TCU tennis wants to ‘keep having fun’ as it faces Baylor for a Final Four berth
The first question asked to TCU men’s tennis coach David Roditi in an Elite Eight news conference Tuesday wasn’t about facing Baylor for a fourth time. It wasn’t about the program being on the cusp of making the Final Four for a fifth time in program history. It wasn’t on any of his players.
Instead, Roditi took a question about a postgame quip he made after TCU knocked off Ohio State to advance in the NCAA Tournament on Monday. Roditi described the victory as a “tremendous team effort by the Little Sisters of the Poor.”
That reference, as TCU fans recall, dates to the 2010 football season when then-Ohio State president Gordon Gee took issue with TCU being in the national championship picture. At the time, TCU played in the Mountain West and was trying to become the first mid-major program to play for a BCS National Championship.
Gee dismissed the Horned Frogs’ undefeated record because, in his mind, they played the “Little Sisters of the Poor.”
Roditi, like many Horned Frog faithful, haven’t forgotten that line. Monday proved to be the perfect situation to bring it back after the tennis program defeated Ohio State 4-1.
“That comment about the sisters of the poor was just having fun and doing a crossover of football and tennis,” Roditi said, smiling. “For all TCU fans, we all knew what that meant and what that was. It was just in fun and absolutely in no way disrespectful to Ohio State.”
The comment drew plenty of attention and “likes” on social media.
More “likes” will come if TCU continues its run when it faces Baylor with a trip to the Final Four on the line at 1 p.m. Thursday at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida. Roditi is waiting to see how the match goes before saying anything that may create a similar stir to his Ohio State remark.
“If you lose, you can’t say anything ‘cause you lost and you keep your mouth shut and congratulate the other team,” Roditi said. “If we win, then I can have a little fun.”
This will be the fourth match between the Big 12 rivals this season with Baylor winning two of three. TCU defeated Baylor 4-1 in a match Jan. 31 in Waco, and then lost to Baylor 5-2 in a match April 18 in Fort Worth. The teams met again in the semifinals of the Big 12 championship with Baylor winning 4-3 in Waco on April 25.
“It’s going to be a big battle,” junior Alastair Gray said. “We have a very strong drive to beat them for obvious reasons — one of our biggest rivals and both of us being towards the top 10 always means it’s a massive match.
“We’re really looking forward to the competition and the battle.”
TCU is looking to reach its fifth Final Four in men’s tennis history. The program has made that deep of a run four times, including once under Roditi in 2015. The other Final Four years were 1989, 1996 (when Roditi was a player on the team) and 2001.
“As a coach, I couldn’t be more proud of where we are,” Roditi said. “There are so many good teams, so many good coaches, so many good players. For TCU to be in the Elite Eight is remarkable.”
Golf update
The TCU men’s golf team is in sixth place at 3-under par after the first two rounds of the NCAA Regional at Seminole Legacy Golf Club in Tallahassee, Florida. The Frogs are four shots back of fifth-place Ohio State (7-under). The top five teams advance out of the regional tournament.
Florida State is leading the way at 24 under followed by Liberty (16 under), Georgia Tech (13 under) and Georgia (9 under).
The final round of the tournament is scheduled for Wednesday.
