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Sooner Profile: Andrei Daescu
April 03, 2008 | Men's Tennis
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Ask anyone on the University of Oklahoma men's tennis team. Not a single one of them was born in the U.S., or even on the same continent for that matter.
Andrei Daesu is one of those players. He came to OU from Bucharest, Romania last fall because of the opportunity to continue his education and keep playing tennis at high level.
His first year brought about obvious challenges, but Daescu learned from those experiences and is a much stronger person because of them.
Now Oklahoma's No. 1 singles player, his maturity has shown through in his game as well. We recently sat down with Andrei to discuss his transition to the American lifestyle and what it's like playing for the Sooners.
On the recruiting process and how he ended up at Oklahoma:
"I was playing some ATP tournaments two years ago in the summer and to be honest, I wasn't thinking about coming to college. I wasn't that familiar with college and the type of lifestyle. I was playing tennis pretty good but not good enough to play professional tournaments.
"Oklahoma's assistant coach gave me a call and told me some stuff about college life. He told me they could give me a scholarship to come here and play for the OU tennis team and study. I thought about it a lot. It was a great opportunity for me to study here in America and also for me to keep playing tennis at a high level."
On his first impressions of Oklahoma:
"I was used to the big city life. I'm from the capital, Bucharest, so I was used to traffic, having a lot of people around,
 "The University is great and the people here are very nice, so I have nothing to complain about." |
On the biggest adjustment he faced moving halfway around the world:
"The hardest thing was being away from my family. Sometimes you need advice from your dad or your mom depending on the situation. It was tough in the beginning, but with every day that passed I got tougher and tougher.
"Also just the change in lifestyle with school in the morning, then tennis and homework during the night, I don't have a lot of free time and that's something I wasn't used to. It was hard for me in the beginning, especially the first semester, but I got used to and think I'm doing pretty good."
On how often he is able to talk to his family:
"When I'm here in Norman I talk to them every day. When I'm away with the team, it's probably just once or twice a week. It depends on how much time I have during the day because of the time change. It's eight hours behind so usually when it's night here it's day there and vice versa so it's pretty hard to get in touch with them. It's just a little window of hours so if I'm not free at that time it's hard to talk to them, but I'm doing my best to keep in touch."
On his home city of Bucharest:
"There's a big difference in Romania between the capital and the other cities. It's by far the largest city there and the competition there is much better. I started playing tennis when I was six and the competition was tougher every day. The best players are from Bucharest and players from other cities were coming to Bucharest to practice with us. So that made it so there was always a little bit of pressure on me but that's good because it made me train hard every day. I wanted to be one of the best so I think that helped a lot."
On the entire tennis team being from outside the U.S.:
"I think it helped but there were some disadvantages too. It helped because they're all international and had all been through what I was going through. But if I would have had some American teammates that would have helped too because they would have introduced me to the lifestyle a bit easier. The seniors helped me out a lot in getting through stuff. They're great teammates."
On the camaraderie within the team:
"You know, I always saw tennis as an individual sport before I came here. Then I came here and it was a team sport and I didn't know how to get along with my teammates. Then I realized they're all great people and we're all pretty much like brothers here. When one of us is suffering, all of us are suffering and we're always trying to help each other. It's one for all and all for one. I can't complain at all."
On his role on the team and how happy he is with his game:
"I'm really happy with the position I'm playing right now. I have some good goals to get to this semester. I practiced very hard during the summer and fall with my coaches and I think the results are showing now. Obviously I can do better but I'm pleased with how I'm doing right now. I hope I'll do better next year and during my senior year, and I'm just going to keep practicing hard. My main goal for now is to make NCAAs.
"As far as the team, I think everybody is doing their best. It's very hard because we have a very young team with three freshmen. They're all adapting but it's very hard in the beginning so we're all trying to help them adjust. Even if this year is not as good as last year, I think we can still do well in the future if we give it our best."
On what he hopes to take from his first two years and improve on in the future:
"Probably the most important thing was that it was very tough in the beginning. As I said before, the change in lifestyle, not a lot of free time, school at a high level, homework all the time, tennis at a high level -- you need to do almost everything perfect. I've learned a lot during this year just to manage my time better. I've gone through a tough period and consider myself way tougher than before. I think I'm more mature now than in the beginning and I think that's something I'll take with me out of college."
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Learn more about the international flavor of the OU men's tennis program by checking out the Sooner Sports Weekly section in the OU Athletics Video Library.
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