All-American Romain Ambert solely represented the men at the ITA National Indoor Championships in Ann Arbor, Mich. For the women, Marcelle Hirt advanced to the semifinals of the SEC Fall Coaches Classic in Peachtree City, Ga.
Ambert was the sole representative of the men’s team as a two seed. He said that it was not easy being seeded so highly but played his way into the quarterfinals.
“I did feel a little bit of pressure coming into the tournament,” said Ambert. “But I feel that I played well.”
Being the leader of your school’s team can also bring on a lot of pressure along with expectations. But Ambert’s coach, Sylvain Guichard explains that his play makes the whole team better.
“The team is doing an overall great job,” said Guichard. “Romain gives the rest of the team a lot of confidence.”
Although he made it to the quarterfinals, Ambert says he feels his best is yet to come.
“I don’t really feel that I truly played my best tennis,” said Ambert. “But to know that I can have a down performance and still compete on a national level gives me a great deal of confidence.”
Ambert won his opening match 6-4, 6-1 against San Diego’s Pierrick Ysern. He dropped his quarterfinal match 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 to Ohio State’s Jeremy Wurtzman.
For the Lady Bulldogs, senior Marcelle Hirt advanced to the semifinals after being injured for three weeks.
“It felt good to play again,” said Hirt. “I had been injured and couldn’t play for 21 days, so, I only had one week to really prepare for this tournament.”
Hirt won her first match 6-3, 6-4 against Kentucky’s Lara Maurer and beat Florencia Basile of Ole Miss 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 before losing in the semifinals.
Coming back from an injury can be one of the toughest things to do in sports. But according to Hirt, getting over her injury wasn’t the only important thing.
“I felt it was important to play well in the first match,” said Hirt. “I won the second, and lost the third match, but overall played very well.”