Many athletes have trouble keeping up with their training table over the two-week winter break. But the men”s tennis team has had to endure a much longer hiatus.
- Paul Wong
- Anthony Jackson will be the only Wolverine making the trip to Wisconsin.<br><br>ALYSSA WOOD/Daily
It”s been more than two months since members of the team have faced any competition, but the Milwaukee Tennis Classic begins tomorrow. It is an individual tournament: Participants compete unattached from their respective teams. Members of the Michigan team were given the option to compete this weekend, but coach Mike Mees indicated that sophomore Anthony Jackson is the only member of the ten-man squad competing.
“Anthony is from right there in Milwaukee, so he is going to go play,” Mees said. “The other guys are going to stay back here to practice and work out.”
While Jackson will be in Wisconsin, the Wolverines will begin practicing for the team season, which begins a week from Saturday with a home meet against DePaul. Up until this point, the members of the squad competed as individuals at several tournaments. In the meantime, the team has begun to resume official practices, which ended in the middle of November.
“We”ve continued to do some individual work with the guys and the team continued to work during that time on their own,” Mees said. “We did quite a bit of conditioning over that time. The team did a pretty good job working over break.”
The last time the team faced actual competition was at the Big Ten singles Championships, ending Nov. 12. The members again competed as individuals, with two players reaching the quarterfinals. Jackson came away with a 2-2 record.
It used to be that the Big Ten meet was held after winter break as a tune-up for the team season. However, this season saw it moved before break, in an attempt to keep all individual meets together and have the majority of them completed in the fall.
“I liked that tournament right out of the chute in the second semester,” Mees said. “It was a good way for everyone to get started and give the guys something to gun for right away.”
Despite Mees” feelings about moving the tournament to an earlier date, he feels that the team will still be ready for the team portion of the season, with or without any real competitive matches between break and the match against DePaul.
“The team part of the season is a lot of fun. I know everyone is looking forward to our matches,” Mees said. “I think everyone will be ready to go.”