May 9, 2024 • 17 mins
Taha Baadi joins the show to recap UK Men's Tennis' wins over Depaul and Illinois, and preview their matchup with Harvard in the NCAA Super Regionals!
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(00:14):
The weekend is almost upon us andof course with the calendar now fast forwarding
towards mid May, it seems likeit is a huge time in UK spring
sports. Men's tennis in the SuperRegionals this weekend at the Boone Tennis Center.
Really really excited to have taha bodyon to talk about that UK men's
tennis Ace who went a perfect fourto to oher in the opening couple of
(00:38):
rounds of the NCAA tournament against DePauland Illinois. Will also have a quick
preview of baseball. They just havetwo regular season series left, including this
weekend in Gainesville and then the homewrap up if you will, against Vanderbilt
the week after that, before it'soff to Hoover and then hopefully at Lexington
Regional UK Softball in the SEC Tournament. Unfortunately and early exit for them,
(01:02):
but they should be in pretty goodshape for selection show which is on Monday.
But again more on that a littlebit later. Safe to say it's
a stacked episode here on the UKSports Network Today podcast. Andrew kap is
here with you, as always remindingyou that the UK Sports Network Today podcast
is powered by the Big Blue Brew, the official newsletter of UK Athletics.
(01:23):
You can sign up today at UKathletics dot com slash Big Blue Brew.
It's completely free and it hits inboxesevery single weekday morning. Once again,
that's UK Athletics dot com slash BigBlue Brew. We mentioned Taha Body went
four to oh in his singles matchesthe UK men's tennis Ace joins us this
week to not only discuss how theNCAA tournament has gone so far from men's
(01:48):
tennis, but also the preview ofthe big super regional matchup against twelve seeded
Harvard this Saturday. Big weekend forUK men's tennis. They are off to
the super Regionals. I say off, but it's to be right here in
Lexington at the Boone Tennis Center.Very much encourage you to get out on
Saturday at two o'clock against Harvard.Taha Body is here. Had a huge
weekend sweeping away his opponents against Apaulin Illinois. Taha first of all,
(02:13):
thank you so much for your timefree from finals. How does it feel
now to be able to at leastfocus just on tennis now? Yeah,
that's a dream come true for me. I don't know if you have said
about the student that I am.I think I'm not a student athlete.
I'm more of an athlete student.So I'm very very happy. I don't
know if it's really a good thingto say that on camera, but like,
(02:35):
I'm really happy that schools over.Let's put it this way, Hey,
I think everybody across the board feelsthat way right after finals. So
I certainly don't blame you, butyou celebrated the end of finals week in
pretty big fashion. You did wellin doubles both against A. Paul and
Illinois, but you swept your singlesopponents. So overall, just a really
good weekend for you to start theNCAA tournament. Yeah. No, it
(02:57):
was a good start on you comingout that both the players of play,
we're gonna come off strong. Ithink they had a really good season,
both of them. So I justyou know, it's so much easier to
do it when you're hosting, whenyou have the crowd which you and you
have the course that are the onesthat you've been practicing on the whole year.
So I just and I had myteammates with me, so I just
it was very very I was justvery grateful to be there and hopefully I
(03:17):
can just keep on going on thesame momentum for the rest of the tournament.
What was the layoff like, becauseit wasn't a huge turnaround in terms
of the time, did you like, I know, you had finals week
wedged in between who you found outyou were playing this weekend in the first
two rounds, But was it niceto have kind of that quick turnaround to
get ready and jump right into apostseason play. Yeah, no, it
(03:40):
was. I mean, usually it'skind of tricky to practice without having anything
the weekend after. It just feelslike the practices are way longer and you're
practicing and there's not something that youreally look forward to, So it's kind
of weird. As a tennis player, you kind of always want to know
when your next tournament's coming so youcan at least prepare for it. So
now we like the quick turnaround.I think the guys were much abated to
(04:01):
play, and everybody was excited tostart going with the biggest tournament of the
year. We've been working, We'vebeen working hard during the whole year for
this exact moment right now to begood in May, so I think everybody
was expecting to be in this positionand we don't take for granted, and
we're gonna give it all. Wegot against Harvard this weekend. We've we've
been playing. We played them inFebruary, I believe, and it was
indoors, so it was good.It was a good match, and I
(04:23):
think that the guys are actually playingbetter now than in February. So we're
it's looking good and we're gonna doour best to stay healthy and give it
all. We got another quick turnaround, a little bit of a quick turnarout
at least a week from your matchon Saturday there against Illinois, but a
tale of two different matches, Iguess for the team overall. Friday it
was a fairly I don't want tosay easy, but a smooth process,
(04:46):
not just for you. We mentionedyou swept both singles on Friday and Saturday,
but the team edging to Paul fournil. But then on Saturday a
little bit more difficult against a verygood Illinois team. So kind of the
best of both worlds, I guess, in terms of running away with it
in the first round and then havinga tight battle in the second, right,
Well, yeah, I think it'sthe way I look at it.
