Mattelson Wins ITAs and Makes History

I was not there so I did not witness it. But, I covered it. From my write-ups that I assume you all read, you know that Mike played a beautiful tournament and survived the rigors of 12 hour days with no days off. In the finals, his body held up and his opponent’s did not. He even fought off six match points in his 3rd round match. Imagine that of all the balls he hit in those six rallies alone, had one of them been just an inch out, Mike would’ve never been the third men’s tennis player in Vassar history to make nationals, after the now disbanded diaper dandy, All- American duo of Greg Katz and Max Willner.I’ve missed a shot and even framed a ball on match point only to shrug it off as tough luck. Even Andy Roddick lost to Roger Federer in last year's Wimbledon with a framed forehand on match point. It's not a fun way to end a match. Mike and I once had a discussion about controlling the outcome of a match. I argued that it’s unreasonable to set outcome-based goals because they’re not directly controllable due a plethora of uncontrollable factors.

Mike stated that if he plays well, he can beat anyone, and that he ultimately dictates how he plays. I countered that he should figure out how to play his best every time on the court and never lose a match again. Our debate continues but I do concede that Mike made a conscious effort to win and was in seemingly complete control of his path towards that goal, even if it took him three sets to win in the final.

Everybody who played the tournament deserves a ton of credit for representing Vassar well amongst our foes. Props to “Goose,” “Maximus,” “G-Reg,” “J.R.,” “Mr. Defense,” and of course, “Smash.” Among those less-mentioned guys since Mike is sponging all the praise, Max Willner stands out for me.

I sometimes draw comparisons between the playing style of a guy on the team and that of a well-known professional a la my idol, Mel Kiper Jr. Max embodies the style and mind-set of Andy Murray. We all know that Max has great court sense and shot selection, similar to Murray. As far as mindset, I’ve come to realize that he’s a chippy econ major who loves statistics, rankings, and bracketology.While some people just go play and let the ranking take care of itself, Andy Murray knows every player in the top 500, and he not only understands the ATP ranking system, he knows which matches of his own, and of others, have ranking implications.

Max is the same way so I was surprised when at practice a couple days before the ITA tournament, he knew who everyone on the team was playing but couldn’t remember who he drew in the first round. This is when I saw the chip on his shoulder forming. He felt slighted by his #15 seed, was bothered by the lay-out of the draw, and therefore didn’t want to talk about his upcoming match.

While worrying about these uncontrollable details may have hindered most people, Max thrived on this snub for his motivation and it may have helped him reach the semi-finals of the ITAs for the second straight year. Congrats to Mike, but Max, next year is yours.