gOne week after the Florida women's tennis team started its season with a strong showing, the men’s team will get its chance to start the season on the right foot.
Florida will travel to Nashville, Tenn. to compete in Southeastern Conference's Fall Classic at Vanderbilt on Friday.
Six of the nine men on this year’s roster will represent the Gators at the tournament, including two of the three freshmen.
Florida’s Florent Diep secured the team’s highest singles seed in the tournament at No. 8. Diep was ranked No. 52 in the nation, according to Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s preseason rankings.
Fellow senior Stephane Piro came in close behind Diep with a No. 11 tournament seeding. Piro earned the team’s highest ITA preseason ranking, No. 39.
Gators Mike Alford, Elliott Orkin, Gordon Watson and Maxx Lipman are also competing in singles at the tournament.
“We’ve been working hard on our fitness and kind of transition now to doing some more things that improve our footwork and that are a little bit more specific to tennis,” said coach Bryan Shelton in a GatorZone.com video interview.
Shelton said that two of the biggest areas his team is working in during this year’s preseason play and practice are shot selection and court positioning.
Florida’s three ITA ranked doubles pairings will team up for the tournament. No. 57 Watson with Orkin, No. 42 Lipman with Piro and No. 60 Diep with Alford.
The SEC Fall Classic is also the first collegiate outing in both singles and doubles for freshmen Orkin and Lipman.
“They actually came to some of our SEC matches last year … so for them they’ve seen it now they get to go out there and feel it,” Shelton said of the team’s three true freshmen.
Shelton said the SEC Fall Classic offers the freshmen an opportunity to see the competition within their conference for the first time to help prepare them for what they’ll see in the spring matches.
The four-day tournament started Thursday and runs through Sunday. The 13 SEC schools that have varsity men's tennis will compete in the tournament.
On Sunday, two winners will be named from 88 singles participants: one champion and a consolation champion. A winner will also be crowned from the 39 doubles pairings.
Follow Erica A. Hernandez on Twitter @EricaAlyssa.
Gordon Watson hits a ball during Florida’s 7-0 win against St. John’s on Jan. 6, 2013. The junior won the singles event of the Gainesville ITA Circuits Draw on Monday.
