Arizona men's tennis 'playing with a lot of confidence' ahead of home event

Some teams bond over fun activities away from their respective sport, like a friendly competition at Top Golf or a bowling alley. Other teams have retreats to draw their players closer together.

The Arizona men’s tennis team bonded over sports documentaries leading up to the season. The two most inspirational documentaries for the Wildcats: “The Comeback: 2004 Boston Red Sox” and “The Last Dance,” a 10-part documentary on Netflix about the Chicago Bulls’ dynasty in the 1990s.

“Most of our guys are international and they never watched baseball in their lives,” said UA head coach Clancy Shields. “We ended up watching the first episode because I thought the Red Sox kind of resembled our team a little bit. After the first episode, the guys wanted to finish it, they were so into it.

“I think there’s these cool stories out there, whether it’s the Chicago Bulls, the Boston Red Sox, whatever. There’s some really cool stories out here and we’re trying to tie that to our team and how we can be successful.”

If the current rendition of UA men’s tennis is the Bulls from the 1990s, the Wildcats have a Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen one-two punch in senior Colton Smith, an ITA All-American and 2024 Pac-12 outright champion, and Jay Friend, a junior from Tokyo.

Shields, the Phil Jackson of Arizona men’s tennis, said the others are “fighting to be Dennis Rodman” for the Wildcats.

“I said, ‘None of you guys are Dennis Rodman,’” Shields joked. “’None of you guys are bad boys.’”

In Arizona’s last dance in the Pac-12 last year, the Wildcats were conference champions outright, with Shields named Pac-12 Coach of the Year for the third time in his career. Arizona advanced to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament, before falling to Columbia in New York.

The sixth-ranked Wildcats (4-0) face a former Pac-12 foe in the USC Trojans (2-0) at LaNelle Robson Center on Saturday at 1 p.m. as part of the “ITA Kickoff Weekend.” The Wildcats will face either Oklahoma State or UCF — current Big 12 rivals — on Sunday.

Shields joined “Spears & Ali” on ESPN Tucson this week. Here’s what he discussed:

What’s your assessment of Arizona’s undefeated start

to begin the season?

A: “It’s been a great start. Half of our team is freshmen and that always scares any coach saying that. But I think we answered a lot of questions this weekend on the road against a top 10 Florida State team. I think this team is playing with a lot of confidence. I think our returning players are looking at our freshmen a little different and are thinking that these guys can ball and these guys can help us. It’s fun to meet with our captains afterwards, and they were like, ‘Dang, we could be pretty good this year.’ I think there’s a lot of confidence on our team.”

What specifically did the freshmen display to give you and others confidence for this season?

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A: “When you’re a coach and you’re watching these guys and it gets to the big moment, some people rise up and some people kind of shrivel away. These freshmen, they rose up like you wouldn’t believe it. It was really fun to see and our two freshmen beat two seniors from an ACC squad that won the ACC last year. Florida State being ranked No. 9, they won the ACC tournament last year (and) we won the Pac-12 tournament last year, so it was kind of a two champions going at each other. They had four of their six top six players returning and we had three of our top six. So I kind of felt like they had a little advantage going into it and a little more experience. It totally changed when we walked on the court. And these freshmen are for real.”

What has Smith meant to

the rise of UA men’s tennis

under your direction?

A: “Colton is the closest thing to professional tennis in Tucson. He’s currently ranked around 350th in the world in the men’s ranking and he’s only played four months of professional tennis. Had he been doing it a whole year, maybe he would be playing in the Australian Open and we’d be talking about that; he’s that good. ... We talked to our team in the fall and we said, ‘Look, guys, we kind of have a Michael Jordan on the team. And then at our No. 2 player, we got a Scottie Pippen. Our No. 2 player (Friend) made the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament; he’s an All American. We have this really nice combination of at one and two of probably the top two players in the country on paper. That gives our team a lot of confidence that, ‘Hey, we might be going on to the court already, up 2-0.’”

What makes Smith stand out as a tennis player in comparison to others?

A: “Mentally, there’s nothing that phases this kid. He is as strong mentally as anyone I’ve ever seen. There’s an inner confidence in him on the big point, he just trusts his game. He goes for it and it works. He is so much physically further along than a lot of these college kids. He’s got this physical advantage, he’s got the mental advantage, he’s the hardest working kid you’ll ever meet and that helps. Down to his core, he’s a great kid. ... I mean, the kid is the total package. I mean you couldn’t imagine having an awesome player like he is and then having an even better person on your team. I know coaches say that all the time.

“Last week, when we played in Tallahassee, we had a kid and his father drive up from Orlando about 4½ hours and they said, ‘Hey, our kid just wanted to see Colton play. ... For for a family to want to drive up and see a player play, he just has that personality and people like him. They want to see him compete and kind of be on his team. He’s been an absolute rock star for us.”

Now that Arizona is in the Big 12, how do you think UA tennis

fits into the Big 12?

A: “One of my mentors is (former Boise State and Washington football head coach) Chris Petersen, and he always told me, ‘Hey, you know, I think every job has an eight-year lifespan.’ For me, it’s like I got a new job and a new mission. Obviously, going into the Big 12, TCU has been the top dog. They won the national championship last year. You have these facilities, these $30 million facilities, the best in the country. ... So it’s going to be a huge challenge.

“It’s going to be different. I think the fans are going to be much different than what we’ve seen in the Pac-12 and we welcome that — we’re ready for that. We’re built for the adversity. I’m looking forward to the challenge. I love going to Stillwater, (Oklahoma) and I love going to Waco, (Texas) and those small towns. It’ll be interesting to see how we stack up. TCU is the top dog, and everyone’s chasing them.”