The men's tennis team concluded its fall season last week by making school history. With a first-round victory in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association National Indoor Championships in Columbus, Ohio, Eric Thomas '07 and Basu Ratnam '09 became Brown's first doubles team to advance past the tournament's first round.
"It was such a great tournament," Thomas said. "It was so much fun to play."
Thomas and Ratnam earned a slot in the National Indoors when they won the ITA Northeast Regional Doubles Tournament last month. They were the third pair from Brown in the past four years to advance to the National Indoors, which includes the top 16 doubles teams in the country.
The duo began Thursday's first-round match with a bang, breaking serve against the University of New Mexico's Max Jones and Kamil Pajkowski to take a 3-1 lead. "We went out there with a lot of energy," Ratnam said. "It was our first national match, so it was exciting."
The Bears maintained their lead for the remainder of the match, and Ratnam served for the victory with the score at 7-5. Jones and Pajkowski would not hand over the game easily, reaching break point against the Bears. But Thomas and Ratnam bounced back to claim the match.
"They kept their toughness," said Head Coach Jay Harris. "It was such a good win."
The victory marked the first time Brown has advanced past the first round of the tournament. "To be one of the top eight doubles teams left, that's a very prestigious group to be in," Harris said. "Basu and Eric felt very honored to be a part of that group."
The win over the No. 50 pair from New Mexico also marked another victory for Thomas and Ratnam over ranked opponents. "We focused on the things we've been doing well," Ratnam said. "Although we haven't played a lot of matches together, we've been jiving on the court."
But the pair's nerves got the better of them on Friday when they faced off against the second-seeded team of Brian Hung and Matko Maravic from the University of Michigan. Hung and Maravic are ranked fifth nationally.
"It's a very nerve-wracking experience," Thomas said. "These are players you've read about."
Thomas and Ratnam dropped the first 10 points of the match before finding their rhythm and holding serve to bring the score to 3-1.
"They hesitated a little in the beginning," Harris said. "They were thinking, 'Hey, we're playing the No. 2 team.' But once they held at 3-1, they settled down."
According to Harris, the defining game came at 4-3, when the Bears almost broke the Wolverines' serve to even the score. However, the game went to the Michigan pair, who held their lead and eventually took the match.
"We almost got even," Thomas said. "If we had, the match could have been different. But they kept the pressure on us."
Though Thomas and Ratnam were disappointed with their quarterfinal loss, they remained positive about the experience. "It was great to play a team of such high caliber and see how we match up," Ratnam said.
As Harris put it, "They've only played 10 matches together - they went 9-1 this season - and already they're playing close to the level of the No. 2 team in the country."
Ratnam was also impressed with the performance.
"It was a great run," he said. "We surprised a lot of people. We surprised ourselves."
The accomplishments of Thomas and Ratnam this fall bode well for the spring.
"This was really good for the rest of the team," Harris said. "Eric and Basu have shown the rest of the team the level at which they all can play."
