The Tennessee Volunteer men’s tennis team is getting ready for the start of the fall season this weekend in Tulsa for the ITA All-American Championships.
Coming off a season in which Hunter Reese and Mikelis Libietis brought home the NCAA doubles national championship, the Vols participated in the SEC Fall Classic last weekend, but were ousted in the quarterfinals.
“I think the SEC tournament was a good success cause it was a good barometer for where the guys are currently,” Winterbotham said. “We thought we had a good performance, especially from our younger guys, and have a lot to work from.
“The fall is all about getting better and with our sport where you actually have two seasons; you have the individual season in the fall and then the team season in the spring. Both are very important, but the individual season allows guys competitive matches in tournaments to make adjustments on their game.”
The 6-foot-2 senior Libietis, who is currently ranked as the No. 24 singles player in the nation, has been playing in individual tournaments, even representing his home country of Latvia in the Davis Cup.
“For me, this tournament is going to be my first this year at the college level, so I’m just motivated to play,” Libietis said. “I don’t really care who I play, I just want get better at my game and get some confidence going into the spring.
“That’s more important right now, just getting ready for the spring.”
Libietis is one half of the No.1 ranked doubles team in the country, who will have some added pressure with a large target on their back, but Winterbotham feels differently about the doubles team heading into this tournament.
“No, not at all,” Winterbotham laughed. “I think everybody wants to be one, so when you’re one I think you need to enjoy it.”
In 2013, the pairing of Reese and Libietis racked up a record of 36-5 on their way to their finals matchup against Ohio State.
Libietis said that he feels the same heading into this year since they were also No.1 for most of last year.
“We won All-Americans, we were in the finals, of the National Indoors, and we don’t really think about it,” Libietis said. “There are a lot of good teams out there, and its just trying to execute what we learn everyday out in practice.”
The team is getting prepared for Tulsa this weekend so they can make a big push forward at the start of the season. While focusing on this weekend, the focus is also on the full season and getting better. All eyes will be on the duo as they attempt to repeat their success of last year.
“It’ll be nice to repeat,” Libietis said, “but yeah, just focus on daily stuff, just work on the fitness. It’s still a long way, we just work everyday and hopefully we come on top of it.”
