It is April 24, 2004 and my alarm sounds. But this morning is unlike any other I have every prepared for. The sun is rising at 6 a.m., its streams of radiant colors warming up the baby-blue sky. “Today is the day that we have been working towards all year,” I say to myself. Today is the crowning day for Niagara to the win the 2004 MAAC conference trophy and win a birth into the NCAA tournament.

There we stood as the Niagara Purple Eagles undefeated 15-0 against our Connecticut rival Fairfield. All the while, playing our most important and crucial match of the year where some of tennis’ legends have made history and others fell from fame.

THE PREPARATION

For every collegiate athlete, the dream of making it to the “big dance” is evident in every forehand I strike with a riveting grunt of effort and every drip of perspiration that rolls down my face. Every W in the win column was one step closer to reaching coach Calkins’ goal of “making a legacy.”

September means 15 hours of on-court drills, cardiovascular training and matches to prepare for the fall season. That is the easy part. When the off-season rolls around in November, it becomes my responsibility to haul myself onto a treadmill for 40 minutes, then lift an hour of weights and follow the workout with a healthy eats for the next three months.  All the while, staying on top mentally, visualizing the 5-4, third-set, match point winning ace down the tee to clinch the team victory.

It is unbelievable how much we wanted to taste victory after months of hard work and dedication both on and off the court. Victory is like the finest filet minion, a rich succulent piece of meat, not affordable by all, but once you have tasted it, you want more. We headed into the finals undefeated and holding our first national ranking of 72. We were the favorites to win. We won last year and everyone expected us to repeat as conference champs.

Everywhere our team looked, professional players had left their legacy all around us. The stadium that stood in front of me was where Arthur Robert Ashe Jr. became the first black man to win a Grand Slam event. And, it felt as if it would be our year to become the first Niagara University varsity team to win back-to-back conference titles.

CHAMPIONSHIP DAY

The morning began with ideal tennis conditions: no wind and all sunshine. After losing all three double matches by scores of 8-6, Niagara fell behind 2-0 in singles when Al-Shikarchy had her 12-match winning streak snapped with a 6-3, 6-2 loss to Barvoets at No. 2. The Purple Eagles tied the match at 2-2 when Matijevic beat Webb, 6-0, 6-0 at No. 1 and Krishnan downed Reeves, 6-4, 6-3 at No. 4.

Then suddenly, the morning’s sunny warmth turned into an afternoon chill with rain clouds coming in from the north. It was as if the tide was turning against us. The weather gods were weighing on the hearts of both teams now realizing the importance of every point. Then a regular occurrence on the grounds of the U.S. Open took place, a rain delay.

While our team stood around anxiously praying for the tennis gods to cooperate, the importance of where I was standing all of a sudden struck me. I was standing on the grounds of the U.S. Open in Queens, NY. Oh what a sight it was. A naked statue of Arthur Ashe Jr. stood to my left, naked and yet strong, portrayed like the original Olympiads in Athens Greece.

THE LEGACY OF ARTHUR ASHE

Tennis was forever changed the moment Arthur Ashe Jr. won the U.S. Open in 1968, ending a 12-year drought for American men in the nation’s premier tennis tournament. In winning a Grand Slam title, Ashe proved to the world that tennis was indeed “open.”

            More than 30 years later, the name Arthur Ashe lives on in the hearts and minds of those who remember him as one of the top tennis players and humanitarians in American tennis history. His name lives on at the USTA National Tennis Center in his memory as one of the grandest facilities of any tournament – Grand Slam or otherwise – in the world.

It was at that moment when my dream came true: I was playing on the courts that my idols had played on, from Chris Evert to Martina Navratilova. My dream became the motivation for my teammates to build upon. Play like a pro, be the best you can be and let’s make history.

After a rain delay that lasted for most of the afternoon, play resumed indoors at 8 p.m. Fairfield took a 3-2 lead when Suriano defeated Greiner, 7-6, 1-6, 6-4 at No. 3. But Niagara would not give up. Cary tied the match again with a three-set match victory over Mullowney, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, at No. 6, setting the stage for the Daigler match. With the match tied at 3-3, junior Kendra Daigler lost a three-set heartbreaker, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, at No. 5 to end the Purple Eagles’ 15-match winning streak. The seniors just sat in a state of shock, their eyes staring aimlessly into space hoping that the sea of red Fairfield shirts jumping up and down on the courts was a dream. The loss was like a dagger through our hearts.

It is a year later and I can still remember the tears shed by the seniors, the joy of the opponent and the legacy lost. However, just as Arthur Ashe had “opened” the U.S. Open gates, the loss has opened my soul to become hungrier on the court with every ball that I want to hit harder and every corner of the court that I want to reach faster. Although this year is no longer called the “legacy,” our new motto has turned to “follow your dreams.” And that is exactly what we are going to do. Just wait and see Arthur Ashe!