Nate Wallace
Year: Junior
Sport: Tennis
Hometown: Columbus, Ohio
As the men’s tennis program competed in their final tournament of the fall season this past weekend, Nate Wallace turned in his finest performance of the year. Ranked fourth in his field of 64 players, the junior won six straight matches to take the B-drop singles bracket. This week, The DePauw had a chance to sit down with Wallace to discuss the tournament win and his mindset heading into the offseason.
The DePauw (TDP): Can you take us through the tournament and brackets?
Nate Wallace (NW): I won six matches, three of them against seeds. The first three matches were pretty straightforward. I played really well. The next three matches were pretty challenging. All the guys that I played were pretty solid players overall. I got to the finals, and felt like I had more energy than the opponent, and played well.
TDP: How does your mindset change in each match, especially as you know you’re getting closer to that big victory?
NW: With each match, there’s confidence that builds. With me personally, I feel like going into each match I have more athleticism and speed than most people I play, so that’s kind of one thing I use confidence wise just building on each match. And especially as you go to the semis and finals, you just feel more confident in your strokes and your ability to play with these types of players in the region.
TDP: This was your last tournament of the fall. What does this victory mean to you heading into the offseason?
NW: For me personally, it just means a good ending to the fall season. As a team, we played the tournament very well, and I think we performed pretty well as a team. So kind of using it as a team kind of thing, overall, we showed that we are one of the top teams in the central region based on the fall season. We still have a lot to work on in the offseason to build towards the spring.
TDP: Is there anything specific you think the team needs to work on? Is there something the team as a whole knows it needs to improve?
NW: I think we have the ability to be one of the best teams in our conference, if not the best. So I think if we just go out in the offseason and keep lifting, keep working out, stay in shape, we should be in great shape for the spring season.
TDP: How do you view the fall season in comparison to the spring season?
NW: Fall season I think is kind of a time to just work on things in your game that you need to work on, like your strokes, like forehand and backhand serves. As we shift to spring season, it kind of changes to a more team-oriented thing and you kind of work on things more as a team.