University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Best of Nine With Nikhila Narra
2/24/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Best of Nine With Nikhila Narra
Nikhila Narra |
Throughout the 2005 Men?s and Women?s Golden Eagle Tennis season, a player from each squad will sit down for an interview on what you need to know about Southern Miss Tennis.
This week?s spotlight focuses on Nikhila Narra. Narra is a junior from
You had elbow surgery in the fall. How close are you to being 100 percent?
?Everything?s fine. I?m playing singles and doubles now. Coach moved me down to (number) four just until I get back on track. It?ll probably be a couple of weeks, or three weeks before I?m 100 percent.
How long have you played tennis and what has made it so interesting to you?
?I picked up a racquet when I was seven, and I played until I was about 13 and then I quit until I was 16. What makes it interesting is that it helps to balance my life, I love being in shape and working out, and it gives me something to strive for other than academically. It?s very analytical, and it takes a lot of your mind to play, and I love that about it. I like the mental game more than the physical game.?
True or False: You don?t have to be in shape to play tennis.
?That?s false. You definitely have to be in shape especially for the type of game I have. I put a lot of balls in play. I love the third set, I love them better than the first set, because the longer you go in a match, the longer you go out there reaching for the best and the people who are the best players, like (Andre) Agassi, can be out there forever.?
Last year?s team posted one of the best records in team history with a 12-11 record. Building off of last year?s success, what can we expect from the Southern Miss Women?s Tennis team this year?
?I think we can definitely do better than top nine in the conference (last season?s conference finish). We almost had a chance against
What separates tennis from any other sport?
?I think it?s more a mental and a physical game than just a physical game. The better player might not be the bigger player, physically. It?s a very different type of game. It?s like in track where 10 seconds can be a win or loss. In tennis, you can play three hours, and after an hour and a half the momentum changes and there?s momentum shifts all the time in a match.?
What is the team chemistry/makeup/and/or atmosphere like this year?
?I think it?s very balanced this year. We?re 4-0 right now, and I think it has to do with the doubles points. The doubles points not only consists of three teams, but it?s also helping each other out, and I think it has brought us closer together as a team and if we?re not playing we?re coaching. I think we?re respecting each other more in our private lives and tennis lives, and it?s definitely a closer knit team when we play, and we realize we?re teammates and we?re a team and we?re going to play to win not for just our spot, but for six spots and we?re going find six every time to win.?
When looking at all the sports that Southern Miss offers, people can often overlook the tennis teams. What would you like to do to change that, and what would you tell the students to get them to come out to the matches?
?I would say definitely let your friends know, and I think we do a good job at that. We do have very good crowds. Last year we had David Hanson (Senior Associate Director for Athletics), Greg Herring (Director of Marketing), Richard (Giannini, Director of Athletics) and Don Oberhelman (Associate Director of Athletics/Compliance and Student Services) come out to see some of our matches. When you have four administrators out there it says a lot, and they?re tailgating for us and they got it really pumped. But I think we need more student involvement and more students coming out and not just staff and administration. And I think we need to make a better effort of getting the students involved with maybe even an incentive program, or stuff like that. And to get the students to come out to our matches, I would say that football is for the fall, and tennis is for the spring. And it?s a great way to get involved with school and to see what your classmates are doing to represent them. I would tell them to come out for an hour and just see. We win matches because people come out and watch us. It would be great for Southern Miss to have another winning record.?
Are there any fundraiser activities going on to benefit the team?
?We have a trip planned for
Just for fun, if the men?s and women?s team played against each other, who would win?
?Of course the women?s team would win! We?re stronger mentally and physically. This would actually be a great fundraiser and would be great to get both teams involved.?
