Does Hawaii in January sound like a dream? Thanks to the generosity of the Hills family, the Blue Devils are making it a reality—and a work vacation.
No. 12 Duke will take on Louisville and Hawaii in its biennial Hills Hawaii Trip to play in the Hawaii Invitational—also referred to as the Rainbow Warrior Classic. The squad will take on Hawaii Wednesday at 3 p.m. and Louisville Thursday at 3 p.m.
The Blue Devils returned to Durham Saturday afternoon before turning around to catch a 6 a.m. flight Sunday for Waikiki, Hawaii. This will be Duke's third time participating in the tournament, with the trip also taking place in 2011 and 2013.
Head coach Ramsey Smith was quick to point out that the Hills family—the namesake of the trip—is the reason, financially speaking, his Blue Devil squad has the opportunity to make the trip every two years.
"This trip was made possible by one family—Greg and Jane Hills," Smith said. "They're the biggest supporters of Duke tennis and a couple years ago they came up to us and said, 'We want to provide a really special trip every other year for the team.' And we went through some options and decided that Hawaii would be a great place."
With the Hills' support, Duke will be able to spend five days in Hawaii as a team, a luxury that is not lost on Smith and the Blue Devils. After a break apart, the chance to play outside and get ready for the hectic schedule that awaits Duke when it returns to Durham could work wonders for the team's chemistry.
"This is a great team-building thing, and that's why I love doing it in January, at the very beginning of the semester," Smith said. "It's nice because [the players] don't have to work on school, and honestly, it's great weather and we get a chance to play outdoors, which we don't really get that opportunity in January and the first part of February [in Durham]."
Aside from the enjoyment of the Hawaii weather—the low temperatures in Waikiki the next two days are a brisk 63 and 69 degrees, respectively—the Blue Devils will use the trip for more than an opportunity to play outdoors.
One of the unique aspects of the tournament lies in the fact that every player on all three teams' rosters will have a chance to play. Each team match will consist of nine singles and four doubles matches. Typically in the spring, only the top six players play singles and three teams playing doubles.
"It's a format where each day we get two rounds of doubles and one round of singles," Smith said. "There will be an overall winner of singles and an overall winner in doubles. It's a great time for me to see how hard the guys have worked over break."
The Blue Devils began practice Sunday afternoon, and spent Monday and Tuesday getting caught up and ridding themselves of jet lag before the competition starts Wednesday.
Duke will look to build on a successful fall campaign, as the continued success of veterans Jason Tahir, Raphael Hemmeler and Bruno Semenzato paired with the explosion of freshman Nicolas Alvarez helped to keep the momentum the Blue Devils ended last season with going.
No. 36 Tahir won one match before being eliminated from the ITA National Indoors, a tournament made up of the nation's top 32 players. No. 103 Hemmeler and No. 112 Semenzato concluded the fall by advancing all the way to the finals of the Dick Vitale Clay Court Classic, through the meet was called a draw cancelled due to inclement weather.
Alvarez also qualified for the ITA National Indoors but could not compete due to illness. The Lima, Peru, native had already qualified for nationals by making the quarterfinals of the ITA All-American tournament earlier in the season.
"Nico Alvarez, our freshman, had a really unbelievable freshman fall—qualifying and making the quarterfinals of All-Americans, and semifinals in the regionals," Smith said. "The other guys that stood out were Jason Tamir, Raphael Hemmler and Bruno Semenzato. All four of those guys really stepped up and won tournaments."
After his strong fall slate, Alvarez is currently slated as the 18th-best player in the nation, and in Hawaii, he may have a chance to prove himself once again against top-tier competition. Louisville boasts the No. 1 player in the nation in Sebastian Stiefelmeyer—the first player in Cardinal history to own the top spot.
Stiefelmeyer finished the fall with a 17-2 singles record and became the first Louisville player to win the ITA All-American Singles Championship after entering the tournament at No. 110 in the preseason rankings. As the matches played in Hawaii count toward national rankings, one Duke player will have a chance to knock off the top-ranked preseason player before the thick of season play even begins.
"It's a fun trip, but these are also matches that count for national ranking," Smith said. "Louisville has the No. 1 player in the country on their team, so someone's going to get a shot at playing against the No. 1 player in college."
Following the Blue Devils' trip to take on Stiefelmeyer, Louisville and Hawaii, Duke will return home to Durham—where the temperatures will hover in the mid-30s and 40s—to prepare for its 2015 home opener against Michigan State Friday, Jan. 16.
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