Summer Spotlight: Gabe Tishman
8/24/2017 5:17:00 PM | Men's Tennis, Features
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- University of Michigan men's tennis rising junior Gabe Tishman has spent his summer doing everything from competing in ITA tournaments to fly fishing in the Amazon.
Tishman, who earned Academic All-Big Ten honors for the 2017 season, recorded and 8-2 record in singles play and a 9-2 record in doubles play, improving to a career record of 19-5 and 17-12, respectively. The Bedford, New York, native hopes to use his experiences from the summer to make a meaningful impact on the team as an upperclassman.
Q: How have you spent your summer?
A: This summer I have been traveling around the world and playing tennis. I visited France, Bolivia, Colorado and Texas. On top of that, I have been training, playing some ITA tournaments and getting match play in to stay sharp. I have been located primarily in New York at home except when traveling for tournaments or with family.
Q: Talk about the experiences playing in the Michigan State and Rutgers ITA.
A: My ITA tournaments this summer have been very exciting. As always, it's an honor representing Michigan in these college events. During the Rutgers ITA, I focused on singles -- winning six matches. My best performance came in the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals as I stuck to my serve, volley and aggressive game plan. I wanted to try and play grass court tennis on the Rutgers hard courts and I feel as if I did so. The latest tournament that I completed in was the TCU ITA Championships. I ended up making it to the round of 16 in singles, losing a very close match, 13-11, in the third set tie break. It was a heartbreaker, but that's tennis. In doubles, Myles Schalet and I made it to the finals playing really good doubles with really intense energy -- the Michigan way. Unfortunately, we came up short in the finals. Our reward was a wild card into the qualifier of All-Americans doubles.
Q: What have you picked up from your experiences this summer that you can bring back to Michigan next season?
A: I have really improved my transition game this summer and it has reflected in my match play. My serve, volleys, mindset and rest of my game is improving. These are all things I can bring back to help my team achieve great things. I really look forward to getting back and starting up the year. We have a lot of work to do, but with our new freshmen and our returners, I predict a great year.
Q: What have you done in your spare time away from tennis this summer?
A: This summer I have traveled all over; however, the highlight of my travels was in the middle of June when my dad and I ventured into the Bolivian Amazon for remote fly fishing of golden dorado. We took three different flights en route, each plane was smaller than the previous one. We then took a two-hour boat ride in old wooden canoes up a remote river. It was truly another world. We fished for seven days, cut off from the real world. We hiked through dense jungle and waded in and out of rivers in order to find the fish we were after. All the while, we were immersed in a native Indian tribe who have lived off the land for many years. Golden dorado are the kings of the river as they are big beautiful fish with many teeth. They are the predators. It was truly an amazing place and an amazing time.
Q: What do you look forward to the most about the 2017-18 season at Michigan and your junior year?
A: I am looking forward to getting back to school and to start up again with my teammates. I am most excited to start competing for Michigan and becoming more of a leader on the team now that I am an upperclassman. Also, I recently got accepted to the Ross Business School minor program, so I am excited to start that up.
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