Improvement and preparation — these are two activities the Illinois men’s tennis team has become very familiar with.
“Myself and the team as a whole have been working on every part of their games, nothing is being left untouched,” junior Stephen Hoh said.
The Illini travel to Iowa City, Iowa, this weekend for the Big Ten Individuals tournament, which begins Friday and finishes Monday.
Representing the Orange and Blue will be juniors Bruno Abdelnour and Hoh, along with freshmen Ross Guignon and Tim Kopinski.
Hoh hopes to improve upon past performances at his upcoming matches.
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“I’ve really been trying to play more aggressive and try to impose my game on my opponent, while at the regionals I was just defending, waiting for the other guy to make the mistakes,” Hoh said.
The Australia native advanced to the Round of 16 before falling to No. 5 Chase Buchanan of Ohio State at the ITA Midwest Regionals on Oct. 15. Fellow junior Abdelnour remains 5-2 in singles this year, while Hoh is 5-6.
“Staying consistent with my play style and becoming a developed, full-court player has been vital for me,” Hoh said.
Newcomer Guignon has also been preparing extensively for his second tournament of the fall season. Guignon and fellow freshman Kopinski went a combined 5-1 in singles matches and went undefeated in doubles at the Wildcat Invitational this past weekend.
“It was definitely a big booster going into this weekend’s tournament, being able to see this competition is really going to help me and Tim,” Guignon said. “I feel a lot more prepared and it has definitely built some confidence.”
Entering this weekend’s tournament, Hoh had to make a few adjustments to his game.
“I’ve been hitting my serves really well, working hard on my returns, bringing a more aggressive position on the court, hopefully I can bring that all together this weekend,” Hoh said.
Guignon has been making adjustments as well heading into the penultimate tournament of the fall season.
“Lately, I’ve been working on playing more aggressive instead of playing a more passive style of play,” Guignon said. “I’ve already made a decent amount of changes to my game, so bringing those changes on the court while not becoming a perfectionist will really help me in the long run. It’s time for me to get these quality matches in and work on everything I’ve been working on.”
