Ratcliffe: UVa tennis sensation living up to hype

Perhaps no one can fully appreciate the immense pressure and expectations that accompanied freshman tennis standout Alex Domijan’s arrival to Virginia.

The towering, nearly 6-foot-8 kid from Wesley Chapel, Fla., and a product of the famed Saddlebrook tennis lineage, Domijan packed up the top credentials of any teenage player in America for his trip to UVa. Not only has he lived up to all those expectations, but has exceeded them. Along the way, he has handled the pressure with an uncommon sense of maturity.

Entering today’s final regular season home match against Georgia Tech (weather has forced the contest indoors to Boar’s Head Sports Club), Domijan is undefeated and ranked No. 2 in all the land. How’s that for handling expectations?

That ranking makes him the highest ranked freshman in UVa history as he continues to enjoy the best freshman season ever experienced by a Cavalier tennis player. Should he continue to remain ranked among the top 16 players in collegiate circles this season, he will become the first UVa freshman to earn All-American honors.

“I believe Alex has exceeded the expectations I had for him,” Cavaliers’ coach Brian Boland said this week. “I think it’s hard for people on the outside to totally understand how difficult it is for someone like Alex to come in with the weight he had on his shoulders and the expectations that were surrounding him.

“At the same time, Alex understood that this was an extremely positive and healthy experience for him,” Boland added. “Not only did he embrace the expectations and looked at is as an opportunity to rise up and challenge himself, but he embraced the entire university experience.”

My friend, John Feinstein, often bristles when he hears someone use the term “student-athlete,” but in Domijan’s case, he is the perfect definition of the phrase. According to his coach, he is UVa’s No. 1 tennis player is also a star in the classroom.

The Floridian has handled himself well, blending in socially in a positive manner, popular with teammates and with his work ethic in practice, which his coaches appreciate. Boland said that Domijan makes everyone on the team better.

While the two haven’t had one of those sitdowns where the player asks the coach how to handle all the pressure, they do talk on a daily basis on how to get the most out of each day, each practice, each match.

Domijan benefits from his wildly successful coach’s knowledge and Boland said he also benefits from coaching such a high-caliber player that has pushed him to become a better coach. The fact that Boland has a solid coaching staff in Andres Pedroso and Scott Brown doesn’t hurt either.

Pedroso has worked with some of the top 20 players on the ATP Tour and came to Boland from the USTA development program, so he has experience working with players of Domijan’s ilk, and even more seasoned than the Cavalier rookie. Brown was a high- level player himself and has brought a professional attitude to the UVa courts.

All of this experience, teaching, attitude and work has truly helped Domijan improve and has helped him in tough situations such as the recent close match he had against Wake Forest’s No. 1, Jonathan Wolff. With the top-ranked Cavaliers struggling due to half the starting lineup for a variety of reasons, there was not only the pressure for Domijan to win his singles match for himself, but for the team.

He won a three-set match, but it wasn’t easy.

“Remember that when Alex steps onto a court, because of the expectations, he gets everyone’s best effort every single match,” Boland reminded. “The Wake Forest player realized that Alex had all the pressure on him, and I’ll give the Wake kid all the credit for playing an outstanding match. Alex had to work really hard to win.”

So, what has Boland and his staff done to make Domijan even better this season? You might be amazed.

The staff has taken the attitude not to make the star rookie the best player in college tennis but to prepare him to become one of the best players in the world on the professional level, whenever that day comes. That’s a taboo topic right now that won’t be discussed until the season is over and Domijan was ultimately make a choice on whether to return to school or turn pro.

“We’re constantly trying to ask him, ‘Now, how would that do against a Top 20 player in the world?’” Boland said. “Is that second serve going to be big enough to hurt an opponent on that level?”

The coaches have encouraged Domijan to take some chances even if it means that he makes some mistakes along the way. He is challenging himself to become more aggressive, to become a more complete player in transitioning and coming to the net because at 6-8, he’s such an imposing figure.

“He’s worked on going after his first serve a lot more, but also on locating his serve much better and being more aggressive with his second serve,” Boland pointed out. “He has worked on his overall understanding that his movement on the court is an issue that we want to focus on, his speed, his first step, his anticipation, his ability to cover the court better and make the right choices.”

Virginia’s best freshman ever and currently the No. 2 ranked collegian in the nation, has indeed improved this season. How far he will go is anyone’s guess, but don’t bet against him.

The last college freshman to have a similar impact on the game was Florida’s Jesse Levine in 2007, going undefeated in the spring before being upset in the NCAA singles quarterfinals. Ole Miss freshman Devin Britton won the NCAA singles crown two years later. However, Britton did not have the year Domijan is having, as the Rebels’ rookie entered postseason ranked around 30th in the country and got hot at the right time as the draw opened up for him, taking the national singles title without having to beat a single player ranked among the top 10.

Domijan likely won’t have that luxury come postseason. However, whatever looms ahead, it’s a safe assumption the Virginia rookie will be prepared.