I think it's really positive that wecan get like a big battle from the
(05:08):
start of the tournament, so wheneveryou get to hopefully if we get to
the quarters and semis and the matchesare tight, then at least we can
look at each other and say,Okay, we've been there before, we've
did it, and we all haveour backs and we've been exposed to that
kind of pressure, and like yousaid against the pall as well, that
we had to that easier side.That kept us fresh to be to be
(05:30):
ready on Saturday. So I thinkwe, like you said, we kind
of got both best of both worlds. And I think everything happens for a
reason, so we'll we'll be betterfor whatever. We'll be ready for whatever.
If if it's a four zero,it's good. It's a fourth,
it's a four to three, thenit's even better. We wouldn't want it
any other way. So I thinkeverybody is ready and it was good that
we got we were able to experiencethat kind of pressure early on. Talking
(05:51):
about you and your season here justbriefly, when you came to Kentucky,
you picked up your i think threeranked wins in your first season. You
got nine this year. So nowalready in double digits. Uh, what's
it been like for you to bethe quote unquote top guy going out there
against the opponent's best, best tennisplayer. It was it's been fun,
especially to play on that court one, and you got, especially in thoors,
(06:13):
when you got all that crowd withyou, if it was like you're
not even playing by yourself. Itfeels like it's a match two of you
one because you got the crowd andyourself, so you just can feel the
momentum of the crowd which you constantlypushing you forward. So it's been a
it's been a fun ride to doit, especially in my last year here
in Kentucky. There's that's just adream come true and I'm grateful for that.
(06:34):
And yeah, I just hope thatwhoever carries on this court next year
can can kind of experience the samefeeling that I have, And I wish
that to to any tennis player tojust be able to to play on court
one and just have as much funas you can with it. Now,
you actually didn't start your career inLexington. You were in the ACC at
(06:55):
wake Forest for your first I believethree or four years of your collegiate career.
What brought you to Lexington. Whatmade you choose the Cats? Well,
it was kind of an easy transitionbecause I knew most of the guys
that were here. If you lookedat the team two years ago, I
think it was eight Canadians out oftwelve players. And all those Canadians that
was kind of close with before evencoming here, you had the gap that
(07:17):
was I grew up with gap,we're best friends. Liam also grew up
with him, Josh grew up withhim, so it's ix grew up all
those guys that I've been growing upwith. So it just kind of was
a very very It didn't feel likeit was a different type of transfer situation
than any other player would experience,for example, because I felt like I
was already part of the group evenbefore coming here. So I just I
(07:39):
think that it was the right decision, and also as well to be with
coach Kaufman Cedric that was recruiting meactually before even going to Wake Forest,
and it was a tough decision,a tough call to tell him that I'm
probably gonna go to Wake Forest,and I'm just happy to be that it
ended up working out and we endedup being great nited and like something here.
I think it was the best speakingof your Canadian brother, and you
(08:03):
actually started north of the border atthe National Training Center. So we mentioned
you being the top guy on weekendsat Kentucky the last two years, but
really you've been playing top competition sinceyou were a youngster, so you've kind
of been preparing for this since youryouth days. What was it like being
at that National Tennis Center. Yeah, it was fun, It was fun.
(08:24):
I started with Tennis Canada I thinkwhen I was fourteen and was in
the program for two three years andended up going back to my academy and
then ended up going back to thecenter for seventeen and eighteen years old.
