Reminiscing About the ‘Old Days’

TIMES HAVE CHANGED FOR THIS ARKANSAS TEAM

By Jason Steinberg

Some things in the tennis world will never change, but over the year’s different aspects of the game have evolved. Changes have caused the Senior Men’s 4.5 team from Arkansas to reflect about the ‘old days’ of tennis when they began playing. The changes range from the evolution of wooden racquets to such things as the style of clothing.

Captain Mel Collazo understands that the game has changed and has embraced it. When thinking about the change in the style of play, Collazo talked about how the men playing have gotten into better shape. “Tennis has become much more of a baseline game,” explained Collazo. Players have started to work more on their ground strokes, and have gone away from the traditional serve and volley approach.

Clothes and equipment make up some of the largest differences in tennis. “We used to have presses that kept the wooden racquets from warping.” Nowadays racquets are made with different material that does not warp and have a larger sweet spot. While racquets have changed dramatically, so have the clothes players wear. Shorts have gotten longer and looser, which Collazo sees as good and bad. They liked them short and tight when they were younger because they were in better shape and wanted to show off their legs. Now with shorts being longer and looser, Collazo says that it suits their bodies better.

One thing has stayed the same over the years for the members of this team; they play to win. While the team is out to win, these guys grew up together and have been friends for years and Collazo says, “The biggest thing is that we enjoy the company.”