided by both teams and the fans that had stayed for the finale. The atmosphere was electric and who could have written a better script for PK to follow? Point-by-point he battled back from 0-3 to 1-3 to breaking serve for 2-3. After holding to even the score at 3-3, our "Flying Finn" broke serve once again to claim the lead 4-3. He moved and swung with confidence, hit well-placed serves, transitioned to the net and put his Blazer opponent in a very tight spot like a boxer caught in the corner against the ropes. Patrick held serve again and added another game to his lead, 5-3. Cheers of "ALA!" "BAMA!" echoed throughout the facility as fans and teammates encouraged our senior to keep going and seize the moment - 0-15, 0-30, 0-40 and now match point. PK took a second serve on the rise and sent it deep up the middle that pushed the UAB player back like a quick jab to the nose. He responded with a backhand that flew long and the match was clinched. Point PK, Match Bama!Â
What a day, what a night and what an ending delivered by the executive director in the heavens above. We couldn't have written a more fitting way to end a player's home career and PK ate up the moment. His final season has been a tough one. His late fall injury put him on the sidelines for four months, and when he returned, his game was altered quite a bit. This forced PK to adapt, improvise and overcome obstacles that were not present in years past. He's done very well given the situation and has never stopped competing since returning to court.
This victory concluded the home season but our book has not finished as we are in Knoxville, Tennessee, and Athens, Georgia, for our final two regular season matches. We'll stay at UGA after Sunday afternoon's showdown with the Dawgs as the SEC Championships begin next Wednesday, April 20 at the Magill Tennis Complex.Â
All matches will be streamed and can be followed online at www.rolltide.com. There's also a fun way of watching SEC tennis via the Cracked Racquets Redzone/Whip Around Broadcast, that features live streams from all conference matches on Fridays and Sundays. This media addition has provided fans with more live college tennis coverage from the conference where #ItJustMeansMore.
You have meant more to us this season than you'll ever know. Thanks for your invaluable support, for not judging our book by its cover, and most importantly, for making our home always feel like home, where we find happiness all the time. #ThatsBama
Roll Tide,
George
Players Mentioned
