June 10, 2009

Matt Freed from the South Carolina athletics media relations office caught up with one of the Gamecock women’s tennis team’s top players Ana Marija Zubori to discuss the team’s outstanding run this past season to the NCAA Elite Eight as well as a few other topics. Use the video link above to watch Wednesday’s interview in its entirety or read the transcript below. Be sure to check back next week, as Zubori will appear on camera once again to answer some more questions before heading back to her native country of Serbia for the summer.

We talked to coach Elkins last week and got his perspective on what it was like to go from the beginning of the season to where the team was in the middle to the end, so we got his perspective. Now, I want to get a player’s perspective on what it was like to go through last season from January all the way through May.

Well, first of all, I’m happy to be able to answer your questions and I’m always ready to answer whatever it is about women’s tennis at South Carolina. Before the season, we already knew our schedule was one of the toughest in the nation; we play only ranked teams. A lot of them went to the NCAA Tournament and I’m not sure how many other teams had that tough of a schedule. So, we were ready to face the tough teams, but it didn’t really go well in the beginning. At one point, we were ranked 40 in the nation, which is completely awkward because we were ready to be top 10. We know we have good players on our team, we have a lot of experience, we have three seniors, a lot of us played junior tennis and high level tennis, so we really didn’t understand what was going on at that point. But, we were able to pick it up and then when it was most important, at the NCAA Tournament, we were sure that we wanted to give our best; whatever we can give to accomplish something bigger than what we did before and yes, we set some standards for the school.

You mentioned there was a point where the team was ranked No. 40. The team was sitting at 7-7 after a loss to FIU, rebounded against USF, but then when the rankings came out the following week, the team was No. 40. But, from there, it seemed like everything just kind of turned around and went the opposite direction. As a player, what was it that happened that got this team going in a different direction than where it was at that time?

We have six singles, three doubles; it’s not always that all of us are 100 percent. Sometimes, we’re physically hurt, other times, just mentally not ready. It’s six different people and we’re not the same level all the time, so at the end of the season, we had a little talk in the locker room. We said, “We know we are good enough, but it doesn’t mean anything until we prove that.” So, we decided every single player on this team has to be ready no matter when, no matter what, and at the end of the year, we were all six of us in singles and all three doubles, we were ready to win and we believed we could win. That was the difference from the middle of the season.

One of the things coach Elkins talked a lot about, and he and I talked about it last week, was this team was really focused going into the NCAA Tournament; more focused than any team he had in a long time. It seemed like when that NCAA draw was announced, everybody was really excited about the prospect of going to Knoxville and the potential to play Tennessee for a third time. You had already played them twice, played them really close two times. Was that what got this team so focused was the draw, or was it just that you were excited to be playing in the NCAA Tournament?

Well, first of all, I think it’s unexpected. When you have a tough season from the beginning to the end, it is unexpected, really, to see your team struggling during the year and then at the end not be too tired to do something more. I was a little bit afraid at the beginning of the year when I saw the schedule if we were going to handle it until the end. Actually, we were really strong; we worked really hard. Practice, tennis courts and conditioning; mentally, we were ready. We had three seniors–very good seniors–and they wanted to do something to make history, to do something bigger. And at the end, it was tough. It was hot out here, but it just didn’t matter. We were excited to go and beat Tennessee because we knew from the beginning of the year we could beat them, it was just the right moment the third time.

You talked about doing something big; this team certainly did that by reaching the quarterfinals and you were extremely close to even going to the Final Four. Do you feel like now the standard has been raised for South Carolina tennis, now going forward that the expectation is not to just make the NCAA Tournament, it’s to go to the Sweet 16 and the championships year after year?

Before the NCAA Tournament, people were saying how the South Carolina tennis team is a good team; they could be good. Now, they’re saying we are good. We just needed to prove to ourselves that we could do something big. Every team in the nation now knows how far we can go and they are all, they all have big respect for us now. If you see Georgia was No. 2 in the country; we almost beat them, we were so close. Not like we could beat them, we were about to beat them. You know, it’s just maybe experience. Georgia is going that far very often, so for us, it was just a new feeling. We did pretty well and gained some respect from everybody.

Individually, you’ve accomplished a lot in your three years here at South Carolina. You’ve been all-conference three years in a row, you were a first-teamer this past season. Only two other players in school history have done that. You won over 30 matches again this season. That was the second time you’ve done that and only one other player has done it. You’ve had singles rankings and doubles rankings at the end of each year in your three years. Not too many players have done that. The list keeps going on and on. I can go on and on with all the things you done individually, but what does it mean to you just to hear some of those accomplishments that you’ve done individually?

It wouldn’t mean a lot if as a team we didn’t accomplish something big. That would be, “Okay, you did so well, but what is the team result?” College is about team tennis, and every person is a part of the team, so it’s very good when somebody is doing really well, but you just forget about your big results when the team loses. It’s nice to hear that. It shows that I’m working hard. I’m trying to help my team every single time I go on the court, but as I said, all my results wouldn’t be as big as they are now because the team went that far in the NCAAs. So, I would always trade my personal goals and results for the team results.

You were talking about the team results instead of what you do individually, and one of the things that’s always impressed me about you from the day you got here on campus is that you seem to really understand the team aspect of college tennis. Tennis is obviously a sport that lends itself to being an individual sport because it’s you against one other player, and for a lot of players coming into college tennis they don’t seem to right away understand that team aspect, but you seemed to have always grasped that from day one. What is it that makes you understand that team aspect that goes into college tennis?

From the first day I was on the tennis court, fans were cheering not only for me but for my team. They were not saying, “Come on Ana,” they were saying, “Come on Gamecocks.” I just from the beginning understood that one player can win, but we need four points to win a match, and once you come here, you forget about your individual career because once you are part of the college team, you are just working together. If you’re playing for yourself you have just some obligations. When you play for a team, you just feel more pressure. It’s not only I lost, I made my team possibly lose the match. It’s just different. I like the team atmosphere. I like the fact that we are all playing altogether but we will still have our own court, our own match, but that “Go Gamecocks!” cheer before the match, it’s just something special to me. I like team sports as well, so it’s good.

One last question before I let you go. You’re the lone senior that’s going to be on the team next year and there are going to be a lot of newcomers on this team for next year. So, do you feel any added responsibility being that one senior that you need to show all these newcomers what Gamecock tennis is all about and set the tone for all of them coming in here next year?

I would not say it’s an obligation, it’s something I will do; it’s natural instinct to help them. Most of them are coming from other countries, not from America, so I’ve been there. I came from Serbia to here, so I know how it is for them in the first year. I will just try to help them as much as I can, explain to them what is college tennis, and show them the way so they can accomplish what we did or go even farther.