So no, I was just mywhole life in tennis was My goal was
always to play at the highest level, and I think if you want to
(08:45):
do that, you've got to bepart of a team that's been there before.
So to be at with Tennis Canadathe National Training Center, you surrounded
by coaches that have done it withmultiple players and have have had that kind
of exposure to the high level andknow the way to do it. And
it's so much easier to trust theteam when when they've been coaching people and
then showed you exactly the way andit ended up working out for them.
(09:07):
So whenever you look at that situation, you're like, if them, then
why not me? You know.So it's just it's it just it was
a very good experience and a verygood three four years to learn from and
I carry on whatever I learned fromthere and I try to translate it here
in Kentucky to whoever I can.Well, you mentioned that camaraderie that you
already had either even before transferring infrom Wake Force. We asked Eli this
(09:30):
a couple of a couple of weeksago, but it just seems like the
camaraderie the team as a whole isuh. You know, there's obviously a
lot of talent in tennis, inmen's tennis for UK, right, But
I think one of the big reasonswhy you guys have been so successful is
that you guys genuinely like each other. Yeah, not for sure. It's
when I know, all the teamssay that they have a brotherhood, they
(09:50):
have a brotherhood, but I thinkKentucky is the you know, it sounds
cliche, but it's actually the teamthat really feels like a brotherhood. I
could go to dinner with any singleguy on the team by myself off with
him and it would have the besttun of my life. And I feel
like that's one of the main reasonwhy we've been successful this year is because
we haven't had those you know,those moments where you let your ego take
over and it's kind of about you. You know, everybody knows that Kentucky
(10:13):
culture is not about that, butit's not. It's bigger than yourself and
it's about giving more than receiving.So and I think when you have twelve
guys that can buy into that thatmentality, then it really creates something special.
And I think that's what we've beendoing this year. And we just
got to keep on that cultures foras many years as we can, and
I'm pretty sure that we will withthe leadership that we have with Cedric and
Math and all the young guys thatare going to become the next captains and
(10:37):
the next big players. So nowI think Kentucky is looking right for the
future. Before we turn our attentionto Saturday and let you go talking about
Harvard, I wanted to ask youI was there at Sunday at baseball you
guys had a chance to get honoredabout advancing to the super regionals and you
didn't throw out the first pitch thatthat honor fell to Eli. How did
(10:58):
he get get nominated for for sucha venture? Yeah, well he played.
He claimed he played baseball before.So yeah, we said, okay,
then if you did, then youwould throwing the first pitch. And
he has some couple of practice swingsthat he did, some practice throws that
he did, and it seemed likehe had a good arm. But it
(11:18):
was okay. I don't know,I don't know if you guys looked at
it, but it was it wasfine. It could have been better.
I think he could have threw itwith a little more confidence, but he
got the job done. I meanthe catcher ended up catching the ball.
That's all it matters, right,I heard all I heard. I had
my head down. I saw youguys coming off the field. I didn't
see the first pitch. The biggestthing is you didn't hear booze. That's
the number one thing. And apparentlyhe bounced it, which is if you're
(11:39):
not going to get it right inthe glove, the next best thing is
is to bounce it. But butglad you guys had a fund, had
a lot of fun there on whatwas a beautiful day at Kentucky Proud Park
on Sunday. You mentioned before hewent on the air that you really want
to break that attendance record at theBoon Tennis Center on Saturday. Hopefully the
weather cooperates. I know. Theone good thing is it's not going to
be over hot. We're going toget a little unseasonably kind of cooler weekend
(12:03):
for May. But you guys aregoing up against the twelve seed Harvard,
a team that you saw back inFebruary. I know you said it was
indoors, but but still could bea little bit advantageous to take on our
opponent that you've seen before. Yeah. No, Like like I said earlier,
we played them early in February,and it's good to kind of know
what you're expecting. But it's beenthree long months, so I know a
(12:24):
lot of things can change. Someguys can get injured. Some guys can
you know, have their best tennisin February and ended up in May and
there you know, it's a differentstory their low and confidence or the opposite.
Some guys are we're low in confidence, February and now they're high confidence.
So every battle in tennis is verydifferent. You know, it doesn't
mean because you beat the guy yesterdaythat you're gonna beat him again tomorrow.
