The day of the Carnegie Mellon match couldn't have been sweeter for the leader of the men's tennis team, Rafael Roberti, who won both his doubles and singles line to earn his 45th win, breaking the Johns Hopkins record for most career singles wins. His performance propelled the team to a 6-3 satisfying victory over the Tartans.
The constantly-focused and humble team captain stressed the team win. "More importantly, the team got a much needed victory and we are finally all clicking heading towards the end of the season." In fact, "45 career singles wins was never in my mind until it was brought up recently," Roberti said. This is simply a testimony to the captain's mindset, always focused from the team's point of view, rather than his own.
Roberti has made gigantic strides since he first stepped on the court as a freshman. As a matter of fact, Roberti had been suggested to join the club team by head coach Chuck Willenborg after losing in a tryout match to fellow teammate Joe Vasoontara 6-0, 6-0. Roberti, undiscouraged, asked the coach for a second shot.
"I thought about it for about two hours, called him back and asked for another shot because I knew I could help this team. Coach gave me another chance and from then on we've had a wonderful four years," Roberti said.
The past four years have, indeed, been wonderful for the men's tennis team, especially in recent years as they have risen to become one of the best Division-III teams in the nations. When asked what was his most memorable experience on the team, he said, "My greatest memory is still clinching the victory against Washington College freshman year and giving Hopkins its first-ever conference title." He continued on, relentlessly shifting the focus to the team. "While we did not make it to NCAAs that year, the team had learned a lot about itself. Our coaches, Chuck and Dave, instilled a great foundation of hard work and team unity and they have really turned this program around."
The relationships Roberti has built with coaches and teammates seem to have defined his time not only on the team, but in his life here at Hopkins as well as after graduation. Roberti reflected, "After four years of working six to seven days a week, traveling together for hours to matches, eating at Bert's, the Thai Restaurant or the other places the team dines together, everyone on this team has become like family to me, and I could not have imagined a better experience."
Roberti continued to point to his team as his driving force during the past four years. "If it weren't for my coaches and my team, cheering me on, teaching me a forehand, and pushing me to get better I wouldn't have any victories." Roberti humbly concluded, "This record is as much a personal one as it is a team one and I thank my guys for helping me accomplish it."
When looking into the future, the Roberti "tries to take it one day at a time, and enjoy my teammates and coaches." When talking to these cornerstones of his life for the past four years, Roberti admitted, "Some recent conversations have gotten a tad emotional, because we all have been though a lot." But Roberti tries to keep his focus on the season at hand even with the realization of this season being his last in the back of his mind. "There's still plenty of tennis to be played, so I'm focusing on that while I still have it," he said.
As for the rest of the tennis season, there is still much Roberti hopes to accomplish, especially as a team. "We want to make it to the Elite Eight this year and avenge some of our earlier loses. This team is built to do great things and I am excited about the rest of the season," Roberti said. He added, "And who knows, this team definitely has the ability to bring home a national title to Hopkins this year."
As for the reality of his record-holding place in Hopkins's athletic history, 'Raf' concluded, "I don't think what I've been able to accomplish has set in, but I'll have plenty of time after the season to look back on my time here."
However, he was quick to shrug off any well deserved pride, highlighting the fact of his fast approaching sophomore teammate David Maldow to the very record he just broke. "David Maldow, I am very pleased to say, will break my singles record by the fall of his junior year," Roberti said without hesitation. Nevertheless, Rafael Roberti's impact on the men's tennis program has been incomparable, and within that thick outer shell of humbleness and selflessness, I hope, on behalf of the Hopkins student body, that he realizes that.
