We asked a pair of sophomore Alexes to be a part of He Said/She Said this week in men's tennis player Alex DiValerio and women's golfer Marina Alex, where we ask one male and one female athlete the same set of questions to get a sense of some similarities and differences in the Commodore student-athlete community.
Here are Alex's answers, click here to read Marina's.
Vanderbilt Hustler: What's the biggest difference between this year and your freshman year?
Alex DiValerio: So far, I feel academically I know the ropes now and I know what to expect tennis-wise. I put in a good amount of time traveling over the summer with a couple of the guys on the team. A 4,000 mile road trip just playing tennis so I’m more experienced.
VH: How important is experience in your sport?
AD: I think it’s a substantial part of it because it’s not something you can buy or try to skip over. Losing a lot is also part of it, as well, to a certain extent you get more experience from losing because you can critique the way you play and that way you can improve upon your mistakes and try to correct it for next time.
VH: What do you hope to accomplish in the rest of your Vanderbilt career?
AD: It would be nice to win a SEC title as a team. Individually, I think that myself and along with a couple of other guys on the team could compete for an individual title, as well as double titles as a team. Adam Baker and Alex Zotov were preseason ranked 12th for doubles. Another guy, Bryant Salcedo was ranked 16th for singles and one of our freshman actually played in the US Open this year, so the standards are pretty high and I think we can live up to them for sure.
VH: What do you think is the most important element of your sport?
AD: Obviously being in shape is important because if you’re not in shape you can just lose your matches off of conditioning. But as cliché as it is, I think the mental aspect is probably the most important. Not beating yourself but keeping the ball within the lines to give yourself the best chance to win
VH: What's your pre-match ritual?
AD: Anything that kind of keeps me in a happy mood. Whether it’s music, or a bunch of us just joke around before matches to keep things loose. I mean if you take it too seriously then it isn’t as fun as it could be and you usually don’t play as well.
VH: Why did you choose Vanderbilt?
AD: I’ll have to give the same answer that most people do. A mixture of the academics, location, and competitive tennis conference. I was awful close to going to Notre Dame and when I came here and realized how much warmer the weather is.
VH: What's the best part of being in the Vanderbilt athletic community?
AD: I wouldn’t say we get any kind of special treatment. We pick classes the same time as everyone else I guess the one perk would be the Guggenheime dining facility. The all you can eat is a perk. The Quiznos for dinner sometimes comes into play.
VH: What’s your favorite sports movie?
AD: If I wasn’t playing tennis I would probably being playing baseball, so I’d say “For the Love of the Game” with Kevin Costner.
VH: What's your favorite sport to watch?
AD: I’d have to go with baseball and football. I’m a big Phillies and Eagles fan.
VH: What’s your favorite pre-match meal?
AD: We don’t really have much of a choice. Our assistant coach usually gets us Jersey Mike’s. Italian Jersey Mike’s. I get a little sick of it after five or six matches but it is what it is.
