Since being named the Southeastern Conference Player of the Week on Feb. 2, Alexandre Lacroix has struggled.
Lacroix, the senior leader of the No. 11 Florida men's tennis team, has gone 1-2 in singles matches since winning the award, although he was 4-0 prior to that date.
The two losses were to quality opponents, but Lacroix's lofty No. 4 preseason singles ranking has hardly held up for the Gators (6-1). His ranking dropped to ninth in the country in the poll released Monday after he fell to FSU's Vahid Mirzadeh and Illinois' Dennis Nevolo last week.
Lacroix's 6-4, 6-7, 6-0 loss to Nevolo cost the Gators their unblemished record last week, a 4-3 setback at the then-No. 16 Fighting Illini. Illinois has since moved up into the top 10 of the rankings.
While Mirzadeh and Nevolo were ranked No. 42 and No. 11, respectively, Lacroix slightly underperformed in the two road matches.
He will have a golden opportunity to atone for his recent stumbles today as the Gators kick off the ITA National Indoor Championships in Seattle, Wash.
The Gators drew the 10th seed in the 16-team tournament and will square off against No. 7 Stanford at 3 p.m. EST.
Florida will need Lacroix to be on top of his game as he will be facing off against Bradley Klahn, the seventh-ranked singles player in the nation, on Court 1.
Klahn is the reigning NCAA individual singles champion, but Lacroix has beaten him twice in a row.
Most recently, Lacroix walked away with a straight-sets victory in Flushing, N.Y., in the ITA Individual Indoor Championships in November.
"Klahn is certainly in the top 200, maybe the top 100, in the world," coach Andy Jackson said. "He's definitely one of the top guys in college but we'll be looking for Alex to come out strong."
It will take a full team effort for the Gators to advance to the quarterfinals today. That starts in the doubles matches, where Lacroix and partner Nassim Slilam have been challenged after a hot start to the season.
The doubles pair has fallen to No. 15 in the ITA doubles rankings, but they will be looking to provide an early spark for the Gators against Stanford.
Jackson said that Florida came close against Illinois, and if just a few things had gone differently the Gators would have won.
"We've had better preparation this week," he said. "We're looking for the same work ethic and effort that we saw from our guys at Illinois and hopefully we come out on the other side of the score this time."
