Last week, Stanford men’s tennis had strong showings at the ITA All-American Championships in Tulsa, Okla. and the ITA Northwest Regionals in Berkeley, Calif. For many players on the team’s roster, these were their first tournaments of the individual season.
Sophomore Max Basing reached the semifinals of the All-American Championships, one of the largest national tournaments of the autumn, and defeated TCU’s Luc Fomba, the fifth-ranked player in the nation, in the quarterfinals.
“What I loved most about Max that week was he got off the court after losing that semifinal match and shook his opponent’s hand, sat down next to me on the bench and the first thing he said to me is ‘Coach, I can’t wait to play that guy again,’” said head coach Paul Goldstein. “I love that attitude and perspective for Max.”
Through the All-American Championships and Super Regionals, players can qualify for the ITA National Fall Championships, which will take place the first week of November in San Diego, Calif. With his performance in Tusla, Basing earned himself a spot in next month’s bracket.
Joining Basing in Tulsa were freshmen Samir Banerjee and Nishesh Basavareddy, who made their collegiate debuts at the tournament. Coming off several injuries, among them a broken wrist, Banerjee won his first match 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, but fell in the second round to Trey Hilderbrand of Texas A&M.
Basavareddy had a formidable performance of his own, winning the consolation final to take fifth overall. After breezing through all three of his qualifying matches, he lost in the first round of the main draw before coming back and winning all five of his matches in the consolation bracket.
Meanwhile, in Berkeley, senior Filip Kolasinski reached the semifinals in singles of the Northwest Regionals before withdrawing due to injury. He also made it to the semifinals in doubles with fellow senior Neel Rajesh. Along with Kolasinski and Rajesh, sophomore Anders Matta and graduate student Isaac Gorelik played in Berkeley as well.
“Overall, a really positive week for the Cardinal,” Goldstein said. “We’ve got some guys who didn’t have a chance to play too much over the last year and so got some important experience. We’ve got some guys coming in with a lot of momentum.”
Men’s tennis will have home court advantage next weekend at the ITA Northwest Super Regionals, which are scheduled to be held at Stanford’s Taube Family Tennis Center from Oct. 21-24.
“I’m really pleased with where we’re at today,” Goldstein said. “We’re building sort of a new culture and have some guys in leadership positions, so it’s an exciting time for us. I feel really good about the trajectory of where the program is going.”