No. 24 Stanford Men’s Tennis head coach Paul Goldstein feels like their best tennis is ahead
Following No. 24 Stanford men’s tennis’ 4-0 loss to No. 2 Virginia, Stanford men’s head coach Paul Goldstein took the time to share his thoughts on his team and how he’s feeling about their season. Stanford fell to Virginia on Sunday after getting a 4-1 win a couple days earlier against Virginia Tech.
BOX SCORE: Virginia at Stanford-Sunday, March 8th
“It’s a really good team that just came in and played against us in UVA,” Goldstein said after the match. “I think on Monday, next ranking, they’ll be the number one team in the country. I am really pleased with our tennis level. Like, we were there with the number one team in the country and we’re still not at our finest. We lost the mental battle today. We lost the mental performance battle today. Big points, break points, game point opportunities, that was the difference. If you listen to Fed talk about, you know, over the course of his career, he won 54% of his points. He lost 46%. But man, at the 30-alls, at the 5-alls, he won 80% of those. And we lost the vast majority of those today. And that’s okay. That’s something that we can work on. That’s something that we can work on. But there’s still a lot to like and we are not at our best selves. That was Samir’s best effort, I thought this year coming out with the one hand and he’s close to getting healthy. We’re still not at our best selves, but we’re getting there.”
Touching more on Stanford’s number one singles player Samir Banerjee, he had a difficult 2-6, 6-7 loss to Dylan Dietrich, who is the number one player in the country. To make a return from injury against the very best is never easy.
“Yeah, it’s, I mean, he played the number one player in the country,” Goldstein said of Banerjee. “So I’m pleased for Samir. He had some chances there, a breakpoint I think, maybe 15-30, 4-5, up 5-4 in the second, missed the ball. He could have had match point. He hit a great serve, put himself in position to win that point. Guy came up with a good shot. But, you know, that’s really encouraging for Samir. Really encouraging.”
Alex Chang and Alex Razeghi both had chances to win their matches, but they weren’t able to finish as the team match had been clinched. Goldstein continues to like the way those guys are battling and fighting every time they step on the court.
“Yeah, that’s what we talk about. Changer is up a set and a break, I think Raz is serving for the match, Nico had three match points down there, there was three matches right there that we could, breaker in doubles, that’s what I mean,” Goldstein said. “It’s the big points, the clutch points, right? Think about basketball, you know, if the game is within five within five minutes, what’s that called? Clutch points. And we lost the clutch point battle today. It’s as simple as that.
“And that starts with me. I gotta project more confidence in our guys in those crucial moments. We have to have clearer plans in the clutch moments. And we didn’t today and that’s on me.”
Looking ahead to the next stretch of the season, Goldstein’s message to his team is simple. They’re not at their best and they have room for so much more growth and improvement. He’s confident that they can get there.
“That was it. We were right there in the tennis,” Goldstein said of his message. “We’re still not at our best selves. We’re gonna get, to be our best selves, today, we lost the clutch points and that’s a growth opportunity. That’s a maturity. And that starts with me.”
On that note, Stanford’s next match will be on Friday, March 13th at home against SMU. That will begin at 6:30 PM PT. Link to the livestream is here.
CardinalSportsReport.com on Facebook, IG, Threads, X (Twitter), & Bluesky: @StanfordRivals
Ben Parker on Facebook, IG, Threads, X (Twitter), YouTube, & Bluesky: @slamdunk406
Email: slamdunk406@yahoo.com
