Farris Gosea is a bit different than many of his teammates. 

His hometown isn’t in the state of Illinois, which is something that five of his teammates have in common.

 It also isn’t in a different Midwestern state like his other two teammates. 

Gosea also speaks with an accent that is much different than one from Chicago, or anywhere else in the United States for that matter. 

Illinois’ top singles players hails from Cardiff, Wales and has done as much on the court to distinguish himself this season as he inevitably has off of it. Both Gosea and the Illini are ranked at No. 11 in the country; Gosea at singles, and the Illini as a team. 

“It’s funny, it’s like the same story every time. The guy puts his mind to something and then the results aren’t there and they slowly start to come in and once they come in, the accolades come in and everything just kind of snowballs. I think that’s what you’re seeing with Farris right now,” head coach Brad Dancer said. 

Gosea’s talent wasn’t doubted around the Illinois program even when he was struggling to reach his potential, as his ability was the reason he ended up here in Champaign. 

When Gosea came for his official visit to Illinois, Dancer wasn’t on campus, so the two didn’t meet. Upon committing to play for the Illini, Gosea still hadn’t met Dancer. It wasn’t until Gosea got to school at the beginning of his freshman year that the two finally met. 

Gosea has been Illinois’ most consistent player all season, especially at the times when the Illini needed him the most. Jared Hiltzik, who played in the top singles slot for much of last season, was expected to do the same coming into this season. Early in Big Ten play, Hiltzik suffered a wrist injury that kept him out of the lineup, which made it Gosea’s time to shine. With a 9-1 record when playing No. 1 singles and and 8-2 record against nationally ranked opponents, Gosea is playing his best tennis under the brightest lights and has developed drastically from playing sixth singles last season. 

“I feel like I’ve just been practicing a lot harder, I’m more focused on what I need to be focused on and not let other aspects of my life get involved into my tennis,” Gosea said. 

With Illinois’ roster possessing no seniors, Gosea is one of the team’s veteran leaders as well: Gosea, Ross Guignon and Tim Kopinski are the only juniors on the team. Being a team leader is different in college tennis than in most sports because of its individualized focus, but Illinois’ juniors have one area of focus. 

“I feel like it’s more leading by example, me, (Kopinski) and (Guignon) I feel like do a good job of focusing on what we need to be focused on,” Gosea said. 

Gosea looks to continue his hot streak this weekend, as he leads the Illini into their final Big Ten road trip of the season. Illinois first plays at Iowa on Friday and then finishes the weekend on Sunday at Nebraska. 

“To be honest, there’s a little bit of excitement about it being the last regular season road trip,” Dancer said. “It seemed like all we did was travel for a little bit.” 

The road trip will be vital for Illinois, as the team is still jockeying for a position in the Big Ten standings to improve its seeding for the conference tournament. Illinois currently sits fourth in the conference, but would be second if not for the conference overruling their match result against Penn State. 

Gosea’s junior counterpart Kopinski has also been anchoring the Illini in singles, winning his last seven matches straight. Kopinski and Gosea are tied for the season lead in singles victories at 17 apiece. 

“I’m more confident now than a few weeks ago, I’ve kind of played better in situations where I’m down and used my serve better,” Kopinski said. 

Although Gosea has his differences off the court, on the court everyone wants to follow his example and do what he does, which is win.

“There’ll never be a dull moment around Farris,” Dancer said. 

Brett can be reached at [email protected] and @blerner10