Sore where we came. We're goingto come prepared and then we know how
(12:48):
you know the level, we knowthe level that Harvard is able to produce.
So we're going to come ready,and like you said, I hope
we get to break the attendance record. I think it was what nine oh
four last year, So hopefully wecan do it this year and bring the
four digits, and if the weathercollaborates and we can get the people,
then it'll be great. It wouldhelp a lot. Hey, baseball's in
(13:09):
Gainesville, so softball off away onthe SEC tournament. So please get down
to the Boon Tennis Center, supportthose guys as they try to get as
they try to get to still Water. And just a big congrats to you,
Taha. Thank you so much forstopping by, and hopefully we can
have you back on in a fewweeks and maybe you've got some hardware accompanying
(13:30):
you by your side, I hope, So thank you very much for having
me pleasure be sure to check Ukathleticsdot com for ticketing information and also updates
to any potential schedule changes. Butfor good weether on Saturday team matchup against
Harvard in the Super Regionals and asTaha said, would love to break that
(13:50):
UK attendance record for tennis and nineo three believe the old record so very
much eclipsible this weekend, hoping tohit that four digit mark. That would
be a ton of fun. Somelate breaking news for baseballs, we took
a quick look at their upcoming schedule. They had a schedule change, at
least a start time change for Fridaytheir game against Florida. That is a
(14:13):
theme as their game against Xavier inCincinnati on Tuesday was actually canceled and it
turned out to be a very gooddecision. You're truly based in Cincinnati during
the week and there was some veryrocky storms that moved through the area,
had some tornatic activity just north ofdowntown, not terribly far from Xavier's campus
(14:33):
on the northeast side of downtown,so that game was canceled, will not
be made up with the season nowrunning out of runway before we get to
postseason, and there was also aweather related change to their series against Florida
this weekend. Just a start timemoving up though, so instead of playing
under the lights on Friday, it'llbe now a one pm start against the
(14:54):
Florida Gators. Darren Hedrick my Manwill be on the air with pregame coverage
across the UK Sports Network at twelveforty five, and then it'll be identical
Star times on Saturday and Sunday.At least as of right now, pending
other weather changes, it'll be noonon Saturday and noon on Sunday, so
both airtimes eleven forty five am formy Man, Darren Hedrick. Of course,
(15:18):
baseball coming off that exciting series victoryagainst Arkansas. They lost the opener
in runaway fashion, but then endedup having a blowout win of their own
on last Saturday and then a tightwin seven to three on Sunday, so
all kinds of momentum for Kentucky thathas now climbed back into the top five
in the poll. Pretty much acrossthe board, there's about a handful of
(15:39):
polls that are highly respected their toptwo in RPI depending on the day of
the week, really, but avery very good shot at not only hosting
a regional but hosting a super regionalas well. In fact, there have
been some projections that have Kentucky asthe number one overall seed after their series
victory against number two Arkansas. Unfortunately, UK softballs stay in Auburn at the
(16:03):
SEC tournament was a brief one asthey fell seven to two in the opening
round, and they now await theselection show on Monday. Should be in
pretty good shape thirty and twenty twooverall, eight and sixteen in the SEC,
which is by far the deepest andbest conference in softball, and it's
only going to get better next yearwith the addition of Oklahoma. But they
will exactly see where they will headon Monday and what seed they will get
(16:26):
as well. Some other scheduling notes. Big good luck to UK track and
Field. In fact, as werecord, they are opening up the SEC
Outdoor Championships in Gainesville, so thatis happening on Thursday, May ninth,
on Friday and Saturday in preparation forthat NCAA East first rounds coming up on
(16:47):
May twenty seconds, so a littleunder two weeks time from airtime. So
big, big good luck to UKmen's and women's track and field in the
SEC Outdoor championships. Will have arecap for you of those coming next week
here on UK Sports Network Today.Huge thanks to Daha Body for joining us
on the UK Sports Network Today podcast. Really appreciate his time as he gets
(17:11):
ready for a huge super regional matchupwith Harvard again. That's on Saturday at
two o'clock at the Boone Tennis Center. Hope you can make it out help
UK men's tennis break that attendance recordfor Curtis Michelle and everybody at the UK
Sports Network. I'm Hetor Kapus sayingthanks for listening and we'll talk to you
next time on the UK Sports NetworkToday podcast
The weekend is almost upon us andof course with the calendar now fast forwarding
towards mid May, it seems likeit is a huge time in UK spring
sports. Men's tennis in the SuperRegionals this weekend at the Boone Tennis Center.
