Lee’s confidence fails him in NCAA singles tournament

By Dave Denicke

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

ATHENS, Ga. ““ In the first set of senior Jong-Min
Lee’s quarterfinal match last Friday, Lee played with
confidence. After the second set, his confidence was gone, and by
the end of third, so was the match, ending Lee’s run at this
year’s NCAA men’s tennis singles tournament.

Despite a strong first set and several opportunities late in the
second set, Lee’s game eventually unraveled from the inside
out, allowing Texas A&M’s Shuon Madden to prevail, 6-7
6-4, 6-3.

“I thought he played well until he had a chance to win the
match, and then he kind of doubted himself,” UCLA head coach
Billy Martin said. “He got a little tentative. To me,
that’s a sure sign that you’re just not sure if you
think you’re going to win the match.”

At 5-5 in the second set, Lee had two break points on
Madden’s serve, but from there the match began to slip away.
Madden powered away from the baseline with a pair of ground-stroke
winners to get back to deuce, denying Lee four times in all that
game before holding serve for a 6-5 edge.

“I felt that I started to serve the ball better,”
Madden said after the match. “I was a little conservative on
the big shots in the first set, but I took more chances as the
match went on.”

In the following game, Lee held a 40-15 advantage on his serve,
but was unable to force another tiebreaker, as Madden eventually
broke Lee for the second set, shaking Lee’s confidence in the
process.

“He was a little upset with himself, and got down instead
of being ready to fight for the third set,” Martin said.
“But he was right there knocking on the door.”

Lee struck first in the opening set, breaking Madden and taking
a 3-1 lead. After sharing breaks ““ Madden thanks to a drop
shot with enough spin to climb over the net, and Lee due to a lob
with enough arc to evade Madden’s racquet ““ the first
set went to a tiebreaker. In the breaker, Lee took command, winning
six of the final seven points for a 7-6 (7-3) first set, and a
boost of confidence.

“Once I got in the rallies, I felt pretty
confident,” Lee said. “I served pretty well in the
first set.”

Soon after, though, Madden retook control of the match, breaking
Lee twice for a 4-0 lead. While part of the Aggie’s lead came
from his aggressive return game, some of Lee’s wounds were
self-inflicted, including three double faults during Madden’s
second break.

“It was a pretty interesting match, with a bit of ebb and
flow,” Texas A&M head coach Tim Cass said. “We took
advantage of opportunities, and were able to sneak out a
win.”

But Lee did not go down without a fight. Spurred by his coach
and teammates, he found his confidence again, breaking Madden with
a backhand passing shot to bring him within a game. Lee then held
serve, but not before nearly losing the set, when Madden drilled an
overhead into the net on his set point.

But Madden eventually won the second set, sending Lee into a
slump early in the third set. After several long service games, Lee
eventually cracked, double faulting away his service game, lending
Madden a 3-1 lead. Lee hung his head in despair, and by the time he
looked up, Madden stood with a 5-1 lead, too much for Lee to
overcome.

“Physically I felt fine, but my concentration was not so
good,” said Lee, who scaled his concentration in the third
set at one out of 10.

“I was really kicking myself at 5-3 about that previous
service game, when I had game points,” he added.

Cass talked about the physical nature of the tournament, which
would take its toll on Madden later in the day in a loss to
Kentucky’s Carlos Drada.

“I think this is the toughest tournament in America,
asking these kids to play with this much emotion after the team
championships,” Cass said.

It is ironic that Lee, who many times this season relied on his
confidence to knock off higher-ranked opponents, would finish his
career falling in such a tight match. But Lee says that he will
look back on his college career fondly.

“Something positive, but right now I don’t
know,” he said.

One positive thing for Lee is that he finished the year as the
only Bruin to be an All-American in both singles and doubles. His
season singles record ends at 23-12, including an April 22 victory
over eventual NCAA singles champion Alex Kim of Stanford.