One of the rising stars for the No. 16 Arizona men’s tennis team has been Jay Friend. The freshman from Japan has carved out a significant role with the Wildcats, boasting a 22-8 overall record and 4-2 mark in Pac-12 play.
It was not the performance on the court by Friend that drew UA coach Clancy Shields to recruit him, however. Rather, it was the person Friend was off the court. It took just a 45-minute phone call between the two for Shields to know he wanted Friend on the team.
“You just have a great connection and start talking and you like the kid’s story and what he has been through,” said Shields, whose team concludes the regular season Saturday night at Arizona State. “The kid’s lived everywhere in the world: Singapore, New Zealand, Japan, Barcelona, Netherlands. What an incredible story.”
Friend was born in Tokyo. His father’s job led to a move to Singapore. Friend also spent a year focusing on tennis in Australia. He went to the Netherlands to live with his mom.
“You look at those things when you’re recruiting,” Shields said. “Obviously we liked his tennis game a lot, but what we really liked about him is him as a person.”
It went both ways as that was part of what Friend appreciated about Shields during the recruiting process.
“I really liked that about him,” Friend said. “... He was already interested in me before the results came through.”
Before coming to Tucson, Friend had been told about the competition he could be facing coming to a school in the Pac-12. It did not faze him.
“I remember before coming to school, people were telling me, ‘Oh yeah, Stanford has got these recruits, these No. 1-in-the-world juniors,’ and they’re telling me how tough they were,” Friend said. “We’re really up there in the Pac-12 and we’re doing a lot of damage, so it’s not really about what happens before college with these players. It’s what happens during college, and I think the coaches have done a really good job with us and made us a very competitive team, especially in the Pac-12.”
Arizona’s Jay Friend, left, and Jonas Ziverts celebrate a winning shot during their Pac-12 doubles match against Oregon at the Robson Tennis Center on April 7, 2023.
Rivalry week
After a heartbreaking 4-3 loss against Utah on the road last week, Arizona (19-5, 5-2 Pac-12) will close the regular season in Tempe against ASU (13-9, 2-5).
The Wildcats have beaten the Sun Devils in back-to-back years, including a 6-1 victory in Tucson last year.
One of Shields’ closest friends is ASU men’s tennis coach Matt Hill, but that all goes out the window this week.
“Obviously when you get into rivalry week, things change (and) it doesn’t matter who has the better team or who has the better ranking,” Shields said. “When you get into this, it’s a different ballgame.
“It’s going to be crazy. ... It can get nasty with the fans, and all the pageantry of college sports will be on display, and I think that’s what we like.
“For us, it’s like when you want something so bad, it doesn’t matter what’s in your way. I think that’s the challenge for us if we really want to win a Pac-12 championship and if we want to keep going forward to hosting (in regionals) and the goals we want to achieve; this is just a huge hurdle in our way that we got to get through.”
This will be the first taste of the rivalry for Friend, but he is well aware of what is at stake.
“I know that we don’t like them, and they don’t like us,” Friend said. “That’s enough to get me fired up. It’s a really big deal in this school, so any win that we get over ASU will make this school happy. We’re really going to go for it this weekend.”
Hoeyeraal healthy
Junior Herman Hoeyeraal (foot) played in a doubles match against Utah last weekend. It was his first action since the Wildcats played New Mexico State on March 25. He is expected to be full go for the match against ASU on Saturday.
The No. 12 Arizona men's tennis team celebrates with captain Nick Lagaev at LaNelle Robson Tennis Center after Lagaev's singles match victory clinched the team win for the Wildcats over No. 48 Oregon Friday, April 7, 2023 in Tucson. Video courtesy Arizona Athletics (via Twitter)