Really really excited to have taha bodyon to talk about that UK men's
tennis Ace who went a perfect fourto to oher in the opening couple of
(00:38):
rounds of the NCAA tournament against DePauland Illinois. Will also have a quick
preview of baseball. They just havetwo regular season series left, including this
weekend in Gainesville and then the homewrap up if you will, against Vanderbilt
the week after that, before it'soff to Hoover and then hopefully at Lexington
Regional UK Softball in the SEC Tournament. Unfortunately and early exit for them,
(01:02):
but they should be in pretty goodshape for selection show which is on Monday.
But again more on that a littlebit later. Safe to say it's
a stacked episode here on the UKSports Network Today podcast. Andrew kap is
here with you, as always remindingyou that the UK Sports Network Today podcast
is powered by the Big Blue Brew, the official newsletter of UK Athletics.
(01:23):
You can sign up today at UKathletics dot com slash Big Blue Brew.
It's completely free and it hits inboxesevery single weekday morning. Once again,
that's UK Athletics dot com slash BigBlue Brew. We mentioned Taha Body went
four to oh in his singles matchesthe UK men's tennis Ace joins us this
week to not only discuss how theNCAA tournament has gone so far from men's
(01:48):
tennis, but also the preview ofthe big super regional matchup against twelve seeded
Harvard this Saturday. Big weekend forUK men's tennis. They are off to
the super Regionals. I say off, but it's to be right here in
Lexington at the Boone Tennis Center.Very much encourage you to get out on
Saturday at two o'clock against Harvard.Taha Body is here. Had a huge
weekend sweeping away his opponents against Apaulin Illinois. Taha first of all,
(02:13):
thank you so much for your timefree from finals. How does it feel
now to be able to at leastfocus just on tennis now? Yeah,
that's a dream come true for me. I don't know if you have said
about the student that I am.I think I'm not a student athlete.
I'm more of an athlete student.So I'm very very happy. I don't
know if it's really a good thingto say that on camera, but like,
(02:35):
I'm really happy that schools over.Let's put it this way, Hey,
I think everybody across the board feelsthat way right after finals. So
I certainly don't blame you, butyou celebrated the end of finals week in
pretty big fashion. You did wellin doubles both against A. Paul and
Illinois, but you swept your singlesopponents. So overall, just a really
good weekend for you to start theNCAA tournament. Yeah. No, it
(02:57):
was a good start on you comingout that both the players of play,
we're gonna come off strong. Ithink they had a really good season,
both of them. So I justyou know, it's so much easier to
do it when you're hosting, whenyou have the crowd which you and you
have the course that are the onesthat you've been practicing on the whole year.
So I just and I had myteammates with me, so I just
it was very very I was justvery grateful to be there and hopefully I
(03:17):
can just keep on going on thesame momentum for the rest of the tournament.
What was the layoff like, becauseit wasn't a huge turnaround in terms
of the time, did you like, I know, you had finals week
wedged in between who you found outyou were playing this weekend in the first
two rounds, But was it niceto have kind of that quick turnaround to
get ready and jump right into apostseason play. Yeah, no, it
(03:40):
was. I mean, usually it'skind of tricky to practice without having anything
the weekend after. It just feelslike the practices are way longer and you're
practicing and there's not something that youreally look forward to, So it's kind
of weird. As a tennis player, you kind of always want to know
when your next tournament's coming so youcan at least prepare for it. So
now we like the quick turnaround.I think the guys were much abated to
(04:01):
play, and everybody was excited tostart going with the biggest tournament of the
year. We've been working, We'vebeen working hard during the whole year for
this exact moment right now to begood in May, so I think everybody
was expecting to be in this positionand we don't take for granted, and
we're gonna give it all. Wegot against Harvard this weekend. We've we've
been playing. We played them inFebruary, I believe, and it was
indoors, so it was good.It was a good match, and I
(04:23):
think that the guys are actually playingbetter now than in February. So we're
it's looking good and we're gonna doour best to stay healthy and give it
all. We got another quick turnaround, a little bit of a quick turnarout
at least a week from your matchon Saturday there against Illinois, but a
tale of two different matches, Iguess for the team overall. Friday it
was a fairly I don't want tosay easy, but a smooth process,
(04:46):
not just for you. We mentionedyou swept both singles on Friday and Saturday,
but the team edging to Paul fournil. But then on Saturday a
little bit more difficult against a verygood Illinois team. So kind of the
best of both worlds, I guess, in terms of running away with it
in the first round and then havinga tight battle in the second, right,
Well, yeah, I think it'sthe way I look at it.
