Davidson men’s tennis hosted their first competition of the year, the Davidson Invitational, from Friday, September 27th through Sunday the 29th. With many Atlantic 10 teams competing in the tournament, Davidson was able to gain critical experience as they prepare for the spring season. Two sophomores, Charlie Ratliff ‘27 and Nikhil Mukherjee ‘27, made it to the finals, with Mukherjee winning all his scheduled matches of the tournament. Among this young talent was Miles Kennedy ‘28, who made it to the finals as well.
Even though it’s the offseason, the team trains more rigorously in the fall. Uddayvir Singh ‘25 stated that “we work, and honestly practice harder [in the fall], I would say. So now we are trying to figure out our doubles pairings for the season. We have more lifts as compared to the spring and [are] working more on the fundamentals. When we’re in season we try to manage the work so we can sustain ourselves.”
Along with a strenuous training schedule, the tennis team competed in the UNC Greensboro Fall Invitational in mid-September. “These tournaments we play over the fall are mostly preparation tournaments for the matches that we play in the spring,” Sebastion Carpio Moran ‘26 said. “You really have to figure out how to play well and then transfer that into matches. There’s a lot of strategy specific things you’re working on,” Luca Lovrich ‘25 added.
Independent strengthening, both physically and mentally, has been important in this fall’s programming, but the team finds energy in each other, a relatively new experience for many collegiate tennis players. “Every other tennis player would tell you tennis is an individual, lonely sport. Growing up and playing in juniors, you’re always playing for yourself. Getting to college, you’re playing for ten or twelve other guys on your team, playing for your coaches, playing for something bigger,” said Singh. Carpio Moran recalled that he “was the only freshman in my class [on the men’s tennis team], so I was constantly competing. Instead of seeing this healthy competition, I was just trying to be the best at all times, and that ended up not being good for me because I was always in a constant mindset of, ‘I gotta beat this guy in practice.’ In the end, the purpose of being here is to progress and keep developing, not only as a tennis player, but as a person.”
This team-centered mindset has been embraced by many of the Davidson tennis upperclassmen who hope to impart this wisdom on younger players. “[We’re] trying to make them [the first-year class] realize this is really a special opportunity. It’s the little things here: we get to travel together, we do trips together. Those are the memories that really make the experience different from the individual part,” Singh said on behalf of his fellow seniors. “I think letting them know and making it obvious that we are a family, just moving towards this goal, is of real importance in the beginning,” Carpio Moran added.
The large first-year class has held its own these first few months. “We have five freshmen this year, so their impact has already been really good. I think a couple of them have a really good chance of making the lineup in their first year,” Singh stated. Lovrich also commented on the next class: “they’re all very good, but more than anything, their effort is there, so that’s a big deal for us. They’ve gelled super well with us as a team, which when you have a split between newcomers and returners, you hope that happens.” Altogether, Lovrich believes that “it’s the strongest team [he’s] been on.” Coupled with a strong Davidson roster, Lovrich stated that “VCU is always the top contender for the title, and they don’t really have a roster this year. So now it’s a pretty open field.” There is a resounding belief that the team will dominate the A-10 conference this year. “I think we have the best shot of winning our conference this year,” Singh declared. With a full schedule of fall preparation, Davidson men’s tennis hopes to bring their first A-10 championship back to campus in the spring.