When Florent Diep enrolled at Florida in January 2012, the Frenchman had to adjust to life in the U.S. and life in college.
If that wasn’t enough, former coach Andy Jackson threw Diep right into the fire.
Diep made his dual-match debut in Florida’s 6-1 win against Baylor on Jan. 22, 2012. Diep clinched the match for UF when he defeated Marko Krickovic 7-5, 7-5 only 13 days after starting his first semester of college in a new country.
One year later, Diep is finally feeling comfortable in his role as a student-athlete.
“It was tough last year at the beginning,” Diep said following Saturday’s 5-2 win against Miami.
“Everything was new, so now I got one year (of experience), so I know pretty much everything. … It’s easier, and I feel more focused on the court. I can be more focused on what I have to do and play.”
In his first semester, Diep notched a 14-9 record in singles and a 2-2 record in doubles. He finished on a six-match win streak. Diep continued to improve as he began his junior campaign.
During the fall semester, he put up a 13-6 record in singles and teamed with junior Mike Alford to post a 10-3 doubles record.
Diep and Alford picked up where they left off on Saturday. Following Billy Federhofer and Gordon Watson’s 8-1 win against the Hurricanes’ team of Omar Aly and William Albanese, Diep and Alford clinched the doubles point for the Gators with an 8-2 victory against UM duo Wilfredo Gonzalez and Marco Stancati.
“[Diep and I] have been working really hard in practice every day and just trying to get better,” Alford said after the match. “We just tried to execute on some of the things that we’d been working on in practice, and [Saturday] I think we both played well.”
Diep also added a win in singles on Saturday. The junior earned the last point for Florida when he defeated Miami’s Diego Soto 6-0, 7-6 (4).
“He’s a little bit of a perfectionist,” coach Bryan Shelton said on Saturday.
“He won the first set six-love [Saturday], and he came over during the change over and told me three or four things that he wasn’t doing well. … He’s worked really hard on the court every day. I mean, this guy wants to play professional tennis one day, and he wants to do everything he can possibly do to help the Gators along the way.”
Diep will look to continue his success when No. 12 Florida (1-0) takes on UCF (1-1) tonight at 5 at Linder Stadium.
Though midweek matches are often overlooked, Alford said the Gators are expecting the Knights to put up a fight.
“We’re going to be doing the same things in practice and just try to improve (with the quick turnaround),” Alford said on Saturday.
“UCF has a good team, and we’re not going to overlook them because it’s a Wednesday match. We know we’re going to have to be ready to go.”
Contact Katie Agostin at kagostin@alligator.org.
Junior Florent Diep strikes the ball during Florida’s 5-2 victory against Miami on Jan. 19 at Linder Stadium.
