After seeing its dual-match season come to an end on Saturday afternoon in a thriller against the University of Virginia, the Stanford men’s tennis team sends its delegation of players back to the Taube Tennis Center today to kick off the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships.
Stanford will be represented by the team of juniors Bradley Klahn and Ryan Thacher in the 32-team doubles draw, with the same pair of teammates participating in the 64-man singles draw as well. Klahn and Thacher will be the No. 8 seed in the doubles tournament and Klahn will be the No. 13 seed in the singles event. Thacher received an at-large bid.
The field this year is deep, with USC’s Steve Johnson coming in as the overall No. 1 seed. Out of his past 17 matches, Klahn’s only loss was to Johnson in the Pac-10 Singles Championships.
The singles tournament kicks off with all first-round matches Wednesday staggered between the 12 courts that comprise the Taube Tennis Center. The doubles tournament is set to start on Thursday, when the first-round traffic of the singles event has died down, and will also be held at the various Taube courts. Stanford’s matches are scheduled exclusively in the afternoon, as chosen by the host Cardinal. The two tournaments will proceed quickly, with a round being played in its entirety every day, setting up the two finals to be played on Monday, May 30.
Klahn will be in the unique position of defending his 2010 title in the singles tournament. A year ago at the University of Georgia, Klahn—seeded 13th, as he is this year—blitzed the field and impressively claimed the NCAA singles title. He has been working all season to reach that summit again—for him, the biggest difference this year will be playing on the home court.
Stanford tennis fans have been more of a presence at Taube recently, marking a noticeable change from much of the regular season.
“The crowd at the NCAAs has been unbelievable, it’s something that I’ve never experienced before—people coming out in bunches and bunches,” Klahn said. “The support has really just been incredible, providing such an electric atmosphere for us, I’ve never played in anything like it, the stadium rocking so much that it’s basically shaking with excitement. It juices us players up, it really gets us going and provides us with that little bit of extra effort that is so important to have in a close match.”
Heading into the NCAA Singles Championship as the defending champion gives Klahn the proverbial bull’s-eye on his back. But when he’s asked, Klahn says the extra pressure has barely affected him, if at all.
“I’m not approaching it any differently,” Klahn said. “It’s a big tournament, but I’m just going to approach it the same way I do any other tournament—by being focused from the first round on, going out there, taking care of business and trying to play smart tennis.”
After such a bitter and close defeat, Klahn is motivated to defend his home court and take care of business.
“I couldn’t be more excited to get back out on the court,” he said. “To get back into that competitive atmosphere and to try and defend my title on my home court—it’s going to be pretty cool. I definitely feel ready to go, I can’t wait.”
Both Thacher and Klahn hit the courts this afternoon for their first-round singles action, and then start doubles play with the rest of the field tomorrow afternoon.