All-American Junior Romain Ambert, Mississippi State’s No.1
tennis player, began the 2002 season ranked No. 3 nationally in
singles, his highest ranking yet. Considering that Mississippi
State’s tennis team is part of the tough Southeastern Conference
(SEC), Ambert has done an excellent job maintaining a top 10
ranking for most of his college-playing career.
All 12 of the SEC teams are ranked in the top 30 in the nation,
and for Ambert to hold a 22-7 winning record at No. 1 singles in
the Spring 2002 season is nothing but exceptional given that his
opponents are always formidable challengers.
Surprisingly, French native Ambert only began his tennis career
when he was 11. Without any tennis lessons and by merely imitating
the players he watched at The French Open on TV, Ambert decided to
embark on a tennis-playing career after defeating his brother, who
had been practicing tennis in a club for two years. Ambert said he
believes that this is when he learned how to run, as his technical
style was not of a high quality yet.
He admits that one of his strongest weapons today is running: “I
run everywhere; the guy knows that he’s going to have to fight all
match long cause if he loses himself, that’s what I build my
victories on,” Ambert said.
Though Ambert only obtained his first official coach when he was
14, he managed to become a top 4 player in France when he was
19.
Since Ambert is not from a tennis-playing family, he said he
believes his enormous capability for playing tennis existed from
the beginning. When his mother was pregnant with him, she went for
an ultrasound, and the doctor said that her unborn child had a
heart of a champion, a statement which rings true when one reflects
upon his victorious tennis record at MSU.
Ambert believes his high level of motivation helps him win,
especially during his sophomore year when he went 37-11 resulting
in the third most singles wins an MSU player has ever achieved.
While pondering his tennis philosophy, he adds, “For any player
at my level, the first thing is motivation and the readiness to
keep working day after day; you really have to put everything into
it every day; it’s like the last practice or the last day to
live.”
Even though Ambert consecutively plays difficult opponents, he
is seldom injured. Ambert believes he preserved his body by
practicing for extended hours in his late teens and by entering MSU
at the age of 21, after his body was physically developed. He
acknowledges that “you can’t help injuries sometimes, but if you
let small injuries consume your mind, that’s going to become your
worst injury.” When it comes to injuries and the mind, Ambert said,
“A great mind controls a great body” and “sometimes the mind helps
you to forget pain,” just like the time Ambert broke his ankle when
he was 3-1 up in the third set against Georgia’s Matias Boeker,
with Ambert unthinkably finishing the match by narrowly losing
7-6.
Soon after breaking his ankle, Ambert’s best memory with the
team occurred when playing the regional play-offs for the NCAA
Tournament against the University of Illinois. While he was still
doing rehabilitation on his ankle, previous head coach Andy Jackson
told him to play and “make the match last and last so everyone
could move a spot down.”
Near the end of the team’s battle, Ambert realized that his
match was the deciding factor for a victory.
“I suddenly felt the pressure because I wasn’t prepared to be in
that situation,” Ambert said. And even with an injured ankle,
Ambert sealed the win and remembers how “all the guys ran on the
court and got crazy–that was the best moment for me, even if we
play an individual sport, the feelings are increased when you play
on a team.”
During his two-year career at MSU, Ambert has made the first
team All-SEC two years in a row and received “The ITA National
Player to Watch” award at the end of the 2002 season. This award
goes to a top 10 player that hasn’t won any major national titles
but is expected to win a national tournament before finishing a
college career in tennis. Head Coach Sylvain Guichard said that
Romain is one of the 10 people who has a chance to win the NCAA
this year.
“Ambert is the present and the future of our program–we’re
fortunate to have a person who is one of the best players in the
nation,” Guichard said.
Although Ambert said that he is not playing as well as he could
be at the moment, he says, “I’m always going to play to win because
I believe that I can win everything.”
One of Romain’s goals for the season is to obtain six victories
in the SEC beginning this Friday against South Carolina and to
conquer Auburn’s Rameez Junaid, whom Ambert said is his biggest
challenge.
In academic terms, it’s Ambert’s ambition to graduate with a
good GPA in general business administration.
Although Ambert asserts that he will never quit tennis, he does
not think he is ready to make the kinds of sacrifices that crop up
with a professional tennis career. “It’s not the kind of life I
would like to have because there’s a lot of traveling, moving and
sacrifices with time, money, and relationships,” Ambert said. He is
happy with his life right now and gives credit to his girlfriend
who is very important to his life.
“She makes my life more complete, and I have more fun on the
court because she’s given me a lot of balance,” Ambert said. “The
tennis player you are is the person you are in life.”
Not only has Ambert attained a consistently winning singles
record, he has also clinched a ranking as high as 12 nationally
with doubles partner and friend Ren���� Charles Combette, who
said that “Romain’s biggest trait is that he’s a big fighter, and
he’ll never give up.” Friend and teammate Jerome Le Belicard points
out that “even if Romain’s not tall and strong, he compensates with
his quickness and smartness on the court.”
Like a true champion, Ambert admits sourly, “I hate losing,” but
later acknowledges that he looks forward to what he will achieve in
his last two years of college tennis.