Tennis looks North for direction

David North has become a force in both singles and doubles play on a talented Tech men's tennis team. North won eight consecutive matches at the end of last season, and has continued to rack up wins early in the fall season.

North advanced to the finals in doubles play at the Baylor Intercollegiate with partner Eric Molnar.

At the ITA Men's Mideast Indoor Regional Championships, he partnered with George Gvelesiani and made it to the finals before losing to the No. 3 seeded pairing from William and Mary. North and Gvelesiani led Alex Cojanu and Colin O'Brien 7-4 before losing in the tiebreaker 9-8.

In singles play, North advanced to the semifinals of the Baylor Intercollegiate after knocking off three consecutive ranked opponents before falling to Baylor's No. 23 Michal Kokta, 6-7, 5-7.

At the Polo Ralph Lauren All-American Championships, North won six consecutive matches in straight sets before losing in the second round of the Main Draw to the No. 4 seed Somdev Devvarman of Virginia, 6-3, 6-2.

While North, a junior from South Africa, has achieved a considerable amount of success in his first two years at Tech, he has often been seen as the underdog in his matches against other players.

"I don't see myself as the underdog. Rankings-wise, it looks like that, but the players at the tournaments that know me certainly don't look at me like that. It doesn't really mean so much how you're ranked. It's all about how you hit the tennis ball." North said.

Inconsistent play plagued North last season as he lost eight consecutive singles matches. His confidence in his ability and is motivation for improvement and change have driven him to stay at Tech.

"It seemed like my freshman and sophomore year I started off real badly...I have improved a ton, and now want to graduate as I have come this far. The way I've been improving I want to stay here." North says.

During his last summer of intense training with former top college player Ryler Deheart, he came to the realization that the most talented player is not always the one with the highest ranking.

The constantly close matches between the two made North see how too much weight cannot be given to where one is or is not ranked.

"I believe I can beat anybody. The thing is in college tennis is that anybody can beat anybody on any day. A lot of the time, when people play highly ranked people, they think, 'Oh I'm definitely going to lose.' The biggest thing is to realize that you can beat anybody because it gives you a much better chance," North said.

His confident attitude has helped guide him and his team to great play in singles and doubles matches. North is now reaching much of the success and consistency he had hoped for when he first started at Tech.

A Dean's list student majoring in Industrial Engineering, North has led Tech in singles and doubles play and has won numerous matches during the individual part of the fall season. The team portion of the schedule begins in February.