Embrace Your Community: Arkansas Razorbacks Men’s Tennis

Received this email from former Razorbacks Tennis Coach, Robert Cox, on November 28, 2022: “Please reply if you are coming to hit with the Hogs tomorrow, Tuesday night!!  6-8pm…..Coach Jay Udwadia welcomes you to come meet and hit with the Hogs at the indoor courts..”

I showed up, of course, with more than 40 other adult players excited about hitting with the Hogs. Almost the entire team was there and more than willing to give two hours of their time to hit with all of us. The action was nonstop. Doubles point after doubles point with balls flying all over the place. Plenty of winners and lobs and drop volleys and amazing gets and, well, fun and fellowship. I met almost everyone on the team as we played points together and against one another. It was a blast.

For the new head coach of the Razorbacks, Jay Udwadia, a former Razorback player himself, the larger goal of such events is creating and embracing new relationships within our NW Arkansas community. He wants all of us to get to know his players. He wants his players to get to know us. A larger part of this goal, of course, is to encourage us to come out and support the team. For us to come out and have a good time at matches. For us to Call the Hogs and yell “Go Hogs.” For us to cheer for big shots on big points. For us to cheer (not quite as loudly) when opponents miss shots on big points.

I just attended the first home match. College tennis has so much action on the courts. One of the many joys of attending matches is that you get to see some great tennis. Over the last few years, I’ve seen both Ben Shelton (Florida Gators) and JJ Wolf (Ohio State Buckeyes), two players who just met in the fourth round of the Aussie Open, two players who are currently ranked in the top 50 in the world. The d1 college players you get to watch really smack the ball and cover the court at a very high level. If you are a tennis player in NW Arkansas (Yes, I know many of you), come out and see some matches. You can cheer or talk strategy or see where you might improve or simply feel humble about your tennis game. (I engaged in all four of these activities while sipping a Michelob Ultra and taking bites from a pretzel.) Oh yeah, for the first time in over ten years, they have a concession stand at tennis matches.

One of the other joys of watching the matches is seeing many members of the tennis community there. Let’s grow this community even more by coming out in solidarity to support our local team and watch some great tennis. Come out and join us. Bring a friend. Hope to see many of you there.

You can learn more about the team on their webpage: Arkansas Razorbacks Men’s Tennis. The two pics here were taken from this website.

Upcoming Home Matches:

Jan. 25, 5 pm: Oral Roberts
Feb. 3, 5:30 pm: East Tennessee St.
Feb. 5, 11 am and 4 pm, Illinois State (dh)
Feb. 10, 6:00 pm, Washington
Feb. 15, 6:00 pm, Tulsa
Feb. 26, (dh) 10:00 am and 2:30 pm, Omaha
March 9, 5:30 pm, Ole Miss
March 18, 1:00 pm, Texas A&M
March 31, 5:30 pm, LSU
April 2, 1:00 pm, Georgia
April 14, 5:00 pm, Alabama
April 16, 1:00 pm, Tennessee

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