University of North Carolina Athletics
Carolina Spotlight Of The Week
April 3, 2007 | Men's Tennis
April 3, 2007
TarHeelBlue.com continues its Q&A sessions with members of the 2007 University of North Carolina men's tennis team. This week's featured player is junior Karl Wishart, who hails from Baden-Baden, Germany. Wishart finds a spot in the starting lineup mainly at the six seed and had a match-clinching win against Clemson in the third set.
THB: Why do you have such a love for English Soccer? How did that come about?
Karl Wishart: Well, I am English and soccer is big in Europe, I mean everywhere. And since my family tried to bring me up and educate me in a British way, I love English Soccer. I follow the Premier League, which is the main league and especially the English National Team. So I am a die-hard fan.
THB: If you weren't playing tennis, what would you be doing?
KW: Playing soccer. I used to play and then I had to decide between tennis and soccer; I chose tennis. I think it's because the team I was playing on, they were okay, but I didn't see a great future. In tennis, it sort of depended on me and I could do what I wanted to.
THB: In your opinion, why is tennis such an international sport? Looking at our lineup alone, three of the six singles players are foreigners.
KW: That's true. I'd say college tennis in the US is popular just because the US is the only country where you can combine academics and athletics at such a high level. And it attracts definitely the better athletes, I'd say, in their countries. So that's why I think there is a big international aspect, in the US especially.
THB: If you drop the first set and come back to win the next two, what goes through your mind after the first set to give you the extra strength to come back and win the match?
KW: Dropping the first set can have many reasons, you may have gotten off to a bad start, but you are playing for the team and you'd do anything to turn it around. So a lot of it is fight and partly also tactics, you may change some things and it turns out working better for you.
(You had a match-clinching win against Clemson that went into three sets. How did that feel for you to win that match? Did you know you were in that situation?)
This is the first year when I've made the starting lineup and I've been working very hard to get to this position and to clinch such an important match, it was obviously the whole team that did very well, I just happened to be in that position of clinching it. It was very satisfying. But by no means does it mean you stop working. You have to keep working hard.
THB: You just played your first outside match here. What is the difference between playing inside and playing outside?
KW: Indoors, the courts are usually a lot quicker, so it favors players with big serves and who stroke the ball flatter and not with a lot of spin. Outside is the opposite. The courts are slower. People who like to grind, for example "Frenchie" [Benjamin Carlotti], he prefers outdoors just because he can chase down more balls.
(Which do you prefer?)
Outdoors, definitely. I played on clay courts at home and clay courts are really slow.
THB: What was your road like to Chapel Hill? How did you end up here?
KW: I wanted to come to an English speaking country just because I went to school in Germany and I wanted to "refresh" my English. And I had the choice of England or the US. I applied to places in England, but I also wanted to play tennis at a higher level. I chose the US and North Carolina, I just researched on the Internet. I also had a friend on the golf team a couple years ago, Richard Treis, and I talked to him and he said it was a great place. And so I decided to come here, after also talking to the coaches. I thought it would be a good fit.
(So you sort of started your recruitment here?)
I initiated it, yes. If you're international and you didn't go to an American high school, you have to initiate the contact, unless you are Top 10 in the world.
THB: Why are you a Biochemistry major?
KW: My dad sort of guided me in that direction. He works for Dow Chemical, which is a chemical company. He's been in the chemical field all his life and I think I've inherited some genes from him. I'm pretty good at it; I enjoy it.
THB: On the same line, how do you manage your academics and athletics?
KW: I think I manage pretty well so far, especially since we've been traveling a lot lately and I've been able to cope with it. It's not too difficult. What makes it hard are the labs I have to take which sometimes collide with tennis, but you can't miss. So I somehow have to find a way to fill them into my schedule. But other than that, it doesn't seem to be a problem.
THB: What is your favorite TV show?
KW: It's an English one, Soccer AM. It's all about the English league and it's very humorous too.
THB: If you were to have a walk-up song, or a song of your choice, what would it be?
KW: It would be from the band, The Egg and it's called, Walking Away. It gets me fired up.
Players Mentioned
