Virginia’s men’s tennis team, the fifth-ranked team in the nation, is young — the program brought in the top-ranked recruiting class in the country last year. Unsurprisingly, as the season gets underway, the team’s freshmen are already making waves. Among those freshman contributors is Keegan Rice.
Ranked as high as No. 32 in the ITF Juniors rankings and the champion of several junior tournaments, including both singles and doubles trophies, Rice came to Charlottesville from Regina, Canada with an established pedigree which he has lived up to since arriving on Grounds.
In the fall, Rice went 8-3 in singles, an impressive start, and is undefeated both in doubles and singles in the opening weeks of the spring season. He was named ACC Freshman of the Week Jan. 21 after impressive wins in the Cavaliers’ first two matches against No. 18 South Carolina and Old Dominion, taking down strong singles players in both matchups.
Two excellent performances and the first major accolade of his collegiate career is already an impressive way to start a season. But somehow, in the ITA Kickoff Weekend tournament hosted at the Boar’s Head Resort last weekend, Rice took his play to another level.
Virginia faced Boise State Saturday in a matchup that ended up being much more competitive than expected — for everyone, that is, besides Rice. After a win in doubles with his partner, graduate student James Hopper, Rice beat his singles opponent — freshman Lukas Velik — 6-0, 6-1, winning the entire match while other courts were just wrapping up their first set.
“Against Boise State, I felt phenomenal,” Rice said in an interview with The Cavalier Daily. “I played [Velik] in juniors before, actually — a couple years, two and a half years ago, and he beat me. So it was nice to get some revenge.”
The next day, against No. 20 Alabama, Rice again secured a doubles win and won his first and only singles set, before Virginia secured the 4-1 win and left the rest of his match unfinished.
Rice’s power immediately stood out this weekend. His shots — both on the forehand and backhand — are incredibly strong and create advantages from which he can capitalize. He is most comfortable on the baseline, where he has the extra breath to set his feet and fully rotate into a shot, especially on his backhand.
“I think my biggest talent is my ball striking, especially on my backhand side,” Rice said. “I’m able to create lots of power, especially for my size.”
Against the Broncos and the Crimson Tide, Rice looked confident, aggressive and mobile — he moved from coast to coast easily and generated legitimate power seemingly from any position. Rice said he felt he played great across both matches and was thrilled with the results, adding that playing on a home court made the weekend all the more special.
“Playing home this past weekend — it was so much fun,” Rice said. “My mom came down … to watch. I think lots of parents came. It was [also] really exciting to play in front of the people that I see every single day.”
When a player is on the junior circuit, there are not many opportunities to play with a friendly crowd, and certainly not many in Canada where tournaments are fewer and farther between. Rice said that while he had experienced a biased crowd before, the level of crowd energy is different in college, energizing even.
“When I was playing in junior Roland-Garros, and I was playing a French guy, the crowd was going nuts for him,” Rice said. “But at the same time it was still much more respectful than any college tennis match, so it's definitely been an adjustment. But in terms of energy it’s raised my energy and everyone else’s energy around me.”
The crowds have been far from the only adjustment. For one, the rules of the college game are different — no warmups before matches, quickly switching between doubles and singles matches, no advantages in tied games. Those things all affect where a player has to be mentally to avoid making mistakes on which an opponent can capitalize.
Rice acknowledged the differences and said he should only become more familiar with them as the season progresses. In fact, the biggest adjustment Rice had to make this year was not necessarily on the court — but in the classroom.
“I think the toughest part [of the fall semester] was probably just the academics, especially at the end of the semester with finals — that section was uneasy,” Rice said.
Having to study — and even occasionally having to prioritize academics over tennis — is not something to which Rice was accustomed, spending over half of every year travelling and taking classes online. It is an added difficulty, sure, and Rice said Coach Andres Pedroso did not want him taking any difficult or particularly intense courses this spring, but he added that the routine of academics has been a welcome addition to his life.
Rice said he loves Charlottesville — he is already great friends with his teammates and enjoys his classes as well as the ins and outs of being a student athlete. Having a handful of teammates joining the storied program at the same time as him could only help in that regard. However, the comparative youth of the Virginia roster has also drawn concern over the level of experience as they enter the more difficult stretches of the season. Rice, for one, is not worried.
“People will say [we] don't have much experience,” Rice said. “I think we all have a lot of experience on the tennis court, playing in the biggest junior tournaments in the world. So I definitely think we have lots of experience, in that sense, just not yet in college tennis. But I believe we'll adjust quickly.”
When it comes to tennis and the on-court action, Rice has already proven his mettle. For a player who says his biggest strength is on the baseline, he sure has a tendency to show even more depth to his game. He knows he is solid from the back, he said, and able to develop points. The next steps are adding a transition game to the net and improving his serve.
Rice will have the opportunity this weekend to take yet another leap, as the Cavaliers take on No. 3 Ohio State and No. 1 Texas at home. He said he is looking forward to those matches, not just because the young Virginia team is hoping for statement wins, but because both matchups will give him another chance to improve his game even more.
Those will be challenging tests, not just for Rice but for the entire program. Rice knows that, and believes that his play will only continue to improve as the season progresses. But as a young player making waves on a young team, the next step — and the thing that will carry him through the spring season — is being strong mentally.
“I know I have the tennis [skill] and I think it'll come down to being able to play day in and day out and perform mentally,” Rice said. “That's the biggest goal — to have my mental game there for almost every single match.”
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