University of North Carolina Athletics
Carolina Spotlight Of The Week
February 1, 2007 | Men's Tennis
Feb. 1, 2007
As the men's tennis season gets underway, TarHeelBlue.com will sit down each week for a short interview with one of Carolina's top-ranked student-athletes. This week, TarHeelBlue had a chance to talk with freshman Chris Kearney.
THB: The first dual match of the season is coming and it will be your first as a collegiate tennis player. Do you have any expectations or reservations going into the match?
Chris Kearney: I'm pretty excited especially as a freshman coming in here. Hopefully the four of us can step up and help the team. It will be tough because it is a double header, so it will be two matches and we can't take them lightly by any means.
THB: What are your goals for the first match? For the season?
CK: Hopefully to play; crack the starting lineup. As for the season, if I make the lineup, to keep pushing, working hard, not giving up and keep working at it.
THB: What have you learned from Tripp Philips thus far being a new freshman under a new assistant coach?
CK: Tons of things; his overall experience on the court, certain positions, where to hit the ball, overall aspects of how to compete. I think he has impacted everybody similar to that or a little bit more. He brings another element. He is on the tour still, he is still playing right now, and so he is aware of what is going on.
THB: This team is coming off one of the best seasons in program history, lost four starters and gained four new freshmen. What role do you think the new freshman will play on the team?
CK: As you said we had a great season last year, four seniors that left last year, hopefully the four freshmen will step it up and contribute to the lineup and the team. I feel that we have a really good chance to do the same as last year or do better. So hopefully we can step it up.
THB: You defeated teammates Tristan Heinrich and Will Plyler with doubles partner Karl Wishart in the UNC Fall Invitational to win the Flight B championship. What was it like to play your teammates in an actual match that counted? Do you have a little edge on them now that you've beaten them?
CK: It was just like playing them in practice because we play challenge matches all the time. You can't take them lightly because they want to be you, you want to beat them, and so it is going to be pretty competitive. You can't give up or anything, you have to keep going. I don't really have an edge necessarily; I just know what to do now.
THB: So in a match, if you have a bad call go against you, what do you do mentally to get yourself back in the mindset of the match without dwelling on that call?
CK: You just have to let it go because every point is the same. My dad used to always tell me that the most important point of the match is the next point. There are no three-point shots, two-point, its all one point; it's the same as hitting the ball in the net, you lose the point.
THB: On your personality sheet, you listed Roger Federer as your favorite professional tennis player. What is it about Federer's game that inspires you or encourages you as a tennis player? What do you see in his game that you would like to apply to your own?
CK: He is just so calm and relaxed out there. He has this certain air to him; he can beat pretty much anybody. He knows what to do to beat people. What I would like to take from him would probably be his mind on how to play the game.
THB: What has been the greatest transition from high school tennis to collegiate tennis for you, if any?
CK: Interacting with the guys because we are such a close-knit group.
THB: Being new on campus, what is your favorite thing about campus? What is your favorite place on Franklin Street?
CK: That has to be the basketball games; those are pretty fun. I like to go to Franklin Street Pizza and Pasta a lot.
THB: You went to Mater Dei High School where many famous athletes have matriculated from, including Heisman Trophy winner Matt Leinart. Can you talk a little about the athletic atmosphere in your high school and what it was like to go there?
CK: My school is a private school in Orange County and there have been a lot of athletes that have come through there. Through the years we usually have pretty good basketball teams and football teams. Our basketball team is usually in the top five or top ten in the nation. Football the past few years hasn't been so good, but we are doing ok. We have a saying at our school, "We have more Heisman trophies than UCLA."
Players Mentioned
