University of Georgia Athletics
Montgomery Win Has Odd Moments
September 13, 2015 | Men's Tennis
View Full Archive of the Frierson Files
By John Frierson
UGAAA Staff Writer
Wayne Montgomery is one win away from defending his title at the Southern Intercollegiate Championships. The top-seeded Georgia sophomore survived a tough semifinal challenge Sunday from Georgia Tech's Christopher Eubanks, the No. 3 seed.
In a neck-and-neck match that had a few odd moments, Montgomery advanced to Monday's final with a 7-6 (2), 7-6 (5) win at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex. Of course physically it was an odd matchup from the start with the 5-foot-10 Montgomery going against the long and lean Eubanks, who is listed at 6-7 and 165 pounds.
"It was a weird match, but I enjoyed it and had a lot of fun out there," said Montgomery, last year's SEC Freshman of the Year. "I knew he was going to be a tough competitor; he plays a completely different style than what I like, so I knew it was going to be tough."
The players were on serve with Eubanks leading 5-4 in the first set when the Yellow Jacket's grunt on a shot sounded very much like the word "no," which Montgomery and the chair umpire, as well as numerous folks watching the match, interpreted as him calling a ball out.
Montgomery stopped playing the point because of what he perceived was an out call and there was confusion after Eubanks then hit what he thought was a winner. Montgomery was awarded the point by the umpire per the hindrance rule, which essentially states that one player cannot do something to distract his opponent.
"It sounded like he said `no,'" said Georgia associate head coach Bo Hodge, who was sitting courtside. "I believe him when he said he didn't. ... The umpire said it was a hindrance."
At the time it wasn't a big deal as Montgomery went on to hold serve easily. And in the first-set tiebreaker, the South African jumped out to a 4-0 lead. Montgomery led 4-2 when Eubanks missed routine forehands on three straight points to give the tiebreaker and the set to Montgomery.
The first service break of the match came at 2-all in the second set, when Montgomery's shot went long at 40-all. The Bulldog answered right back on Eubanks' serve and got ahead 0-40. At 15-40, on a ball hit near the baseline, Eubanks again did a grunt that sounded like "no," and again Montgomery stopped play.
The point was awarded to Montgomery like before, but this time it was a break point that got him back on serve at 3-all.
"That kind of helped me out," Montgomery said.
After Montgomery held for 4-3, Eubanks could be heard telling the umpire that his grunt can change, "depending on the bounce," meaning the ball's proximity to his body. The players were always cordial with one another and Montgomery said he understood that Eubanks wasn't doing it on purpose.
There was one last oddity that didn't have any effect on the match, but you sure don't see it often. With Eubanks serving at 30-love down 5-4, both players broke a string on the same point -- Montgomery first and then Eubanks, forcing both, mid-game, to head to their benches for a different racquet.
Serving at 5-all, Montgomery got behind 15-30 before coming back to win the game, yelling "Vamos!" on game point to go ahead 6-5. It was an odd exclamation from an English-speaking player from Somerset West, South Africa.
In the ensuing game, Eubanks had a game point at 40-30 and missed a forehand wide. That made it 40-all and in the no-ad scoring format used in collegiate tennis, Montgomery suddenly had a match point. Eubanks fought it off with a big serve, followed by a forehand winner.
Montgomery started the tiebreaker off as well as he did the first one, Up 2-0, Montgomery hit his shot of the match, a running forehand cross-court winner past Eubanks at the net. That made it 3-0 and it was 5-0 before Eubanks got the on the scoreboard with an ace.
At 6-2, Montgomery was again at match point, but Eubanks fought off four more before the Bulldog ended the match with a forehand winner.
"Wayne defends probably the best in college tennis, so that was kind of our main goal: Just get every single ball back and make him play that extra ball," Hodge said. "Wayne did a nice job and we were able to get through it."
Montgomery will face Georgia Gwinnett's Kevin Konfederak in the 1:30 pm. final. Konfederak defeated Georgia's Paul Oosterbaan 7-6 (3), 4-6, 7-6 (2) in the other semifinal.
John Frierson is a staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Hall of Fame at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex. You can follow him on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.
Players Mentioned
