It was the semifinals of the Big Ten tennis tournament, a rematch with a Michigan team that had already beaten Illinois once, and GD Jones was playing a third set in a position to clinch the win. And he was serving underhand.

A week earlier, Jones had been cruising through his match against Iowa when he yanked something in his shoulder. Now, he couldn’t even lift his arm above his head for a real serve. But after four years and countless pulls, strains and surgeries, playing through injuries has become routine for the team’s emotional leader. Jones just dropped his arm, flicked an underhand serve, then crushed a backhand to force an error and start the celebration.

“I can think of 10 matches off the top of my head where it looks like GD’s been in a boxing match instead of a tennis match, and I love that about him,” head coach Brad Dancer said. “He and I have been through a lot of matches, all the times that he was diving on the court, and he’s got a saliva and blood mixture coming out of his mouth. He just is not afraid at all to lay it on the line.”

Jones’ list of ailments over his college career would be enough to label him injury prone, except that he plays through them so frequently and capably. This year alone, Jones has battled groin and head injuries in addition to his shoulder problem, giving him a unique relationship with the training staff.

“There must be something about getting a groin rub late at night in a hotel room that creates a special bond,” Jones joked.

Even in pain, the senior has inspired his teammates. Against Ohio State, he took the court for his match despite an illness that had left him incapacitated for the last week, and even took an early lead before retiring once the team was out of contention.

“He’s had to deal with a lot of adversity, and I really admire what he’s done,” junior Kevin Anderson said. “I know what it’s like being out, and it’s tough, but he’s always kept a positive mindset and he’s been an unbelievable leader.”

Serving underhand is the sort of desperation move that made Michael Chang a legend on the pro tour, but Jones is characteristically tight-lipped about dealing with pain. Whatever is bothering him is always “fine,” his status is always “100 percent,” and he is reluctant even to admit how an injury occurred. In his first interview as a freshman, he told a reporter, “I don’t like that question. I’m not going to answer it.” He just takes the court and plays with a stoic resolve, unleashing metronome-like groundstrokes and the occasional primal scream.

Jones already possessed clean strokes and ball-striking skills when he first arrived from his native New Zealand, but he was raw as a tennis player and, he said, as a person. The game hasn’t been largely popular in New Zealand for 20 or 30 years, falling behind cricket and rugby. But Jones picked it up from his mother, a casual player, and spent most of his vacation time on the court.

Former Illinois assistant Bruce Berque spotted Jones playing in a major junior tournament in Florida and gave his mother a packet of promotional materials about Illinois. Jones visited Champaign while in America for the 2003 junior U.S. Open, then came to the school full-time the next year.

Now, Jones and his sister Sasha, who at 16 is already on the women’s pro tour, are in a position to bring the game back to his native country. Shortly after graduation, Jones will turn pro himself, and he’s already won matches for New Zealand’s national Davis Cup team.

“That was a really special experience that I think college really prepared me well for,” Jones said. “Playing for your country is unlike anything else you’ll do in your life because you really feel the weight of expectations, but I think playing in front of intense crowds in college prepared me for that. For tennis to become more popular, it’s going to take a couple of people to give the game some profile and be good role models for the sport so young kids will be more inclined to play.”

As far as role models go, New Zealand youths could do worse than Jones. He will graduate this month with a degree in speech communication after just three and a half years in school, and is considering law school if the pro tour doesn’t work out. It’s more impressive considering that Jones entered college never intending to graduate. In his first 12 months on campus, Jones took 25 hours of class. In the last 12 months, he took 55.

Jones’ teammates call him the best-spoken player on the team and undoubtedly the most intense.

Once, when the team was training to prepare for the heat at Texas A&M;, Jones walked onto the 90-degree court wearing three layers of sweats. He pulled all three hoods over his head and ran an hour of back-and-forth ball-striking drills, pausing only to throw up.

“The stuff he’s able to do fitness-wise, it’s amazing,” sophomore Marc Spicijaric said. “Right before our match, in our team huddle, he’s the one talking, he’s the one getting us fired up. He’s more of a focus player, but his focus, you can feel it if you’re playing next to him.”

Off the court, though, Jones has been a little less in control. As a freshman, he was “lonely and overwhelmed” in adjusting to America and campus life. He took solace in tennis, getting teammates to practice even on the team’s days off. Finally, assistant coach Kent Kinnear gave him a list of challenges; one of them was to go on a date in the next two weeks. Jones, ever-stubborn, got it done – though it turned out the girl had a boyfriend.

Both Anderson and Spicijaric said their favorite memory of their teammate came the next year, when he was interested in a girl on the track team. Jones, wearing a beat-up straw cowboy hat, approached her and a friend and asked about their meet. After they ignored him, he asked again and got mumbles in response. Finally, he said, “Have a nice day,” and shuffled off.

In perhaps his most impressive display of resilience, he and the girl are now dating.

Heading into the Big Ten Tournament, Jones had racked up 76 singles and 76 doubles wins for the Illini. But when asked to name a defining moment, he instantly named a loss. In his freshman year, the Illini fell to UCLA in the NCAA Final Four, and Jones, battling leg cramps, lost the clinching match in three sets.

Three years later, Jones is the undisputed team leader headed into his final NCAA tournament. Jones said he nearly burst into tears when he clinched the win over Michigan and heard a fan yell, “Let’s hear it for Jonesie!” After a turbulent college career, Jones would like one final, healthy run with his teammates through the draw.

“It’s a unique experience being on a small college athletic team, because you get to know, over the course of four years, maybe 15 people really well,” Jones said. “Going through an experience with people you know really well and care about, that’s the special thing.”