The Mississippi State men’s and women’s tennis teams are using international talent to compete on a national level.
For the men’s team, a program that has made 14 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, international recruiting is not a foreign concept.
The nine-man squad, coached by MSU graduate and tennis standout Sylvain Guichard, features seven total international players, including four from France, two from Brazil and one from Serbia and Montenegro.
Guichard, a native of France himself, has seen both sides of the international recruiting process, once as an MSU player (1992-93) and now, doing the
recruiting himself after 10 seasons on the coaching staff.
He took over the head coaching job in 2001 from Andy Jackson, current head tennis coach at the University of Florida.
“With tennis being such a popular sport worldwide, the college system here is very attractive for players around the world,” Guichard said.
Recruiting internationally, especially in France, began to take off at Mississippi State upon the arrivals of Sabine Guibal for the women’s team in the late-80s and Christophe Damiens and Daniel Courcol, who later became the only Bulldog to hold the nation’s top ranking in singles and doubles, for the men’s team in 1991.
Their success opened the door for other French tennis stars such as Thomas Dupre, Marco Baron and Guichard himself.
The impact of the international players has been remarkable.
In their long line of NCAA Tournament appearances, beginning in 1991, the men’s
team has reached the Sweet 16 ten times, the quarterfinals five times and the semifinals twice. The team won the Southeastern Conference Championship in
1993.
The women’s team has also had their fair share of success, reaching the NCAA Tournament three straight years (1999-2001) and winning their first-round
match-ups each time under head coach Tracy Lane.
The talents of the international recruits has also blended nicely with the American players as well.
In 1994, Frenchman Laurent Miquelard teamed with Oklahoman Joc Simmons to capture the NCAA Doubles Championship.
Luiz Carvalho, the lone senior on the men’s team, discussed the relevancy of recruiting internationally.
“Recruiting is a tough thing to do in tennis,” said Carvalho, a native Brazilian. “In a sport where the vast majority of the players are foreign, it is very important to be able to recruit good international players.”
Women’s player Anastasia Kugakolova talked about their adjustments to Mississippi State and what their time here has given them.
“School is awesome. I like my professors and what I’m studying,” said Kugakolova, who came to State from Russia in 2002. She majors in psychology.
“People are now starting to come out to our matches, and that is great,” she added.
Carvahlo still remembers his recruiting trip to Starkville in 2000.
“I loved the place and the people here,” Carvalho said. “[Everyone] was very friendly to me and the campus was great. Starkville seemed perfect to me – a nice, small town.”