I think it's really positive that wecan get like a big battle from the
(05:08):
start of the tournament, so wheneveryou get to hopefully if we get to
the quarters and semis and the matchesare tight, then at least we can
look at each other and say,Okay, we've been there before, we've
did it, and we all haveour backs and we've been exposed to that
kind of pressure, and like yousaid against the pall as well, that
we had to that easier side.That kept us fresh to be to be
(05:30):
ready on Saturday. So I thinkwe, like you said, we kind
of got both best of both worlds. And I think everything happens for a
reason, so we'll we'll be betterfor whatever. We'll be ready for whatever.
If if it's a four zero,it's good. It's a fourth,
it's a four to three, thenit's even better. We wouldn't want it
any other way. So I thinkeverybody is ready and it was good that
we got we were able to experiencethat kind of pressure early on. Talking
(05:51):
about you and your season here justbriefly, when you came to Kentucky,
you picked up your i think threeranked wins in your first season. You
got nine this year. So nowalready in double digits. Uh, what's
it been like for you to bethe quote unquote top guy going out there
against the opponent's best, best tennisplayer. It was it's been fun,
especially to play on that court one, and you got, especially in thoors,
(06:13):
when you got all that crowd withyou, if it was like you're
not even playing by yourself. Itfeels like it's a match two of you
one because you got the crowd andyourself, so you just can feel the
momentum of the crowd which you constantlypushing you forward. So it's been a
it's been a fun ride to doit, especially in my last year here
in Kentucky. There's that's just adream come true and I'm grateful for that.
(06:34):
And yeah, I just hope thatwhoever carries on this court next year
can can kind of experience the samefeeling that I have, And I wish
that to to any tennis player tojust be able to to play on court
one and just have as much funas you can with it. Now,
you actually didn't start your career inLexington. You were in the ACC at
(06:55):
wake Forest for your first I believethree or four years of your collegiate career.
What brought you to Lexington. Whatmade you choose the Cats? Well,
it was kind of an easy transitionbecause I knew most of the guys
that were here. If you lookedat the team two years ago, I
think it was eight Canadians out oftwelve players. And all those Canadians that
was kind of close with before evencoming here, you had the gap that
(07:17):
was I grew up with gap,we're best friends. Liam also grew up
with him, Josh grew up withhim, so it's ix grew up all
those guys that I've been growing upwith. So it just kind of was
a very very It didn't feel likeit was a different type of transfer situation
than any other player would experience,for example, because I felt like I
was already part of the group evenbefore coming here. So I just I
(07:39):
think that it was the right decision, and also as well to be with
coach Kaufman Cedric that was recruiting meactually before even going to Wake Forest,
and it was a tough decision,a tough call to tell him that I'm
probably gonna go to Wake Forest,and I'm just happy to be that it
ended up working out and we endedup being great nited and like something here.
I think it was the best speakingof your Canadian brother, and you
(08:03):
actually started north of the border atthe National Training Center. So we mentioned
you being the top guy on weekendsat Kentucky the last two years, but
really you've been playing top competition sinceyou were a youngster, so you've kind
of been preparing for this since youryouth days. What was it like being
at that National Tennis Center. Yeah, it was fun, It was fun.
(08:24):
I started with Tennis Canada I thinkwhen I was fourteen and was in
the program for two three years andended up going back to my academy and
then ended up going back to thecenter for seventeen and eighteen years old.
So no, I was just mywhole life in tennis was My goal was
always to play at the highest level, and I think if you want to
(08:45):
do that, you've got to bepart of a team that's been there before.
