by Craig Morgan, special for thesundevils.com
TEMPE, Ariz. -- When Michaël Geerts reported back to the Sun Devil men's tennis team in January, his mind didn't fully accompany him. He had just finished exams in his native Belgium, where he is also taking university courses, and he had just lost his grandmother -- his final surviving grandparent -- on Christmas Eve.
Three months have altered the senior's perspective on what will be his lone year of collegiate tennis. Three months have solidified the view that coach Matt Hill always had for Geerts when he coaxed him to Tempe in 2017.
"We know he can beat the best players in college tennis; we kind of figured that beforehand," Hill said. "Now he's showing it and doing it."
Geerts defeated UCLA's Martin Redlicki on April 13 in straight sets, 7-5, 6-4. Redlicki is the top-ranked player in the ITA collegiate singles rankings. Geerts also beat Ohio State's Mikael Torpegaard in March.
Not including the Holt match, Geerts is 14-3 since the start of February. He has risen to No. 20 in the ITA rankings, the highest ranking for a Sun Devil since No. 1 Sargis Sargsian in 1995, who won the Sun Devils' only NCAA singles title that year.
"These last couple weekends have helped me to see the whole process of what we've been doing this semester," he said.
In the blink of an eye, that support was gone.
"Due to some budget cuts and financial problems, they set some very tough goals and I didn't reach my goal for the 50 spots so they weren't able to extend my contract," he said. "I lost my infrastructure and structure of 11 years kind of suddenly.
"I couldn't find the right coach and it was very tough to find players to play with because a lot of the guys were separated. I was a bit on my own. I needed someone to support me. I needed direction to find my best level again so I could have fun again playing tennis."
Geerts is friends with Belgian Louis Cant, who played tennis at Mississippi State from 2009-2012. Cant's assistant coach at MSU was Hill. Cant called Hill to tell him about Geerts' struggles, Hill called Geerts and the Sun Devils had a commitment from a player Hill expected to compete against the best players in collegiate tennis.
When Geerts arrived in Tempe, Hill thought his game was too tentative and passive for his skill set. Two of Geerts' greatest strengths are his speed and his footwork.
"I tried giving him a clearer picture of what his game is: playing up in the court and being aggressive at all times and using his backhand more and trying to get ahead in the point, particularly on the return side where he really didn't have that mindset," Hill said.
"His skill set makes sense for him to be playing that way. He's super fast, but he beats himself up too quickly and as a result, he has this default where he defaults back to being more conservative. He's so fast that he can get away with that against a certain level of player but when you bump into really good players that's not going to work."
A critical component in driving the transition was improving Geerts' second serve. By going bigger on that serve, he found he got into a better rhythm on his first serve and that gave him more points to play with.
"I can dictate rallies from the start and try to follow to the net from the start," he said. "With my aggressive mindset to serve, step in and hit the ball early, it really worked well. I'm happy I made that adjustment."
As Geerts' game has progressed, so has his mental approach.
"He's a player whose confidence can swing a lot," Hill said. "He can have some great wins, but if he takes a loss or two, he can be right back down in the dumps.
"We have worked a lot on putting mental anchors down off some recent results; having a realistic view of the body of work he's been doing recently and allowing that to carry him forward even if he takes a loss here or there."
Hill structured the season and his team's training so that Geerts and the other Sun Devils would be in peak physical and tactical shape as they headed into the postseason. Geerts has specific goals he'd like to achieve before he leaves ASU -- goals he likes to keep to himself. Whether he achieves them or not, he feels confident in his game as the Pac-12 Tournament (Wednesday to Saturday in Ojai, California) and the NCAA Tournament approach.
"I think I'm on a good path but it's not like because I had a few good matches I can relax now," he said. "I still need to improve a lot. Consistency is probably the most important thing to going deep into NCAAs.
"Coach Hill knows what my goal is. We're working hard to reach it, both for me and for us as a team."
Follow Craig Morgan on Twitter
TEMPE, Ariz. -- When Michaël Geerts reported back to the Sun Devil men's tennis team in January, his mind didn't fully accompany him. He had just finished exams in his native Belgium, where he is also taking university courses, and he had just lost his grandmother -- his final surviving grandparent -- on Christmas Eve.
"It wasn't the ideal time to practice and focus on tennis," he said. "When we had our first matches, I wasn't feeling so great on the court. I wasn't fully engaged in the college experience."Even though he only spent his senior year with us (and our only senior), Michaël Geerts was crucial to our success in our first year back.
— Sun Devil M. Tennis (@SunDevilMTennis) April 23, 2018
Thank you for your guidance and leadership, Michaël! pic.twitter.com/SDZAQ4yGsT
Three months have altered the senior's perspective on what will be his lone year of collegiate tennis. Three months have solidified the view that coach Matt Hill always had for Geerts when he coaxed him to Tempe in 2017.
