For the past two years, the men's tennis team has ruled the northeast region in doubles, and the Bears will fight to continue their reign this weekend at the ITA Northeast Regional Championships. The tournament is hosted by Princeton, and if the Bears take the crown again this year, it will be their fifth title in seven years.
"Doubles has always been a big part of our success," said Head Coach Jay Harris.
Brown has an impressive history at Regionals, beginning with a victory in 2001 by Adil Shamasdin '05 and Nick Goldberg '05. Shamasdin repeated the feat in 2003, this time with Jamie Cerretani '04 as his partner, and the Bears' domination continued in 2005 when Phil Charm '06 and Dan Hanegby '07 won the championship.
Last year the crown went to Basu Ratnam '09 and Eric Thomas '07, who later advanced to the quarterfinals at the National Indoors. Ratnam is poised to make another strong showing this year, coming in seeded fifth with Chris Lee '09.
"We haven't played too much together," Ratnam said. "But I think we have a good chance to win. (Lee) is definitely a great person to play with. He's such a great kid."
In addition to Ratnam and Lee, two more pairs will also represent Brown at the tournament. Harris said co-captain Saurabh Kohli '08 and Skate Gorham '10 have a great chance to win, and co-captain Noah Gardner '09 and Sam Garland '09 are on the top of their game as well.
Harris emphasized that any pair can win the title. "Last year, Basu and Eric came in as our No. 3 team and won the whole thing," he said.
The Bears are also expected to go far in the singles draw. Kohli is Brown's highest seed, at No. 16, while Gorham is seeded No. 23. Gardner and Jon Pearlman '11 will also compete, making their Regionals singles debuts.
"Our goal is always to have someone in the last match in both the singles and doubles draws," Ratnam said, adding that the Bears try not to think about the pressure they face as defending champions.
"Last year, we were just having fun," he said. "I think that's why we won."