So to be at with Tennis Canadathe National Training Center, you surrounded
by coaches that have done it withmultiple players and have have had that kind
of exposure to the high level andknow the way to do it. And
it's so much easier to trust theteam when when they've been coaching people and
then showed you exactly the way andit ended up working out for them.
(09:07):
So whenever you look at that situation, you're like, if them, then
why not me? You know.So it's just it's it just it was
a very good experience and a verygood three four years to learn from and
I carry on whatever I learned fromthere and I try to translate it here
in Kentucky to whoever I can.Well, you mentioned that camaraderie that you
already had either even before transferring infrom Wake Force. We asked Eli this
(09:30):
a couple of a couple of weeksago, but it just seems like the
camaraderie the team as a whole isuh. You know, there's obviously a
lot of talent in tennis, inmen's tennis for UK, right, But
I think one of the big reasonswhy you guys have been so successful is
that you guys genuinely like each other. Yeah, not for sure. It's
when I know, all the teamssay that they have a brotherhood, they
(09:50):
have a brotherhood, but I thinkKentucky is the you know, it sounds
cliche, but it's actually the teamthat really feels like a brotherhood. I
could go to dinner with any singleguy on the team by myself off with
him and it would have the besttun of my life. And I feel
like that's one of the main reasonwhy we've been successful this year is because
we haven't had those you know,those moments where you let your ego take
over and it's kind of about you. You know, everybody knows that Kentucky
(10:13):
culture is not about that, butit's not. It's bigger than yourself and
it's about giving more than receiving.So and I think when you have twelve
guys that can buy into that thatmentality, then it really creates something special.
And I think that's what we've beendoing this year. And we just
got to keep on that cultures foras many years as we can, and
I'm pretty sure that we will withthe leadership that we have with Cedric and
Math and all the young guys thatare going to become the next captains and
(10:37):
the next big players. So nowI think Kentucky is looking right for the
future. Before we turn our attentionto Saturday and let you go talking about
Harvard, I wanted to ask youI was there at Sunday at baseball you
guys had a chance to get honoredabout advancing to the super regionals and you
didn't throw out the first pitch thatthat honor fell to Eli. How did
(10:58):
he get get nominated for for sucha venture? Yeah, well he played.
He claimed he played baseball before.So yeah, we said, okay,
then if you did, then youwould throwing the first pitch. And
he has some couple of practice swingsthat he did, some practice throws that
he did, and it seemed likehe had a good arm. But it
(11:18):
was okay. I don't know,I don't know if you guys looked at
it, but it was it wasfine. It could have been better.
I think he could have threw itwith a little more confidence, but he
got the job done. I meanthe catcher ended up catching the ball.
That's all it matters, right,I heard all I heard. I had
my head down. I saw youguys coming off the field. I didn't
see the first pitch. The biggestthing is you didn't hear booze. That's
the number one thing. And apparentlyhe bounced it, which is if you're
(11:39):
not going to get it right inthe glove, the next best thing is
is to bounce it. But butglad you guys had a fund, had
a lot of fun there on whatwas a beautiful day at Kentucky Proud Park
on Sunday. You mentioned before hewent on the air that you really want
to break that attendance record at theBoon Tennis Center on Saturday. Hopefully the
weather cooperates. I know. Theone good thing is it's not going to
be over hot. We're going toget a little unseasonably kind of cooler weekend
(12:03):
for May. But you guys aregoing up against the twelve seed Harvard,
a team that you saw back inFebruary. I know you said it was
indoors, but but still could bea little bit advantageous to take on our
opponent that you've seen before. Yeah. No, Like like I said earlier,
we played them early in February,and it's good to kind of know
what you're expecting. But it's beenthree long months, so I know a
(12:24):
lot of things can change. Someguys can get injured. Some guys can
you know, have their best tennisin February and ended up in May and
there you know, it's a differentstory their low and confidence or the opposite.
Some guys are we're low in confidence, February and now they're high confidence.
So every battle in tennis is verydifferent. You know, it doesn't
mean because you beat the guy yesterdaythat you're gonna beat him again tomorrow.
Sore where we came. We're goingto come prepared and then we know how
(12:48):
you know the level, we knowthe level that Harvard is able to produce.
