'Incredible experience': UA junior Herman Hoeyeraal plays doubles for Norway in Davis Cup

Arizona junior Herman Hoeyeraal has represented his country in Norway at the Davis Cup every year since 2017. However, this was the first year where he got to actually play in a match for his home country as top player Casper Ruud was not with the team.

Hoeyeraal played in a doubles match with Viktor Durasovic against Serbia’s Filip Krajinovic (the No. 67-ranked ATP singles player) and Nikola Cacic (No. 72 doubles player) earlier this month, dropping the match in three sets.

“It was very fun,” Hoeyeraal said. “I feel like I can take that and bring it to college tennis as well with the higher-level doubles.”

Wildcats coach Clancy Shields — whose team plays in the Blue Gray National Tennis Classic on Friday and Saturday in Montgomery, Alabama — emphasized how meaningful it is to play in the Davis Cup.

“To be able to represent your country in anything is incredible, and to do it at the highest level for the Davis Cup is an incredible experience,” Shields said. “Not only that, they were competitive. They were in the match and went to a third set, so I think that experience is really big for our team.”

Hoeyeraal logged a career-high ITA ranking of No. 56 in singles play last season and is currently the No. 117-ranked collegiate singles player.

Strom leads the way

Arizona (6-2) is coming off a split against two top-10 teams on the road. The Wildcats defeated Baylor 5-2 Feb. 10 before falling to Texas 4-2 two days later.

“I think our team was really hungry,” Shields said. “They played well, they competed well together and really we probably could have won that match 7-0 against Baylor. We lost two in that 10-point tiebreaker.

“I really liked where our team was at. I feel like we were there against Texas, but we didn’t have the same fight that we had against Baylor and we’ll learn from it.”

Junior Gustaf Strom won both of his singles matches, 6-1, 6-2 against Baylor, and 6-1, 6-3 against Texas’ Micah Braswell, the No. 65-ranked singles player in the country of Texas. Strom earned the latest Pac-12 Player of the Week award.

“That guy is a beast,” Hoeyeraal said. “I have known him since I think I was nine years old. He has always been the hardest worker. He always hits one more ball. He is an animal.”

Strom won Pac-12 Freshman of the Year two seasons ago when he finished with a team-high 18 singles wins.

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“When he gets in that right mindset, he is really hard to beat,” Shields said. “I really feel like we’ve got six really good players on our team. We don’t really have any holes in our lineup this year, and to have a guy like Gustaf holding down the middle of our lineup where the guys look to his court and feel like we already have a point is encouraging.”

Gearing up for Blue Gray

One of the biggest tournaments held every year in college tennis is the Blue Gray National Tennis Classic in Alabama.

Arizona, currently ranked 14th in the country, figure to be the top team heading into the tournament, followed by No. 25 Middle Tennessee (which won it last year), No. 36 Auburn and No. 38 Alabama. The UA women’s team is also participating in the event

“I told the team this yesterday. I said I don’t think this tournament is going to build our character, but I think it’s going to reveal it,” Shields said. “I think it’s going to reveal what this team is all about, and that’s why we go.”

Teams play three matches in two days in what at times can be super-tough conditions depending on the weather.

Arizona last won the tournament in 2019, led by Alejandro Reguant, who was named the MVP of the tournament that year, the same year the Wildcats made the round of 16 in the NCAA Tournament.

As the highest-ranked team heading into the tournament, UA will be the No. 1 seed in the draw. But Shields knows that seeding does not matter.

“That stuff is irrelevant because when you get out there, it’s just the team that wants it the most, the team that will hustle,” Shields said. “It will be the grittiest team, the feistiest team. The most together team is going to win, and that is the mission this week — can we go into this tournament and accomplish all of those things.

“We’re not going into it to take second place.”

The overall mission for Shields and the Wildcats this year is to host in the NCAA Tournament, a feat they just barely missed out on last year.

“We know we have to finish high, and a big part of this week is to come out of this with experience,” Shields said. “But also to keep our ranking moving in the right direction.”