VIDEO: Brad Muller Chats With Mia Horvit and Silvia Chinellato

FULL TRANSCRIPT

[Brad] Hi everyone, Brad Muller alongside South Carolina tennis seniors Silvia Chinellato and Mia Horvit, and 2020 has been an interesting year to say the least. The Gamecocks were off to a great start to the spring season, which included a 4-0 start in SEC play, and then everything shut down due to COVID-19 as you all know. And ladies, thank you for joining us. Let’s go back a little bit. What was your initial reaction when you were told the season was first suspended and then later learning it was canceled altogether?

[Silvia] Well, I was really surprised at first it was suspended that fast because we were literally about to leave, to go play Tennessee, and I was like, wow! This changes in like 30 minutes. I was really surprised, and then, at the same time I was a little bit concerned, too, because my family in Italy experienced corona virus before we did, and how they were living was absolutely awful for two months. So, I was also a little scared from corona virus, but then when they said that it was canceled, my first concern was, why cancel it now when we still have a couple of months? And then, I mean, I just saw the reactions that happened in Italy, with everything from corona virus. And I was like, well, it now makes sense. Everyone is kind of like protecting themselves from it. So, I kind of understood that perspective and I wasn’t like that mad anymore because I saw there it was more like a prevention action.

[Mia] Yeah, definitely. When we got the texts from Judy, I remember as if it was yesterday. We’re all heading on the bus and its when Kevin said, “Okay, we need to wait a few minutes just to get a better idea of what we’re doing moving forward.” And then once it was slowly progressing and everything was getting canceled with the men’s basketball team, in the back of my mind, I figured that, okay, well they’re probably going to cancel this weekend, but once the season was canceled, everything was just crazy because I was like, hey, we didn’t finish our season. We were seniors, Silvia and I, everything’s done. And at that time, when you’re in the middle of the season, you think that you have so much more ahead of you, but then once it’s taken away, then, just things are running through your mind and everyone’s getting emotional. But it was more of a bigger picture with what was happening around the world. So, I think it was a better call to end things there, which the way it ended, wasn’t really the way we were looking at it.

[Brad] Now let’s talk about that. Obviously, your senior year, you’re always expecting or hoping for great things. We’ll start with Mia. When did you learn about the possibility of coming back for another year and how long did it take you to make that decision? Tell us about some of the factors you considered.

[Mia] Well, I remember we were in the room talking one of our last meetings. Kevin was saying that there’s a good chance that things might be canceled. And in the back of my mind, I was like, okay, well, if things do get canceled, maybe we can get an extra year of eligibility. Maybe NCAA will help the seniors, or even all student-athletes in giving them an extra year of eligibility. And once we found out, I want to say about a few weeks down the road, I knew it was not a hesitation move. I was like, I want to be here again. I want to finish what we started. Be reunited with the team and individually, and finish things with a bang.

[Silvia] Yeah, pretty much like Mia said, I was thinking like, well, we deserve another year. We’ve been working hard for it and it’s not obviously fair. They got like cut off. But like we were understanding of the situation. And as soon we figured it out that we could get a year of eligibility back, I said right away, yes, especially because I was going to stay since I’m already doing a master’s degrees here at USC. So, I was going to stay and just work as a graduate assistant for a professor. And this, it made me so happy. And I was really excited to come back because as we finished, it wasn’t really a finish line for us. We were just starting. So I’m really excited to get back.

[Brad] Of course you guys had a record breaking season the year before, and obviously you wanted a great senior year. How did you feel about the way the team and you as an individual were playing, heading into that weekend at Tennessee and Georgia before everything got shut down?

[Silvia] Well, we were definitely building a lot of confidence starting 4-0 in the SEC. We were at the top of the rankings. So, the team was really excited and we really wanted to play Tennessee and Georgia. We were really looking forward to playing such good teams. And, we knew we were going to do definitely better things. We didn’t really start the season the right way, but we got towards the end, we were really confident everyone was playing well, we have such a close team and we knew that we were going to definitely end in the strongest place.

[Mia] Yeah, definitely, like Silvia said, I mean, we were 4-0. I think once we got a few matches under our belt, everyone on the team started picking things up and figuring out what it’s like to be united and to work through really tough battles because we do have a lot of young freshmen on the team and having only Silvia and I as seniors, I mean, it was a lot, but we were able to manage and work together, which is great because the hard work ended up paying off. And I think too for Silvia and I as individuals, I think we were both undefeated in singles. So, just moving forward to play against Georgia, our biggest rival, even Tennessee, where Ty, our assistant coach used to work at in previous years, it would have been great matches to look forward, but really excited for next season to come. But we were definitely moving in the right direction.

[Brad] Well, since everything has been shut down, what have you guys been doing to keep your games sharp and your fitness level high?

[Mia] So I’m in Tampa and our former teammate, Rachel Rohrabacher, she’s out here too with her coach. And luckily I’m able to train with Damon, Rachel and a few other players who are here in the area. So, I’ve been getting up early in the morning, trying to get used to the Florida heat. Again, it’s a little different compared to South Carolina, but other than that, also I’ve turned the garage into like a fitness area where I can lift and do some core exercises as well as run outside. So I’m able to maintain the fitness level, but I’m lucky to have people around me to work and still keep in shape.

[Silvia] Well, I had a surgery about three months ago, knee surgery. So, I took a little break to recover as much as possible. But, here, they are closed, all the tennis courts for a while. I’m still in South Carolina by the way, because I can’t go home. But they closed the courts for a while. So, I couldn’t go out there either way. So I got the perfect time to get surgery and recover from it. And luckily, I’ve been accepted to stay on campus and work with my trainer and with my strength and conditioning coach to work on my muscle recovery and everything, and I’ve been going to the gym every day. So that’s a good start for me. And I should be able to start playing tennis at some point soon in about two or three weeks. I’ve been in the gym quite a lot.

[Brad] Okay, good. Well, lastly, how excited are you for next season with the same group of women coming back? And of course, some new faces coming in as well.

[Silvia] Definitely super excited because we already got really close with each other and it is going to be pretty much like the same team we were last year, we just get like three or four new girls, they are really good. And we met all of them and they’ve been coming, watching our matches. So we already know them. So we’re really, really excited to start over and hopefully we can play some tournaments in the fall as well to start getting together with the new freshmen coming in and then start showing that we want to start right where we were left off last year. So, it’s a really exciting time.

[Mia] Yeah, no, definitely like Silvia said, we have the same group of girls plus three or four more, so super exciting in that we already built the foundation. So everyone knows where we left off and just moving forward, kind of bringing the new girls in under our arms and just showing them the right path of what the Gamecock mentality is and super excited I can always come back on campus. Hopefully we can play some matches and travel, but just happy to be back is the biggest thing.

[Brad] Great stuff. Awesome. We’re looking forward to having you both back on campus. Ladies, thanks so much for your time. And of course stay well. We hope to see you soon. For Silvia Chinellato and Mia Horvit, I’m Brad Muller.