Sept. 12, 2015
FLUSHING, N.Y. —Gonzales Austin proudly wore the Vanderbilt black and gold for one last time, as the recent grad fell in the finals of the American Collegiate Invitational to UCLA’s Mackenzie McDonald; 6-2, 7-5.
“I can’t go back and say I regret anything from the match”, said Austin, “because I think he just played really well and there are just some things that I need to improve on, but he just did a lot of things better than I did today.”
Saturday afternoon’s championship match began slow for the Miami native, as McDonald grabbed a hold of an early 4-1 lead, only to give up one additional game in the set.
“I think he was just more aggressive, it’s probably the most basic thing in tennis, but he struck the ball better and more consistently than I did, so it was tough.”
With the chance to play in the 2016 U.S. Open on the line, Austin fought hard throughout the second set, both players consistently holding serve. With the score at 6-5 in the Bruins’ favor, Austin was serving with the opportunity to take the second set to a tiebreaker. But when it mattered most the UCLA junior broke for the first time all set, taking the match, 6-3, 7-5.
“He just put all the pressure on me and that made it really tough and I was already on defense from the start of the point and that’s not really where you want to be on your serve.”
The 2015 SEC Player of the year will continue playing tennis as a professional, with this lasting memory of playing on one of the biggest stages in tennis. As the tournament runner-up, Austin earns a wildcard into a pro circuit event.
“I hope everyone who got to play, really appreciates the opportunity they had to play at the U.S. Open. This is the greatest place on earth for me, personally and probably for every tennis player, at least every American tennis player.”
