Sept. 6, 2016
By Cat Perez
Playing on the illustrious Grand Slam circuit is a feat every tennis player dreams of, but few have the opportunity to compete. In order to qualify for the Grand Slam tournaments, you must have a top 100 ranking, play in a qualifying tournament before the event, or be chosen as a wild card. Auburn head coach Bobby Reynolds competed for nine years on the Grand Slam circuit, totaling 12 years of professional play.
"You do all of your training-mentally and physically -- to do well at the Grand Slam. It is the biggest four of the year. I enjoy every single one of them because each tournament is on a different surface, so each presents its own different challenges," said Coach Reynolds.
Reynolds competed at the Australian Open (hard court), French Open (clay), Wimbledon (grass) and the U.S. Open (hard court). The U.S. Open is the last of four tournaments, starting on the last Monday of August with the final matches during the second week of September.
Reynolds' top finishes in his professional career occurred at the U.S. Open, which has been played every year since 1881, now at the United States Tennis Association (USTA) National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, N.Y. He qualified for eight U.S. Opens between 2004-2013.
"It is the home tournament, the home Grand Slam for the United States. Actually, for me personally, my whole family grew up in New Jersey. Every time I came up there to play, there would be 50 to 60 family members and friends come for every match. It was cool to be able to look up into the crowd throughout the whole match giving you an extra boost and energy to get through," he said.
Having a home court advantage meant a lot for Reynolds. He described his family and friends as being "rowdy and crazy" often giving him more motivation to win. Reynolds recounted one match where having that extra push was especially important to him.
"I was down two sets to one and 4-1 in the fourth against a Czech player (Thomas Zib). I ended up coming back and that was one of the ones that my whole family was there and they were going nuts. We played until 10 or 11 o'clock at night. The fans were going crazy and I ended up winning in five sets."
For Reynolds, the U.S. Open provides another distinctive experience. No other tournament has night matches. The second session of the tournament starts at 7 p.m. and matches can go as late as 1 or 2 a.m.
"None of the other Grand Slams have night matches like that. To have the whole city of New York come out is crazy to have that kind of atmosphere. If you go during the day, and then go during the night, it is two totally different sporting events. That's what makes New York very unique."
Reynolds wants to take his professional success at the U.S. Open and other tournaments and convert it into coaching the Tigers this upcoming season. He looks forward to developing young players here at Auburn.
"Getting guys here on campus, being able to work with them and show them through my journey that you can come to college, get better for the four years and then continue to get better and make it out on tour," he says. "I try to show them the steps that I took and hopefully they follow in my footsteps and surpass what I've done. Ultimately as a coach that's what you are looking for."
Cat Perez is an athletics communications student assistant from Palo Alto, Calif., majoring in public relations