(Photo: Patricia Vicente/WCSN)
At just four years old, an insatiable desire and fire started burning within a young Frenchman. A desire to succeed, a distaste for mediocrity and a hunger for victory propelled Baonoromandresy, or Makey, Rakotomalala to the top of the French Tennis Federation.
Playing at the most elite level in France, he knew that if he wanted to make it to the professional level one day, he had to extend out of his comfort zone.
Enter the newly-reinstated Arizona State University men’s tennis program and a new head coach in Matt Hill.
After getting discontinued in 2008 for financial reasons, the Sun Devil men’s tennis team was reinstated for the 2018 season. Hill was faced with the task of assembling a new roster and coaching staff. He looked outside the United States and assembled the No. 5 recruiting class in the nation, according to Tennis Recruiting Network.
Rakotomalala was widely regarded as one of the most promising young talents to come out of France, having been ranked as high as top-50 in the world in the under-18 age group. He was also ranked 1094 in singles and 1064 in doubles on the ATP World Tour in October of 2015.
And he is just getting started.
“I spoke to Matt (Hill) about the project, it was very interesting to be with some good guys like Michaël (Geerts), Benjamin (Hannestad), some good players,” Rakotomalala said. “My goal is to be a professional player after college and this here was my first thing to do.”
Rakotomalala has provided a specific spark that it appeared this Sun Devil team lacked coming into the season: energy.
“It’s massive,” Hill said, smiling. “This is a very new concept for these guys. They’re so used to playing on their own, playing high-level tennis but never on a team that’s actually working together; and so having a guy that’s an emotional leader, in a group setting like this, takes things to another level.”
During matches at Whiteman Tennis Center in Tempe, Ariz. fans are sure to hear a plethora of screams, motions by Rakotomalala to get the crowd on its feet and his yelling of “Allez!” translating from French to English as “come on!”
Rakotomalala has shown a knack for amping up his teammates, fans in an effort to rile up his opposition into making mistakes.
“I like feeding the crowd, I like to be crazy, it gives me energy,” Rakotomalala said. “I like to be exciting and I play well when I’m like that. If I’m sad it’s boring.”
The impact that his energy has on his teammates does not go unnoticed. Because these athletes are used to playing such an individualized version of tennis, they aren’t used to relying on others’ success to achieve one common goal. Now, when they hear their teammates all excited and fired up, it motivates them to an unprecedented level that they may not have achieved otherwise.
Freshman captain Thomas Wright has grasped this concept as well, getting into the spirit of yelling after decisive points, aggressive strokes, witnessing successive points by teammates and overall any points in time in attempts to motivate his teammates into giving it their all.
“I think it fires everyone else up in a certain way,” Wright said. “Makey and me are definitely the most vocal on the team. It’s just kind of our personalities to be a bit louder. You see the other boys kind of look to us to bring that energy and it just adds a bit more ‘umph’ to what we do, it creates a bit more of an atmosphere in what we do.”
It’s not just the team that is impacted by Rakotomalala’s energy, but the fans appear more excited and the atmosphere heightens as a result.
“It gets the fans involved in the matches which helps the whole team, it helps the guys when they’re playing and they here Makey screaming and yelling,” assistant coach Michal Kokta said. “It gives us a confidence that’s like ‘Okay I think we’re doing well because I hear Makey screaming and yelling’ so it’s been awesome that he’s that way.”
To start the season, the Sun Devils lost their first three matches to three highly-touted, ranked opponents in then-ranked No. 25 Duke, then-ranked No. 7 Texas A&M and then-ranked No. 10 TCU.
Since then, the Sun Devils are riding a five-match winning streak stemming from the ASU Invitational in which they defeated opponents Loyola Marymount University, Fresno State University and Cal Poly Pomona. In their most recent road trip to Southern California, the Sun Devils completed the sweep defeating the University of San Diego and Pepperdine University by scores of 4-3 and 4-0, respectively.
“We played some good teams at the beginning of the year, so we knew it was going to be tough to beat them,” Hannestad said. “We always feel like we have a good chance, so I really just feel like we’ve been united. It’s been a team effort working hard and being dedicated.”
The current five-match win streak has propelled the Sun Devils to No. 20 in the Oracle/ITA Division I Men’s Collegiate Tennis rankings; and Rakotomalala’s success saw him ranked 90th in the Oracle/ITA Division I Men’s National Singles rankings on Feb. 7.
Rakotomalala is currently 4-3 on the season in singles play taking victories against his opponents from Duke, LMU, Fresno State and Cal Poly. His last singles match against his opponent from Pepperdine was suspended because the overall match was clinched before his match was completed.
Two out of the three losses he has suffered came in a deciding third set. In his singles match against Texas A&M, two of the three sets were extended to tiebreaks as he lost 7-6(3), 2-6, 7-6(5). Against TCU he fell 6-2, 5-7, 6-4.
Doubles play has been a different story this season.
The Sun Devils failed to clinch the doubles point in each of their first four matches against Duke, Texas A&M, TCU and LMU. They were finally able to break that trend against Fresno State, clinching their first doubles point of the year.
The Sun Devils have since clinched the doubles point against Cal Poly and Pepperdine.
However, senior captain, and Rakotomalala’s doubles partner, Geerts is not worried about the team’s early doubles struggles.
“Well in the end there’s still six points after the doubles point to win,” Geerts said. “I think we always come out of the locker room after the doubles point with the same intensity, with the same goal, to take every point we can. And okay, maybe winning the doubles changes the mindset of a few players, but in the end it’s all about the six singles points.”
In terms of team chemistry, Hill has said each player on the team has styles of play that are well-suited for doubles. Wins will come with more time and experience, as these players evolve and adapt from their European roots to the United States, and specifically Division-I tennis in Tempe.
Rakotomalala’s doubles partner, the senior captain Geerts has been guiding the sophomore Frenchman as to how to act on the court.
“It’s a good mix because he’s the oldest on the team and of course he’s the captain so I listen to him when he speaks, and he’s not like yelling rules,” Rakotomalala said of Geerts. “He has good advice and when he has no energy I can like push him with energy, and when I’m too exciting he can tell me to calm down.”
The feeling is mutual for Geerts.
“Makey is a very energetic guy,” Geerts explained. ” I’m a little more calm and relaxed on the court, so for me it was perfect to have someone beside me that’s always pumped. It’s good for me too because he pushes me on the energetic level and I try to push him a little bit more technically.”
The Sun Devils will take their 5-3 record and No. 20 national ranking to Montgomery, Ala. this weekend for the 70th annual Blue Gray Tennis Classic. The Sun Devils were tabbed with the No. 1 seed heading into the tournament and will face Boise State University in the first round. Should they win that match, they will face the winner of tournament No. 4 seed Auburn University and Fresno State.
After finally cracking the individual rankings, Rakotomalala will look to extend his positive attitude, winning mentality and energetic gestures into the tournament to propel himself, and his team to a championship victory this weekend.
