2006-07 TNM at Big Ten Singles Championship -- Quotes
11/13/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
U-M Junior Matko Maravic
On winning the title ... "It definitely means a lot to me. It shows the results of all the hard work we have put in over the last two years. This is going to set the tone for how we want to compete during the dual match season. This year we have a very good team and this is going to motivate the other guys on the team to work harder. I think we definitely have a shot at winning the Big Tens."
On where he feels his game is right now ... "I played very well and I played very consistent overall. I put a lot of balls all over the court. Where I improved the most is my serve. I served well in the big points and break points to get myself out of trouble, which is very important in the big matches. I will play a lot of close matches and serving is definitely one of the big factors."
On what this tournament means for the upcoming dual match season ... "This gives the team a lot of confidence. As a team, we had a very good tournament. We had three guys on the court out of five that reached the round of 16, which shows we are very deep this year. We can do a lot of damage to other teams."
On winning the championship match in front of the home fans ... "It means a lot because it shows the fans how much we are trying and how much we have improved over the past two years. Hopefully the fans are going to come out for the dual match season, which is definitely going to help."
Michigan Head Coach Bruce Berque
On the team's performance overall at the tournament ... "I was pleased with the way we played. The level of tennis was pretty good for the most part. All of the guys showed improvement from the beginning part of the year. Peter Aarts advanced to the quarterfinals and along the way he beat at least one player that he had lost to decisively last year. Andrew Mazlin played very well and came very close to making it to the semifinals as well. He came up a little bit short. George Navas, even though he lost in the second round, also played some pretty good tennis against one of the better players. I think we did well. Of course there is room for improvement, but we played well."
On Matko Maravics win ... "I am happy for him. He played very well today. He played very consistent throughout the whole tournament, but he saved his best tennis for the finals and semifinals. Sometimes the level of play in a championship match isn't as high as you expected because of the pressure and the nerves associated with it. But he was completely ready and played at a very high level with extremely high energy and competitiveness as always. It's going to be nice for him to end the season knowing that he had a great fall and he is one of the better players in the conference and nationally. He has reached the finals of the All-Americans in doubles and the semis in the National Indoors, and now he is the Big Ten singles champion. We have a very legitimate No. 1 player and a No. 1 doubles team. You really need that to be a team that challenges for a championship."
On the key to Matko Maravics success today ... "One thing that helped him today was that he took care of business quickly in the semifinal match. It was 6-1, 6-2 and he was off the court in half the time his opponent was. He was a little fresher going into the finals. I know he enjoys playing at home and we had to map out his fall schedule and had to decide which fall tournament he wanted to play. He was pretty adamant that he wanted to play this one because he enjoys playing at home. We had a nice turnout of people here to support him, even though it was the middle of the day on a Monday."
On what this means for the upcoming dual match season ... "I wouldn't want to put any limits on us. Our depth is excellent this year. That was one thing that was a little suspect last year in having four freshmen and only eight on the roster. We had half of the team as freshmen so our depth wasn't as good. There is no reason this year that we shouldn't have strong doubles at every position. The strength of our team is that we are not going to have a weak spot because we have guys that show they can play. I know everyone is hoping and believing that they will be in the hunt to compete for championships this year. I will be disappointed if we make a similar size improvement as we did in the first two years. I would like to see a significant jump. I think it's time for us to do some damage at a national level."
Players Mentioned