"We know he can beat the best players in college tennis; we kind of figured that beforehand," Hill said. "Now he's showing it and doing it."
Geerts defeated UCLA's Martin Redlicki on April 13 in straight sets, 7-5, 6-4. Redlicki is the top-ranked player in the ITA collegiate singles rankings. Geerts also beat Ohio State's Mikael Torpegaard in March.
Torpegaard is ranked No. 4 and was No. 2 at the time. Geerts was up a break in the third set against No. 16 Brandon Holt of USC on April 15 when the match was halted because the Trojans had clinched the team victory.?? MAJOR UPSET ALERT ??
— Sun Devil M. Tennis (@SunDevilMTennis) March 15, 2018
Geerts defeats No. 2 Mikael Torpegaard to bring the Devils back within striking distance!
??3??
??2?? pic.twitter.com/reg56QMSHS
Not including the Holt match, Geerts is 14-3 since the start of February. He has risen to No. 20 in the ITA rankings, the highest ranking for a Sun Devil since No. 1 Sargis Sargsian in 1995, who won the Sun Devils' only NCAA singles title that year.
"These last couple weekends have helped me to see the whole process of what we've been doing this semester," he said.
Before committing to ASU, Geerts thought he was settling into a pro career in his native country of Belgium. He had played in the Belgian tennis federation his entire life, benefitting from the coaching and financial support that governing body provided as he climbed the ATP rankings to a career high of 435.It's been an outstanding journey for Michaël Geerts! ?? Tomorrow he will be closing out his remarkable season at Whiteman.#ForksUp pic.twitter.com/iPWESJyg6V
— Sun Devil M. Tennis (@SunDevilMTennis) April 20, 2018
In the blink of an eye, that support was gone.
"Due to some budget cuts and financial problems, they set some very tough goals and I didn't reach my goal for the 50 spots so they weren't able to extend my contract," he said. "I lost my infrastructure and structure of 11 years kind of suddenly.
"I couldn't find the right coach and it was very tough to find players to play with because a lot of the guys were separated. I was a bit on my own. I needed someone to support me. I needed direction to find my best level again so I could have fun again playing tennis."
Geerts is friends with Belgian Louis Cant, who played tennis at Mississippi State from 2009-2012. Cant's assistant coach at MSU was Hill. Cant called Hill to tell him about Geerts' struggles, Hill called Geerts and the Sun Devils had a commitment from a player Hill expected to compete against the best players in collegiate tennis.
"Some people might consider one year too short a time from a development standpoint to really do anything for him, but getting him back into a structured setting was crucial," Hill said. "There's a reason he's had some success out there."Officially part of the Top-2 Wins Club ?? What a time to be a Sun Devil ?? pic.twitter.com/uBYVObBL18
— Sun Devil M. Tennis (@SunDevilMTennis) April 18, 2018
When Geerts arrived in Tempe, Hill thought his game was too tentative and passive for his skill set. Two of Geerts' greatest strengths are his speed and his footwork.
"I tried giving him a clearer picture of what his game is: playing up in the court and being aggressive at all times and using his backhand more and trying to get ahead in the point, particularly on the return side where he really didn't have that mindset," Hill said.
"His skill set makes sense for him to be playing that way. He's super fast, but he beats himself up too quickly and as a result, he has this default where he defaults back to being more conservative. He's so fast that he can get away with that against a certain level of player but when you bump into really good players that's not going to work."
A critical component in driving the transition was improving Geerts' second serve. By going bigger on that serve, he found he got into a better rhythm on his first serve and that gave him more points to play with.
"I can dictate rallies from the start and try to follow to the net from the start," he said. "With my aggressive mindset to serve, step in and hit the ball early, it really worked well. I'm happy I made that adjustment."
As Geerts' game has progressed, so has his mental approach.
"He's a player whose confidence can swing a lot," Hill said. "He can have some great wins, but if he takes a loss or two, he can be right back down in the dumps.
"We have worked a lot on putting mental anchors down off some recent results; having a realistic view of the body of work he's been doing recently and allowing that to carry him forward even if he takes a loss here or there."
Hill structured the season and his team's training so that Geerts and the other Sun Devils would be in peak physical and tactical shape as they headed into the postseason. Geerts has specific goals he'd like to achieve before he leaves ASU -- goals he likes to keep to himself. Whether he achieves them or not, he feels confident in his game as the Pac-12 Tournament (Wednesday to Saturday in Ojai, California) and the NCAA Tournament approach.
"I think I'm on a good path but it's not like because I had a few good matches I can relax now," he said. "I still need to improve a lot. Consistency is probably the most important thing to going deep into NCAAs.
"Coach Hill knows what my goal is. We're working hard to reach it, both for me and for us as a team."
Follow Craig Morgan on Twitter