Drake newcomers eye MVC Championship

Story and Photo by Taylor Soule

Despite the new city, new campus and new tennis program, adjusting isn’t top priority for juniors Ravi Patel and Matt Frost and freshman Euan McIntosh.

Their top priority? Topping 2013’s record-breaking trip to the second round of the NCAA tournament.

The Times-Delphic sat down with the three Drake men’s tennis newcomers to discuss their favorite professional players, the quirks of midwestern culture and their goals for the 2013-14 campaign.

Times-Delphic: Describe your first memory of playing tennis.

Ravi Patel: Mine was just at the local park with my dad.

Euan McIntosh: Yeah, probably just on the streets around my house.

Matt Frost: Mine was at a random sports camp. I was about 8.

TD: What professional players did you idolize growing up, and what did you like about their playing styles?

RP: I liked (Andre) Agassi, actually. He’s a bit smaller like me and turns well. He doesn’t have a big serve. Someone who is very similar to me.

EM: I liked (Marat) Safin at the time. He was a real character and had a really good, aggressive game style like mine.

I really idolized him, and at the moment, Andy Murray, because of the Scottish connection.

MF: Mine is Lleyton Hewitt because I love the way he fights, and he’s also quite loud like myself.

TD: Throughout your years playing tennis, were you ever tempted to throw in the towel and quit the game for good?

RP: I think everyone kind of goes through that stage. You can’t always win all the time, so when you lose, it could be a day or even a few minutes where you’re just like, ‘I’m not good enough,’ but I always find a way to come back.

MF: I’ve never ever said I was going to quit. You might think it, but I’ve never actually physically gone through with it.

EM: Yeah, it’s the same with me. You have bad days, but then you just think, ‘If I wasn’t playing tennis, I wouldn’t have anything to do in my day.’

TD: Did you grow up knowing you wanted to play college tennis, or did you have an epiphany at some point in your career that led you to that decision?

RP: I didn’t really know too much about college until about six months before I came. I knew it was an option to come, and I went on the Internet and looked at a few schools.

At the time, a few coaches contacted me and said I would be a good fit, but I never planned it.

EM: I had always known about it, but I always thought I would end up in Britain.

MF: Yeah, I found out about it from older people I knew that came, so I made up my mind about two years before that I wanted to come to college in America.

TD: What’s the biggest difference between tennis in the U.K. and tennis in the U.S.?

RP: You play as a team. That’d be the biggest thing. You play at college as a team, whereas back home, everything is always individual.

EM: The training, as well. It’s a lot more structured. You get a lot more fitness. It’s not just tennis.

TD: This isn’t about tennis, but what’s something about Americans or American culture that baffles you?

EM: The way Minnesotans say ‘bag’ like ‘beg.’

MF: Driving on the wrong side of the road.

TD: What are the perks of competing on a team with five other players from your home country?

RP: The support. If you are having a bad day or even if you’re having a good day, it doesn’t matter. They’re always there to support you no matter what. I know that might sound a bit cliché.

MF: It really helps you settle in, especially if you’re new. You know half the team already, all the people you come in with. It’s really easy to settle in.

RP: Also, you’re from the same coach, so you kind of do things similar. Same sense of humor, and it helps us get on really well as a team.

TD: What are your goals for your first season as a Bulldog?

MF: We definitely want to make NCAAs. We want to do as well as they did last year and then a bit better. And obviously win conference this year. Be better than our predecessors.