Freshman Dmitry Muzyka has already made a profound impact on the 10th-ranked men's tennis team. Despite entering a team that is laden with talented juniors and seniors, Muzyka plays a major role for the 15-5 Blue Devils.
"He has been a huge factor for us, in both singles and doubles," head coach Jay Lapidus said. "The thing that amazes me about him is that he's just not like a freshman at all in how mature he is on the court."
Muzyka has compiled a 25-8 singles record all year for Duke, seeing most of his time at the No. 2 slot behind senior Rob Chess. In dual matches this spring, the freshman has lost only four matches while picking up 14 victories. At one of the collegiate grand slam tourneys in the fall-the National Clay Court Championships-Muzyka advanced through a brutal qualifying round, which included playing two matches each day, to reach the main draw of the tournament. Despite falling in the first round of the main draw, Muzyka started to show that he will be a force to be reckoned with on the national level.
Lapidus attributes Muzyka's solid performances as a freshman to his having played in international tournaments before matriculating at Duke.
"He just seems mature beyond his years," Lapidus said. "He played one year of tournaments after his high school, and maybe that seasoned him a little bit.... Maybe the fact that he's played in so many big tournaments and been in so many pressure situations helps. Things just don't seem to faze him very much. I've never seen him really get nervous out there. He seems to always rise to the occasion."
In addition to his contributions in singles, Muzyka pairs with junior Sven Koehler to form a lethal team for the Blue Devils at No. 2 doubles. The duo has garnered a 16-4 record in dual matches this season.
But despite all this success, the Russian native still feels a need to improve his game.
"I definitely need to work on a lot of things [in my game]," Muzyka said. "That's part of why I'm here, so we can work on them."
Lapidus cited concentration in practices and matches as one area in which Muzyka has already improved in this year.
"[When he first got here], he had days where he'd practice pretty well, and he'd have days where it didn't seem like he was totally focused on playing that day," Lapidus said. "We've talked about that quite a bit. Now when he comes out to practice every day, he's ready to play, he's giving 100 percent.... The really great players mentally don't let up. They just stay mentally on their opponent all the time. He's done a much better job of doing that as we've gotten into the spring."
Muzyka's coach also mentioned volleys as one aspect of his game that needs work, although Muzyka was reluctant to specify a single aspect which could use improvement, claiming that every area needed work.
Despite Muzyka's modesty, Lapidus stated before the season began that he believed Muzyka could become one of the top players ever to come out of the Duke program.
"He's definitely one of the top couple of guys that I've ever coached as a freshman," Lapidus said. "His record at No. 2 sort of stands for itself right now. He's moving up and up in the rankings.... He's beaten several players in the top 30. For him to be beating these players as a freshman and to be playing No. 2 on a top-10 team is really impressive."
Muzyka began playing tennis at the age of nine, and moved from Russia to the United States in 1993 to attend Bradenton Academy in Florida. There he met current Duke players Adam Gusky and Ramin Pejan, in addition to becoming friends with Sebastien Gobbi, who played for the Blue Devils last season. This connection introduced Muzyka to the Duke program.
"When Sebastien came and Sebastien really loved Duke, he told Dmitry about it," Lapidus said. "I think that sort of turned [Dmitry] on to Duke. He's a very, very bright kid.... He felt, and rightfully so, that Duke was academically a really strong school and he wanted to combine the best of tennis with the best of academics. That's why he chose Duke."
Collegiate tennis differs distinctly from the pro ranks due to the team aspect of the sport, but Muzyka encountered few problems with the transition from playing as an individual to fitting in on the Blue Devil team.
"I like [college tennis] because it's a team sport," Muzyka said. "When you're playing in [professional] tournaments, you kind of play yourself. But here, even if you lose, you can still win. Pretty much if the team wins, you win."
Lapidus also feels that Muzyka has adjusted well to the team concept at Duke.
"He's really a team player," Lapidus said. "I get the feeling that if a team match comes down to him, or he knows he's got to pull through for us, he will.... He's really team-oriented. As a freshman, I guess I'm really impressed by that."
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