FINDING FOCUS AT UF
Florida junior Frank Carleton is set to compete for the Gators after transferring from Wake Forest, where he played in the No. 1 and 2 singles positions. Have you been enjoying your time at Florida?
When you were at Wake Forest, did you and your brother who plays at Duke ever compete against each other?
As far as playing matches against each other, we’ve only played one. We were playing Duke at the ACC championships. I lost in three sets, 6–4 in the third. I was winning and won my first set 6–0 and was up in the second, but lost. It was a bad match; I lost the whole match for the team.
It’s a dream school for an athlete. You get everything right at your fingertips and all the resources you could possibly need. The competition – everyone on the team is really You were also on the Junior Davis Cup good. Everybody wants to do well. It is a team, what was that like? very good atmosphere. It was awesome. Playing out of the country for any reason is really cool, but especially playing for your country. We went to How did you get Canada first for the qualifier, and then we started in tennis? went to Italy for the whole World Cup thing. My dad did; he teaches tennis. It was probably one of the most fun times My bother and sister both graduated I’ve had playing tennis. Besides playing at from Duke. I grew up playing. I started the Junior US Open, that was probably my playing around the time I was three favorite moment on a tennis court. or four years old.
Why the decision to play collegiate tennis instead of going pro?
I don’t know. My family has always had an emphasis on education. My dad was teaching tennis and was also a schoolteacher. My mom was a schoolteacher; so education was always emphasized. (It’s) always been a goal of mine to graduate from college. It crossed my mind a little bit, but I was never really there enough to really go pro straight out of high school. Few people rarely are. There was no doubt my mind about going to college.
What is your major? Sociology
Is your goal after college to go pro?
I’m definitely going to give it a shot. There is no reason not to. These two years I have left – I started in summer B – I’ve been training as hard as I can. So these next two years are preparation for that.
Florida junior Frank Carleton talks with Spencer Newman during the Gators’ practice on Oct. 19 at Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex.
Fact: As president from 1909 to 1927, Albert A. Murphree did much to put UF on the road to excellence.
GATOR COUNTRY | NOV/2011 15