Net News, Volume 10
3/28/2025 4:24:00 PM | Men's Tennis
Hello Bama Tennis Faithful,
We're in the thick of March Madness both at tennis and on the hardwood with Bama hoops. Honestly speaking, it has been a challenging month for our team; however, as we are about to flip the calendar page to April, we find ourselves progressing each day in practice with a heightened focus on the little things that could produce bigger rewards.
We began the month short a couple of players due to injury and had other players fill the holes, who experienced some exciting moments. While some have resulted in victories (i.e. Carlos' (Gimenez Perez) thrilling three-set clincher against Georgia, Filip's (Planinsek) come-from-behind win against Kentucky), we've also had notable performances in losses (i.e. Matic's (Kriznik) three-set battle at Arkansas, Damien's (Nezar) three-set win vs. Tennessee and Roan's (Jones) pair of unfinished matches at Texas A&M & Texas). All in all, progress made by individuals who all lead by example. Now the key is to get all the performances in the same mixing bowl to produce quality team product from start to finish.
We had a good series of matches against Tennessee and Kentucky one week ago. Random, yet normal, Alabama weather patterns produced sub 50-degree weather against the Volunteers. The match was moved indoors to the delight of a full house of fans, while the two-color opponents (bright orange and crimson) laced up their gloves and stepped into the ring. Our doubles inconsistency in this match proved costly and we dropped the first point. Sophomore Andrii Zimnokh was first out of the gates and sprinted through the finish line while unleashing a series of haymakers on his opponent that resulted in a 6-2, 6-1 victory. Senior All-American Filip Planinsek jabbed his way to an unanimous victory (his thirteenth in fourteen tries), though it was not easy to knock out his fast, efficient and pest-like opponent. Senior transfer Damien Nezar returned to the singles lineup again after a competitive performance in Austin against Texas. While his Longhorn opponent was a quick, offensive/counter punching player, the exact opposite appeared against Tennessee in the form of a tall, very hard serving and powerful baseline player. Both required Damien to execute his transition game with intent, intelligence and resolve. Our Eden, South African did just that in a three-set victory, but the Vols left our facility 4-3 victors.
There was good reason to hold our heads high and keep our chest out as we were remarkably better against Tennessee than the previous road trip in Texas. Side note, we were once again delayed on our travel home and arrived in Tuscaloosa at 4 a.m. Monday morning from Austin. So we batted 1.000 in travel delays, flight cancelations and plenty of hours waiting rather than moving during all of our airplane-required trips.
Back to match play, we welcomed the Wildcats of Kentucky to beautiful outdoor weather two days after the Rocky Top contest. The Crimson Racket Club served up a couple hundred grilled burgers and hot dogs for fans while many walked through the turnstiles at the Alabama Tennis Stadium. Many thanks to volunteer grilling cooks, Jason Collins, James Taylor and Roman Duren, as well as the several CRC board members that helped serve up the tasty lunch. We celebrated Spring Kids Day as so many boys and girls were on hand, jumping in the bounce house, playing corn hole, showing off their artistic talents on coloring sheets or watching the Bama Tennis compete. There was a dozen or so boys and girls from the Tuscaloosa tennis community that competed in a Green Ball singles and double mixer prior to the match before joining in on the other festivities. Several members from the church my family attends, Christ Episcopal Church, were on hand to take in a day of tennis, food and sunshine as well as watch Rector Paul Pradat kick off the match with a successful honorary first serve and winning point too. UA's Dr. Susan Williams, associate professor of voice and vocal pedagogy and associate director of opera, delivered a pristine national anthem and the Tide was ready to roll.Â
Doubles teams were on the same page and did their best to pour water on the Cats. Damien and Andrii completed a business day type performance at the top line while Filip and Matic clinched the opening point in a tiebreaker. Point Bama! Roll Tide!
Momentum pushed us into singles but in a blink of an eye the home team had dropped five of six first sets. Andrii was the sole player to win the first set, so as the saying goes, "it was on like Donkey Kong." Not sure if it was the weather or simply just a downshift of focus and intensity but we were down big. Little by little, our guys marched forward while Kentucky tried to use their claws to stop our progress. First came a set on court six (Damien, 6-2) then a trio of tiebreak sets on courts one, two and five (Filip, Roan and Matic). In fact, Filip saved a pair of match points on his court. Andrii had lost the second and began the final frame in his match. So it was going to be tight down the stretch and the choice to respond or relent was offered on each point. Damien completed his mission and put up another point for Alabama after Kentucky had evened the score 1-1 with a win on court four. Andrii fought his way back after being down repeatedly in several serve games and pushed our lead to 3-1. Filip kept the momentum going on his court and closed out the match with a 130 mph ace down the T for clincher. Match Bama! Roll Tide!
A great finish amidst the chaos, and I'd say, exactly the type of challenge the team needed to continue to build confidence in their belief that no match is over until hands are shaken. I was proud of the team effort which was needed from everyone no matter the circumstances. At the same time, the weekend of matches was another couple of bricks in the building process. Rest, recover, refuel and repeat.
The other new kid on the block (Oklahoma is new to the SEC this year with Texas) is next on the schedule and at home sweet home. Last time we faced the Sooners we had a 3-1 lead end in a 3-4 result (Feb. 24, 2023) . We've come a long way since then and I'm confident our guys will be ready for another challenging day between and beyond the baseline. Our match is Saturday at 1 p.m. and we will welcome the Greek community to our match while serving free pizza to all fans. We look forward to seeing another great home crowd introduce themselves to our visitors from Norman not only to campus, but also to the SEC. Until next time, here's to more spring-like weather and great tennis. See you at the courts and as always…
Roll Tide,
George
