In the ITA All-American Tennis Tournament this weekend, Michael Yani-the lone Blue Devil participating in the tournament--reached the second round before falling to Amer Delic of Illinois.
Yani showed a lot of grit in taking the fourth-seeded Delic, who head coach Jay Lapidus described as "one of the elite players in college tennis," to three sets in the round-of-32.
After losing the first set in a tiebreaker, 7-6, Yani fought back to win the second set 6-4. In the final set, Delic, who reached the finals of the tournament, pulled it all together and was able to muster a 6-2 victory and a spot in the round of 16.
Lapidus was extremely pleased with Michael's performance in the tournament.
"He's gone from not even a singles player on our team to one of the top singles players in the country," Lapidus said. "Michael has done an unbelievable job of improving over the course of his career here."
In the first round, the Duke senior cruised to a straight set victory. He defeated Chad Harris of Vanderbilt 6-3, 6-4 en route to his match-up with the highly touted Delic at the Champions Club in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Yani's demeanor during practice is a key part of his personal development as well as the team's. As one of only two seniors on Duke's team this year, Yani has taken it upon himself to lead by example.
"Mike's always out there at practice giving a great effort, which is a big thing for the younger guys," Lapidus said. "I think they can see what improvement he has made, and it motivates them to try their hardest and follow after his lead."
Yani has played exceptionally well this fall, winning the Flight A singles championship in the Adidas Collegiate Invitational two weeks ago, and nearly knocking off Delic this past weekend in Tennessee.
Lapidus believes that Yani's play will be integral to the success of the team in the spring.
"If Michael continues to make progress like this, he will be a huge factor this spring," he said. "I expect him to get some big, big wins for us."
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