| SPORTS
| SEPTEMBER 16, 2005
Tennis Preview
UT-Ace
Mav tennis captain speaks about
season and beyond
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| The Shorthorn: Kaci Cantrell |
| Senior captain Sandy Farquharson
began playing tennis when he was 6. |
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By Princess
McDowell
The Shorthorn staff
Sandy Farquharson has played soccer, cricket, tennis, football,
squash and he swam. The psychology senior chose to pursue the most
difficult: tennis.
“I thought it was the physically and psychologically challenging
sport,” he said. “Tennis is one-on-one. There’s
no one else if you need help.”
Farquharson, the captain of the UTA men’s team, came from
England after former Mav David Corrie, a high school friend, did
the same.
“I wanted to come to America to follow my tennis because it’s
a lot better in college over here than it would be in England,”
he said.
Since the beginning of his collegiate career, Farquharson has stayed
in the elite of the Southland Conference. In his first two years,
he was selected to the all-SLC first team with an overall record
of 10-0. In his sophomore year, he won 11 straight matches.
Last season, Farquharson advanced to the 2005 NCAA Men’s Tennis
Championships in doubles competition but fell in the first round.
As captain, Farquharson wants to lead this year’s team by
example.
“Going on the court and giving 110 percent each practice,”
he said. “They just look up to you through that.”
Coach Diego Benitez expects Farquharson to break into the national
rankings individually this season because of his leadership and
work ethic.
“We worked a lot of hours together, and he became a very special
player,” Benitez said.
The coach said he liked Farquharson’s game from the beginning.
“He relies a lot on his power,” he said. “We’re
working to get better concentration and focus, and it should improve
him significantly.”
After completing his collegiate career, Farquharson wants to begin
playing better competition.
“Depending on how well the year goes, I’d like to go
play on the tour for a year or two, just to see how it goes,”
he said.
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