University of Tennessee Athletics
Life on the Pro Circuit Road
November 08, 2011 | Men's Tennis
Nov. 8, 2011
This is the second of a two-part series looking at the three Vols who are just starting their careers on the professional tennis circuit: John-Patrick Smith, Rhyne Williams and Tennys Sandgren. The three All-Americans are playing in the $50,000 Knoxville Challenger beginning Tuesday and Wednesday at the Goodfriend Tennis Center.
BY JOSH PATE
UTSports.com
Rhyne Williams got off the airplane a few weeks ago in Boca Raton, Fla., for seven days worth of training. Directly beside him was Tennys Sandgren. Williams hit the court every day that week. Beside him was Sandgren. Where there was Williams, there was Sandgren.
The two former Tennessee tennis stars have virtually mirrored each other's schedule since joining the professional circuit. And so far, that's been the most beneficial aspect about turning pro.
"Yeah, we've been to every tournament together except for one," Williams said of himself and former teammate Sandgren. "It's nice to have Tennys to travel with. We're such good buddies and we look out for each other. It's nice to be able to share the experience with someone like Tennys."
Sandgren agreed.
"It's been really helpful for me to have someone I've spent the last few years with at school and now being on tour," Sandgren said. "It's really good to have someone to travel with. We've been practicing together and have the same coach, just like in school. It's good to keep something familiar when everything else is new and different."
The differences between college tennis and the tour are major. Rather than playing two dual matches on a weekend and traveling around the Southeastern United States, the professional tour requires consecutive days of singles matches on top of doubles play. And the logistics of it all are quite daunting.
The recent schedule of former Vols playing on the Futures circuit has included stops in California, Florida, Illinois, Oklahoma, Texas and parts of Canada.
"You play a match and you have two days and play another match before you wait five or six days before you play again," Sandgren said. "It's a different game to where you're playing potentially five days in a row at a tournament. It's a daily grind."
Said Williams about the biggest differences in college schedules and the pros: "It's been a grind, to say the least. There's a lot of travel involved. You don't have your teammates around, and so you can't goof around as much."
No, there's not a full team of Volunteers to share the experiences with, but Williams and Sandgren do cross paths with former teammate John-Patrick Smith on tour.
The three return to Knoxville this week for the Knoxville Challenger. It's the second of the three-leg USTA Pro Circuit Challenger events to end the year. The events wrap up next week in Champaign, Ill.
Williams is ranked No. 515 in the latest ATP singles rankings, having captured the singles title at Innisbrook, Fla. Sandgreen is ranked No. 542 with a pair of summer victories in Godfrey, Ill., and Decatur, Ill. Together, Williams and Sandgren pair up for doubles play with a tournament victory in Toronto. Of course, they were a dominant doubles tandem while at Tennessee. However, as close as the two are, they had to face each other in the U.S. Open Wild Card Playoffs in August, with Williams taking the match.
They are chasing Smith, who is ranked No. 500 in singles with a victory in Tulsa, Okla. Smith made consecutive finals appearances during the month of October to boost his ranking. Additionally, he has won three doubles titles this year pairing with another former Vol, Ben Rogers.
Smith said the most challenging aspect of hitting the road as a professional is accountability, although he was thankful for learning that in college.
"It provides you with that base that you need, which is required at the professional level mainly because you don't have people looking after you," said Smith, who earned his degree in economics from UT. "When you're on tour, you don't have coaches or strength coaches. It teaches that independency. It allows you, not really to become a man, but to mature. If you lose, it's on you. If you win, it's on you."
Williams said having a coach to hold him accountable in college helped, and he sees similar accountability from his professional coach, Dustin Taylor. Williams and Sandgren share the services of Taylor, who is the national men's tennis coach for the USTA Player Development Inc. staff.
"Without him, we'd be lost a little bit," Williams said. "He really sets our schedule for us. We train down here (in Florida) with him and he travels with us on the road. It's just great to have a really good coach and support system."
When Smith is in the United States, he typically trains in Knoxville with counsel from Tennessee head coach Sam Winterbotham and associate head coach Chris Woodruff.
Even the comfort level of having quality coaches doesn't make things easy. Things that the younger college player could handle - such as fast food and desserts - aren't on the agenda as the guys are playing professionally.
"It's a whole different level and different ballgame," Williams said. "You have to be extra fit and have to fine-tune everything in your game to develop your weapons. The guys are a lot stronger, fitter, quicker, and hit the ball a lot harder. They're so good."
Williams lost 17 pounds over the summer and fall to improve his agility on the court.
Sandgren agreed that eating right has been difficult to maintain, especially considering the convenience of bad food.
"I've been trying to eat better," Sandgren said. "Now that my body is hopefully going to make some money for me, I need to take as good care of it as I can. I've just been trying to keep going after it like I did in school and take care of my body."
With the travel, beefing up the level of play, and maintaining a structured lifestyle that was demanded in college, life on the pro circuit is not all games. But it's an enjoyable life as long as it can be managed.
"Sometimes it can be very mentally draining and exhausting without even throwing in competing," Sandgren said of life as a professional. "It's a matter of trying to be comfortable wherever you are and doing things that relax you."
Fortunately for him, he's got some familiar faces around him.
