2012 OUTLOOK Coming off another NCAA semifinal trip and an SEC championship last year, how would you assess the kind of fall this team had? Manuel Diaz: I think the fall went great. We just had tremendous leadership. We really established new records for our team in our conditioning workouts. Our team this fall was the fittest coming in I’ve ever seen. They blew away all of our previous standards. Every single guy made every single mark that [strength and conditioning coach] Katrin Koch laid out for us, so much so that she continued to come back to me to ask if we needed to change our requirements because that’s how much they were blowing away our workouts. It is just a very focused and hard-working team, and I think looking forward that has got to be our mindset. We are going to work really hard, we know that, and we are going to be a very deep and talented team. We need to go out there and play hard, play together, and have fun. That’s what I’m really looking forward to this spring. You’ve got an interesting situation this season with three seniors, all of whom transferred to Georgia from other institutions last year. Can you talk about Wil, Nacho, and Sadio and what they’ve meant to the program? MD: It is a pretty unique situation. It’s something you definitely don’t plan on, but when you have an opportunity to land kids with the high character that these three guys bring, and the work ethic – we’ve been very fortunate. It’s important that they bring everybody else along with them. That’s been pretty easy, with guys like Hernus [Pieters] and [Nathan] Pasha and the other young guys, they’ve gotten swept up in this environment. I think we’re going to have fun this season within our team philosophy. It’s a group that we’re looking forward to seeing in action as a team and it all starts with our seniors. Wil Spencer just won a championship for the United States at the Master’U tournament in France and he won the back draw at the National Indoors last month. Talk about Wil and what you expect from him in 2012 as he seems to be peaking in his senior year. MD: Wil is becoming more and more of a complete player. He has become a lot more confident. Innately, he is very competitive and very physical. He is an athlete. He has a skill set that you look for in every player. He can run like the wind, he’s strong and very competitive, so for us it’s been more of a process of trying to get him to be more offensive-minded. We’re trying to get him to stay focused on developing a better serve so he can get some more cheap points and have him compete with a more aggressive mindset. Whereas he naturally tries to use his speed in a defensive manner to get you to hit one more ball – he would love
to play forever – we are trying to get him to become capable of being a lethal player in transition and to be able to close some points at the net. It doesn’t have to be every point. But we are trying to make him a more complete player to give him the best opportunity if he wants to try to play professionally after college. What does it mean for the team and the season to know that you will be hosting the NCAA Championships again? MD: It’s funny, because two years ago we had players that were really looking forward to the NCAA’s being here because they knew what it was about. But this year, most of our guys have not played in the tournament here, so while they are looking forward to it, we have to help them mentally prepare for what it’s really like. We are extremely excited, but most of our guys only know about what they’ve heard about it. Will [Reynolds] and Will [Oliver] played here as freshmen in 2010, but that’s it. They will be a great resource and we’ll certainly talk about that. The mindset will have to be handling the pressure of knowing the tournament is in Athens, and all the distractions. It will be imperative that we are focused and able to concentrate on the things that will help us succeed. Your teams have been to five of the last six NCAA final fours. Is this team capable of getting back to that level and getting over the hump to win another championship? MD: I think they have an opportunity to get back there. They’re hungry for more than that. I believe if we continue to sacrifice and become disciplined and continue to work on our weaknesses, we can become a possible contender for a national championship. I believe, though, that our conference is going to be brutal. We possibly could have six out of the top 10 teams in the country. Kentucky is going to have the best team they’ve ever had, Ole Miss is good enough to be in the top four, Florida is going to make a push, Mississippi State will probably have the best team they’ve had in 40 years – I believe they’ll be top 10 or 12 or even better. LSU is much improved from last year. Our conference tournament is going to be brutal, but it will prepare us well. We have to try to make it one at a time and of course our goal is always to win the conference. What this team is going to have going for it is that while we don’t have an established #1 doubles team, we have the capability of having different people playing with different partners. We’ll have more flexibility with our doubles this year, and that might be a strength for us.
The 2011-12 senior class (L-R): Sadio Doumbia, Wil Spencer, Ignacio Taboada. All three transferred to Georgia from other institutions in 2010 and will lead the pack in its quest for yet another championship.
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GEORGIA TENNIS