American Aleks Kovacevic talked with Tennis Acumen at the Knoxville Challenger, November of 2019. This is part two of his thoughts on the college tennis experience.
Photo credit - The Daily Illini
Tennis Acumen: So, you talk about team atmosphere. You've had a little taste of life in the pros, playing Futures and Challengers. What is it about college, the team tennis environment that works best for you?
Aleks Kovacevic: Well, there's a lot of adversity you have to face here (on the pro tour). It's very different in college. For example, you'll have huge crowds showing up for our matches. We have a really big fan base for Illinois tennis. You don't really see that, not at this level in the pros (the Challenger tournaments). You see maybe one or two guys come out to watch you and cheer for you, but it's not like you have a whole city behind you, in a way. That’s really cool, but it can also be stressful when you're on the road and you have a crowd of people chirping at you.
And the way that college tennis is structured with no ad points, it's just a lot more of a stressful situation when you're on the court. There's a few ways look at it. Some people love that. What's been interesting is this: I used to really, really love that stress. I always thrived in that. And this summer, I came out to some of these Challenger matches and there was no one there. I struggled, because I was thinking: “Where's everyone to boost me or even just chirp at me?”. I wanted people that get me going somehow, and I had to find new internal motivation. I got so used it here that when I came back to college it was a shock to my system. It was so much noise that I kind of wanted it to be quiet again. It can be good and it could be bad. It depends on the player and your mindset about how you look at it. A lot of things.
Tennis Acumen: Quite interesting. That's quite interesting. And you're a couple of months away from graduation.
Aleks Kovacevic: I don't know if I'll finish my schooling, but iIn terms of like my tennis eligibility I'll be done. My fourth year, I'll be done.
Tennis Acumen: So, Aleks, are you putting together a team to support you, to keep you on the road: your trainer or physio, flight arrangements, all of that?
Aleks Kovacevic: That's one thing that I'm trying to work on. It hasn't really come together as much as I thought. mean. Some of those things, I worry about a lot. My plan after college in terms of where I am going to train. Who’s going to travel with me. It's pretty sad, in a way, because I'm gonna miss being in college with my friends all the time. I'll be on my own, in a way. But I think those kind of things will figure themselves out as I get on the pro tour. I meet a lot of people that can put me in touch with with whoever I need. I haven't had really that pro experience, where I'm going week to week, out there by myself. Right now, I'm playing this pro tournament, and I'm driving back to school right away. I'm going back to see my friends. So, it's a lot different when you're playing Challengers and pro tournaments while you're in college than it will be playing strictly pro so. Some things, I might have to adjust to. I'm looking forward to it, but I'm also very anxious about it. You know life is gonna be different and I know I’ll miss college.
Tennis Acumen: Well you will have to create your own structure. It’s all there for you right now, all provided. But you're sharp. I know you’ll figure that out. Last question. Where would you like to be in one year.
Aleks Kovacevic: In one year? I want to be able to crack the top 200 I guess. That's a fairly reasonable goal. I'm going to be ranked around 490 next week. My goal right now is to set myself up for this summer in terms of getting into these Challengers on my own ranking. I've gotten a lot of wild cards and I think I've used them pretty well. But I'd like to kind of push into that 300 to 400 range soon, sooner rather than later so I can kind of just consistently play at the Challenger level, and peck away at the higher level. That’s the plan.
Tennis Acumen: Thank you very much Aleks. This really is fascinating. People love this stuff. See you soon.
For more in our series on college tennis, select the 'College Tennis' category, upper right.
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