So we're going to come ready,and like you said, I hope
we get to break the attendance record. I think it was what nine oh
four last year, So hopefully wecan do it this year and bring the
four digits, and if the weathercollaborates and we can get the people,
then it'll be great. It wouldhelp a lot. Hey, baseball's in
(13:09):
Gainesville, so softball off away onthe SEC tournament. So please get down
to the Boon Tennis Center, supportthose guys as they try to get as
they try to get to still Water. And just a big congrats to you,
Taha. Thank you so much forstopping by, and hopefully we can
have you back on in a fewweeks and maybe you've got some hardware accompanying
(13:30):
you by your side, I hope, So thank you very much for having
me pleasure be sure to check Ukathleticsdot com for ticketing information and also updates
to any potential schedule changes. Butfor good weether on Saturday team matchup against
Harvard in the Super Regionals and asTaha said, would love to break that
(13:50):
UK attendance record for tennis and nineo three believe the old record so very
much eclipsible this weekend, hoping tohit that four digit mark. That would
be a ton of fun. Somelate breaking news for baseballs, we took
a quick look at their upcoming schedule. They had a schedule change, at
least a start time change for Fridaytheir game against Florida. That is a
(14:13):
theme as their game against Xavier inCincinnati on Tuesday was actually canceled and it
turned out to be a very gooddecision. You're truly based in Cincinnati during
the week and there was some veryrocky storms that moved through the area,
had some tornatic activity just north ofdowntown, not terribly far from Xavier's campus
(14:33):
on the northeast side of downtown,so that game was canceled, will not
be made up with the season nowrunning out of runway before we get to
postseason, and there was also aweather related change to their series against Florida
this weekend. Just a start timemoving up though, so instead of playing
under the lights on Friday, it'llbe now a one pm start against the
(14:54):
Florida Gators. Darren Hedrick my Manwill be on the air with pregame coverage
across the UK Sports Network at twelveforty five, and then it'll be identical
Star times on Saturday and Sunday.At least as of right now, pending
other weather changes, it'll be noonon Saturday and noon on Sunday, so
both airtimes eleven forty five am formy Man, Darren Hedrick. Of course,
(15:18):
baseball coming off that exciting series victoryagainst Arkansas. They lost the opener
in runaway fashion, but then endedup having a blowout win of their own
on last Saturday and then a tightwin seven to three on Sunday, so
all kinds of momentum for Kentucky thathas now climbed back into the top five
in the poll. Pretty much acrossthe board, there's about a handful of
(15:39):
polls that are highly respected their toptwo in RPI depending on the day of
the week, really, but avery very good shot at not only hosting
a regional but hosting a super regionalas well. In fact, there have
been some projections that have Kentucky asthe number one overall seed after their series
victory against number two Arkansas. Unfortunately, UK softballs stay in Auburn at the
(16:03):
SEC tournament was a brief one asthey fell seven to two in the opening
round, and they now await theselection show on Monday. Should be in
pretty good shape thirty and twenty twooverall, eight and sixteen in the SEC,
which is by far the deepest andbest conference in softball, and it's
only going to get better next yearwith the addition of Oklahoma. But they
will exactly see where they will headon Monday and what seed they will get
(16:26):
as well. Some other scheduling notes. Big good luck to UK track and
Field. In fact, as werecord, they are opening up the SEC
Outdoor Championships in Gainesville, so thatis happening on Thursday, May ninth,
on Friday and Saturday in preparation forthat NCAA East first rounds coming up on
(16:47):
May twenty seconds, so a littleunder two weeks time from airtime. So
big, big good luck to UKmen's and women's track and field in the
SEC Outdoor championships. Will have arecap for you of those coming next week
here on UK Sports Network Today.Huge thanks to Daha Body for joining us
on the UK Sports Network Today podcast. Really appreciate his time as he gets
(17:11):
ready for a huge super regional matchupwith Harvard again. That's on Saturday at
two o'clock at the Boone Tennis Center. Hope you can make it out help
UK men's tennis break that attendance recordfor Curtis Michelle and everybody at the UK
Sports Network. I'm Hetor Kapus sayingthanks for listening and we'll talk to you
next time on the UK Sports NetworkToday podcast
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