As the final matches of the season are quickly approaching for Auburn men's tennis senior Tyler Stice, he looks back and reflects on his career and the time he has spent at Auburn over the years.
Stice wasn't supposed to be at Auburn, but a few things changed during the summer right before he was set to start his freshman year of college, and it all ended up working out for the better.
"I was committed to play at Texas Tech my senior year of high school and then a week before school started the Texas Tech coach called me and he told me he quit to take a job," said Stice. "I had spoken to Bobby [Reynolds] before and I remember being bummed out that it did not work out at the time to play at Auburn. We established a prior relationship and a couple guys left the team for a scholarship to open and I decided to take it."
No matter the sport or event, Auburn fans will always have a huge rivalry with Alabama. Stice got to experience an Alabama rivalry himself his sophomore year during one of his very own matches. This match is considered one of his favorite memories while playing at Auburn.
The Atlanta, Georgia native clinched the victory with a three-set win over fifth-year senior Zhe Zhou on court one, taking the deciding set by a 6-4 score. Stice won his first set in a tiebreaker 7-5 and kept pace with his more experienced opponent the rest of the match. Stice pushed the Tigers to a 4-3 victory in a match that lasted nearly four hours.
"My sophomore year, it came down to me at three-all in an away match against Alabama and I was able to win three sets and the match for our team."
Stice loves to do other things outside of tennis and has recently added a new hobby to his life that he enjoys getting to play alongside his other interests.
"Playing golf is a relatively new hobby that I have had for about two years now," said Stice. "I like chilling at home, playing video games and watching Netflix."
At Auburn, Stice has over 75 wins in his Auburn career in both singles and doubles. Stice has made his presence felt in the Auburn record books and is ranked inside the program's top-10 in career combined wins and career doubles wins.
He was named First Team All-SEC as well as an NCAA Singles Championships participant in 2021 and 2023. He was also an SEC All-Newcomer and to the SEC First-Year Academic Honor Roll in 2021.
After his time at Auburn, Stice wants to stick with tennis, and there are many ways that he is planning to still have tennis in his life.
"I would like to try to play professionally for a little bit and see how that goes and after that I will probably stick somewhere close to tennis," said the fifth-year senior. "Whether that's being a coach or maybe being a tennis commentator."
Looking back on his years at Auburn, there are some things that he would love to tell his freshman self about playing tennis in college and how it is different from any other tennis he has played before.
"Don't be so hard on yourself," said the two-time First Team All-SEC selection. "As a freshman, I wanted to come in and play No.1 right away, but I had to realize very quickly that there is an adjustment period for everybody even in college tennis. I put so much pressure on myself that I had to be almost perfect every practice and every match, but as I have gotten older I have realized the less pressure I tend to put on myself, the more I exceed because I am not worried about too much."
Stice enjoys watching tennis too and has gotten a chance to go see a professional tournament before. There is one player specifically that he will always love, and is one of the reasons that he started playing.
"I started playing tennis because of Roger Federer," said the senior. "He is my favorite player of all time and Tommy Paul is my current favorite player."
Stice has enjoyed his time on The Plains and there are many things that he is going to miss while he was at Auburn between playing for the school and just being a part of the school itself.
"I have a list of things I am going to miss but I would say the football games and the gameday atmosphere I don't think there is too much like it. I also love how it is not too big of a campus. It is a big school, but it is easy to navigate. I think the people are awesome and all the fans are great."