The UW men's tennis team concludes its home schedule this weekend against No. 5 Illinois (5-1 Big Ten, 16-5 overall) on Saturday and Purdue (2-4, 7-11) Sunday at Nielsen Tennis Stadium.
Last weekend, the Badgers (2-5, 9-9) split a pair of home matches. They defeated Iowa on Saturday 6-1, only to lose to No. 39 Minnesota 5-2 the next day. Sophomore duo Nolan Polley and Jeremy Sonkin were victorious in both singles and doubles play, winning in the No. 1 doubles slot 8-3. Polley took out Andres Osorio 6-4, 6-2 at the No. 2 singles position. Sonkin scratched and clawed his way to a marathon 7-6 (6), 7-6 (9) upset win over then-No. 59 D.J. Geatz. For his winning efforts in both doubles and singles on the weekend, the Wheaton, Ill. native was awarded Big Ten Player of the Week for the third time this season.
Sonkin will be the underdog again this weekend, as he takes on nationally-ranked No. 3 Ryler Deheart of Illinois at No. 1 singles. Deheart is 29-5 on the season, including victories over 13 ranked opponents. Sonkin knows he will need his best effort this weekend to pull of a huge win.
For me, it's just really exciting to have such a great opportunity, and I really think that I can beat him if I go out and play a lot like I did this last weekend against Minnesota with a lot of confidence,\ Sonkin said.
Sonkin isn't the only one who will be challenged this Saturday. At No. 2 singles, Polley will match up against No. 20 Kevin Anderson, who has compiled an 18-3 record on the year. As a team, the Fighting Illini have four players in the top 65 in the singles rankings, along with four different doubles combinations in the top 60. Illinois' latest victim was No. 30 Kentucky, who was drubbed 7-0 by the Illini in Champagne, Ill. Head coach Greg Van Emburgh knows his team will have their hands full.
""As long as the guys give you [their best effort] and leave it on the court, that's all you can ask from them,"" Van Emburgh said. ""I think they'll be ready to play, and whether that's good enough for a win, we don't know. The thing is, you don't have to beat them ten times, you just have to beat them once.""
The Badgers are optimistic that anything can happen. Sophomore Felipe Bellido pointed out that the underdog always has a certain advantage in these types of matches.
""Even though Illinois is favored against us, I think that's an advantage, because we're going to play very loose and relaxed, and that helps,"" Bellido said.
UW finishes up the weekend against Purdue, who is 0-7 on the road this spring. The Boilermakers have not had a Big Ten road win since defeating Michigan State on April 18, 2004.
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