Just a reminder that the men open the "spring" portion of their schedule with a triple header today at the Mitchell Tennis Center. The first match is at 10:00 am against A & M/Corpus Christi. That will be followed at @1:30 pm by Pan American and at 4:00 by Trinity. It should be interesting to see some of the new players get their first action. Be there if you can. Coaches Cass and Madden are building something special.

Who is Mohamed Dakki? I don't recall him playing for the Aggies in the Fall. He is playing at #3 against TAMU-CC.

Mohamed Dakki - talk about coming in under the radar. First time I've heard of him.

After a little research - Senior Transfer from Western Michigan. Think he's from Morrocco. 1999 MAC player of the year. Um, the guy's 24. Looks like he played some Futures after that 99 season at WMU and is now resurfacing at the college level.

To be quite honest, sounds like one of those Baylor resumes....

This Dakki cat played #1 in the second match of the day.

First one off the court, just like in the first match (at #3).........

Mohamed is an interesting story. The background information as reported is accurate. After his first year at Western Michigan he had to return home because of some family health issues. Those things stabalized and he decided to try to finish his education. We tried very hard to get him here last year, but could never get everything to come together. Things fell correctly this fall and he got here about ten days ago. He can play and play well. He started today at three, but who knows how high he will go. In any event, he will certainly help this team.


[This message has been edited by Raven (edited 1/19/2004 7:37p).]

What a change one year has made. Playing with only eight players last year compared to the 12-14 to choose from this season. I do not envy Coaches Cass and Madden this year. It is going to be tough getting everyone enough match time and still try and find the top 7 or 8 players to take deep in the season. The depth is going to make this team stronger and deeper. Judging from yesterday, the new additions played well in their first matches. I think practices will be very heated and produce a tougher team in the end. I just hope the team unity does not suffer when some guys are not given the playing time they expect. I trust the coaching staff will have this under control. It was a good day for the Aggies tennis team in the opener. I look forward to the coming weeks to see how they do on the road against ranked teams.

I spoke with one of my old teammates who's current college teammate is friends with Dakki. Word from him is that Dakki used to be ranked around 800 in the world. That's not too shabby.

If he can consistently put up wins in the top 3 and help out our doubles, we could be in for a really big season. We should have a good idea after this upcoming road trip.

Anyone know the racquets used by certain players? Just interested. From what I've heard, Bab has a lot of college players.

lawyer:

What I saw at the matches on Monday was that Babolat was very prominent. Don't know if it is a preference or a perk.

looked like ante was using the new 6.1, or something with a similar paint job. from what i saw most of the guys are using the same sticks as last year, a whole lot of babolats.

There's a NEW 6.1? Are you talking Wilson?

Had a Wilson PS 6.0, but sold it and got a Bab Aero. I love it, though it seems nobody else does. Oh, well.

There is the 6.1 Classic PS which is red yellow and mostly black. Then theres the one Madden uses which is the 6.1 Hyper PS.

Right. The 6.1 is what I should have bought 4 years ago instead of the 6.0. Totally different racquet. Hated the hyper and carbon stuff.

If you ever find a 6.0 look and see if its a St. Vincent though, those can sell for up to $800 or more and most people dont realize they have them. They are a red frame under the paint, so the scuffs or paint chips will be red under. If you can find one for under a couple hundred bucks its a good investment for any tennis collection. They are very rare and hard to find.

I string for the team and actually only 3 guys use babolat (Cook, Loucks, and Malmgren). The most prominent brand is Head, particularly the I.Prestige (Nallon, Supeko, and Simo). Khaled uses Head I.Radicals, Marvin uses Wilson Tour 90s, Joelson uses Prince TT Warriors, Wooten uses Wilson PS 6.5s, Ante, Shuon, and Baines use Wilson PS 6.1s, Dash uses a slaz or the new prince tour, and Strom uses Prince Graphites.

yeah, i noticed that this weekend. when i posted last time i still hadn't seen all of the guys play, and i had no idea what the transfers or fish were gonna use. newp used babolat, and i think someone else used to and has since changed.

if i wasn't a poor college student i would re-stock and get the red babolat. that racquet is solid. however, i am in fact a poor college student, and have to make due with my chang's amd klipper synthetic gut.

Ante used a babolat for a short while but didnt really like it too much.

I am with you 731 on the poor college guy and needing raquets. Over the last semester I broke 4 raquets and now only have 1 good raquet which is my buddies so I cant break it. I think I need a new type of anger management on the court or someone who wants to buy me some... any old ags out there looking to donate some $$$ for raquets... its a good cause.