University of Georgia Athletics
Drake's Take: Reflecting On Senior Day
April 14, 2011 | Men's Tennis
April 14, 2011
Hello Bulldog Fans!
As many of you may know, I am writing you as an SEC champion for the first time since 2008. We have played some huge tennis over the past two weeks with three out of the four being 4-3 matches. With these wins we clinched at least a share of the SEC regular season title, but now it is on to fourth-ranked Tennessee to win the SEC outright.
Fellow senior and captain Javier Garrapiz has been amazing for us the past two weekends, clinching 4-3 wins at Ole Miss, at Mississippi State, and winning the deciding match against the always-tough Florida Gators. I have now spent nearly four years with Javi, and each time out on the court I am more and more amazed at what he can do. There isn't anyone else in the country that I would rather have on the court with the match on the line than Javier. Nor is there anyone else in the nation I would rather call my co-captain and spend four years with.
When I met Javi for the first time, he didn't speak too much English, but I knew that if he ended up coming to UGA for college we would end up being great friends. However, I could have never expected just how great of friends we could be. We have had some amazing times on and off the court, and as I said earlier, there is no one else I would have rather grown into a leadership role with than Javier Garrapiz.
This Saturday marks our last regular season home match together and we are looking to end with a bang. Tennessee has been ranked as high as No. 1 in the nation this year and beat us in a 4-2 decision in February. However, since losing to the Vols in Seattle, we have been on a 14-match winning streak. Collectively, we are playing our best tennis of the year and we are ready to take on the challenge that Tennessee will bring Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
Against Florida last Friday, we had a record-breaking crowd with 1,146 people in the stands. Walking out to that many fans simply gets everyone even more fired up than we were already. This Saturday we are looking to break the attendance record for the past few years of 1,500 fans when we played Virginia last year at National Indoors in Charlottesville. Again, this is the biggest match of our regular season and we want as much Red and Black as possible filling the grandstand of the Dan Magill Tennis Complex. Our match is scheduled between the G-Day game and the baseball game vs. Florida, so everyone is encouraged to come out and enjoy a great day of UGA sports!
Now it is time for me to get out on the court and sharpen up my edges for Saturday! The entire team has been working hard to get to this point and we are all ready to play! We are looking forward to seeing all of you Saturday!
Go Dawgs!
---DB
