Spring Break
Luck not an ingredient in women's tennis victories
Issue date: 4/22/08 Section: Sports
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I am at the match, and I am writing a story about the match.
To head coach Jeff Wallace, I am a lucky leprechaun leaping in a valley of four-leaf clovers attempting to find him a big pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
"I think you're good luck and I might have to hire you to come with us for the rest of your life - certainly the rest of my career," Wallace said.
In the last two years the Bulldogs are 16-0 when I am physically at the match and writing a story for publication. During this period, Georgia has lost only six matches - five of those coming when I did not travel to cover the match outside of Athens.
The other loss came against California in the NCAA quarterfinals in Athens last year. Sure, I was there, and yes, I was helping the Athens Banner-Herald in its coverage of the tournament.
However, I was not assigned to write a story on that particular match.
Senior Kelley Hyndman went as far as saying that I should come out to Tulsa, Okla. to cover the
Bulldogs during the NCAA Tournament.
"Maybe you are our good luck charm," Hyndman said. "I think you need to start traveling with us. Seriously, Jeff needs to personally hire you. If that's the success rate then we need you to come do some work in Tulsa."
If I did bring luck, I must have brought a lot to Auburn, Ala. on Sunday. Not only did Georgia beat Florida, who did not lose an SEC match during the regular season and beat the Bulldogs 5-2 in Athens, it marked the first time since 2005 that anyone from Georgia beat Florida's Whitney Benik - Monika Dancevic beat her 6-2, 6-4.
OK, I won't kid myself any longer.
While this coincidence is remarkable, it would be ridiculous to assume a reporter's good luck had anything to do with Georgia's success.
I don't even have good luck. If I were to find that pot of gold for Wallace at the end of the rainbow, I would end up spending the fortune on a mechanic after my Honda Accord broke down on the drive to Wallace's home.
What I do know is this: If there was a glass ceiling placed above Georgia, each player has jumped up and shattered it. There's Monika Dancevic, who fought through leg cramps in a comeback clincher over Georgia Tech. There's Kelley Hyndman, who suffered a horrendous nine-match slump to end up SEC Tournament MVP.
Then there's Naoko Ueshima - the steady pacesetter who put this Georgia team on her back with two match clinchers against Arkansas and Florida. While the Florida girls sat on the ground watching the final match wind down, Georgia's girls stayed standing and offered encouragement to Ueshima, who won the match's last three games after falling down 4-3 in the third set.
Also note that Georgia has lost 11 doubles points and 16 matches at No. 1 singles but still managed to post a 20-4 record and capture an SEC Tournament crown.
While Wallace said he should hire me as a personal reporter to cover the team for life (we'll negotiate later, Jeff), he knows the credit lies with the eight girls he sees everyday in practice.
He also knows no luck was needed.
- Jason Butt is a sportswriter for
The Red & Black
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