The Sun: What are your thoughts right now on the state of the tennis program?

Tony Bresky: You know, I’m obviously coming into this situation where we have a very experienced team; the leadership and work ethic of our seniors is excellent, and it’s definitely translated onto the rest of the team and the incoming freshmen. Yeah, we just came back from Virginia, had our first fall tournament … we’re definitely excited about where our team is. We’ve already seen some improvements in their game; I think the guys are really hungry and looking forward to having a great year.

Sun: So obviously you’ve had a lot of success at the University of Virginia. How do you plan on carrying that success over to Cornell?

T.B.: I mean, I think it’s a work in progress. When I came to Virginia, our program was in a very similar situation to where Cornell’s was, and you know, to be honest, it was actually even not quite as good as the situation as we have in Cornell. We didn’t have a ton of tennis tradition, or history; it just takes some time to build that up. I think it starts from the current players you have, doing a great job coaching them, motivating them, showing them what it’s like to compete on a national level. And obviously recruiting is a huge component of building a great program, so I just need to start bringing in some of the top recruits in the country and showing them what Cornell has to offer –– the academic reputation, resources, the tennis center and the quality of coaching and schedule that they’re going to have at Cornell, so I think that’s a start. We’re obviously having a great fall so far from a recruiting standpoint, as far as the quality of the type of kids we’ve been able to bring in so far. The next step is to convince them to make the decision to come to Cornell, so that’s kind of where we’re at with that, and I think that’s sort of how you build a program –– we start getting the community involved, the faculty involved and you just work from there.

Sun: Do you find it any different working at an Ivy League school in terms of recruiting?

T.B.: Well, certainly there are some differences. I mean, obviously not having scholarships can be challenging, but the financial aid packages are great so you just have to be a little smarter ... and earlier on in the recruiting process kind of figure out what kids are looking for and how they fit into your situation. But the recruiting aspect of it so far, for me at least, has been very similar; I’m still trying to sell the kids on very similar aspects –– getting a great education. Obviously Virginia was a strong academic school, not as strong as Cornell, but still a good academic school, so I’m still looking for kids that are excellent academically and have high standards in their academic pursuits, but at the same time still want to play a high level of tennis. So it just takes a little research and effort on our part to figure out which of those kids fit into what we’re trying to do.

Sun: Speaking of the academic record, teams you’ve coached have a great track record not only in terms of on-court performance but also academic success. How important is this to you and why is that so?

T.B.: It’s very important. When a kid comes to Cornell the first thing I tell them is obviously I want to make you a great tennis player and have you play on great teams but my number one priority for you is to have you graduate from Cornell with a degree. I think that’s part of being a Division I coach –– mentoring and monitoring and making sure your kids accomplish that. In the end, that’s the number one priority for kids when they come to school: to get that degree. So as a coach you have to have some flexibility. You need to know your kids, you have to have a great relationship with your kids to really understand when they need time away from the sport, when they need to focus on their studies, to give them time for that, be flexible and be able to work around that schedule because that is an important priority. I’ve obviously realized over time that if a kid isn’t happy in other aspects of their life –– if they’re not doing their best in the classroom –– they’re not going to be able to be focused and successful on the court, so you really have to balance that situation out.

Sun: What’s the most important quality an athlete who trains under you should have?

T.B.: I think they have to be passionate about tennis, and they have to be dedicated. If you’re really not passionate about tennis and you don’t want to be the best player that you can be, I’m probably not the right guy to play for. If it’s kind of like a part-time endeavor for you, or if it’s kind of like a hobby, I don’t think that it’s the right program for you. I mean, there are lots of other programs in the country where you can be successful, it’s just probably not at Cornell. We’re going to give our kids all the opportunities in the world to have top-notch coaching. We have a world-class facility here, and we’re going to have a great schedule. I think that as long as a kid is really passionate about the sport, and they’re willing to work hard on the court every day, you know, leave their guts, heart and tears on the court, then I’m a great guy to play for.

Sun: What do you think defines you or makes you different as a coach?

T.B.: Well, you know, obviously I think with my ­­­­­experience coaching at top colleges and even at the professional level, I think I kind of understand what it takes to get to that point and I think I can really relay that to my kids and I feel like I relate to my kids better than most coaches out there, so I feel like I understand what they’re going through as far as the pressure they have from school, and even the social and other kinds of situations other than school, so I think I can relate to them. Because of that I can be a better coach for them because I can understand what they’re thinking and kind of figure out what makes them work and what’s important to them.

Sun: A lot of tennis players are really emotional on the court and leave it all out there, while others are more mentally calm and collected; do you think emotion is a strength or weakness in tennis?

T.B.: Well, I think emotion can be a strength if it’s used the right way. I think you have to know how to tame and harness that emotion and put it to good use, and obviously I think positive energy is always a good thing; negative energy can bring you down. So obviously it’s going to be hard not to have any negative energy, especially if you’re a competitive person and things aren’t going your way, but you have to be able to know how to let some of your frustrations out but not let it affect your play in upcoming points.

Sun: Tennis is known as more of an individual sport, but at a university, it’s still a tennis team. How important is the team dynamic to you and have you been doing anything to encourage team bonding since you’ve taken over?

T.B.: I think obviously our guys –– and that’s to give credit to our seniors –– already established a great team bond. Obviously team practices are a good place to bond, as are team trips …we’ve had an early team barbecue to kind of get everyone acquainted with each other, but I think that kind of stems from the leadership of the coaches and leadership of the seniors and team captains. We have some great team captains who help the guys bond together and do things together, and it just develops over time. I think the guys are obviously already pretty close and they’ll only get closer as the year progresses.

Sun: So what’s your goal for the team coming in this year?

T.B.: Well, we try not to set specific goals that are really result-oriented because I think the No. 1 goal is keep improving and keep trying to get better. Deep down I think everyone has the same goal and that’s to win an Ivy League Championship. I think that’s going to be the goal for Cornell tennis every year that I’m here: to win an Ivy League title and qualify for the NCAA tournament. Whether we do that by winning the Ivy League title or can do that on our own –– that’s something we need to see based on how the year progresses. I think that every year I’m here the minimum goal for our team’s going to be to win an Ivy League title.

Sun: What’s your goal for the program a few years down the road? Coming into the program, do you have a vision that you hope to implement?

T.B.: Yeah, I think obviously very similar to what we were able to do at Virginia –– to build a program up over time. I mean, at UVA we were able to win seven ACC titles in a row, you know, where in the past we had never won one in Virginia tennis. I think we have a very similar situation here. Cornell tennis has never won an Ivy League title, and it will be our goal to win an Ivy League title and not only win one this year, but hopefully every year thereafter. I think as that progresses you have to set short-term goals, midterm goals and long-term goals. So I think for the future of the program, that’s the goal: to win an Ivy League title every year and have our team participate in the NCAA tournament, have individual players participating in the NCAA tournament and just progress as we go over time.