Illinois sophomore Andrew Eklov admitted he was a little rusty after sitting out the spring tennis season last year, but he did not let the rust keep him from winning two Western Region Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Summer Circuit tournaments.

Eklov won his first tournament on July 18 at Ventura College when he topped Greg Jackson 6-3, 6-2. He continued his winning streak at Cal. Poly Pomona, defeating Kyle Roybal in the finals. He beat Roybal 6-4, 6-2.

“It felt good to get out there and compete again,” Eklov said. “The tournaments have been big time confidence boosters.”

Competing in his native California helped Eklov realize how much his tennis skills have improved in the last year. Many of the athletes Eklov competed against throughout the summer were the same athletes he competed against at the junior level.

Illinois head coach Brad Dancer said he is proud of Eklov’s dedication during the summer months.

“Andrew has super resiliency to come back after sitting out last spring,” Dancer said. “He worked really hard during practices last season even though he couldn’t compete, and his hard work really paid off this summer.”

Unlike many of the Illini who traveled to various professional tournaments together or stayed at the University to train together, Eklov returned to California for the summer. There, he had to motivate himself to stay active and work on improving his tennis skills. He also had to find his own partners to practice with; luckily several athletes that he used to compete against were in the area and were able to train with him.

Throughout the summer Eklov worked on fine-tuning several tennis skills, but his serve is still one of his most powerful assets. During the summer competitions, he was able to get more in shape for competition – “practice doesn’t keep you totally, physically in shape for competition,” he said.

Eklov has also changed his mental approach to tennis, which he was working on with Dancer before the tournaments when several of the other Illini were competing as amateurs in professional events in Northern California.

“I was able to be a lot calmer on the court and was not freaking out as much when things went wrong,” Eklov said.

However, the summer also gave Eklov time to determine what improvements he still needs to make to his tennis game before the 2005 fall season starts.

Last fall, Eklov secured a 7-5 singles record. He was also a finalist in the Flight B UNLV Fall Classic and the Louisville Invitational. This year he has goals of being just as successful, if not more successful.

“The success I had at the first tournaments proves how much I was starting to improve at Illinois and that I’m starting to get back into it (after not playing in the spring),” Eklov said.