International players boost No. 4 Cardinal
Despite Stanford’s preeminence in the so-called countryclub sports, it hasn’t won the men’s NCAA tennis title since 2000.
That could change this year because an already strong team picked up reinforcements from, of all places, Argentina and France. And this is a program that doesn’t usually recruit internationally.
The No. 4 Cardinal (20-2, 7-1 Pac-12) wrapped up their best regular season in 17 years last weekend with one-sided victories over Oregon and Washington. Their only losses this season were to No. 1 Wake Forest and No. 2 UCLA, a team they had beaten earlier in a nonconference match.
They’ll enter this week’s Pac-12 championships in Ojai (Ventura County) as the No. 2 seed. Then comes the NCAA championships in Winston-Salem, N.C., May 17-28.
“There are 8-10 teams that can make a run at the NCAA championships,” head coach Paul Goldstein said. “I think we’re one of them. It’s a question of who’s going to be mentally healthy at the end of the year.”
A big reason for Stanford’s success this year is Tom Fawcett, a 6-foot-5 senior who is ranked No. 9 in the country. He plays in the No. 1 slot and is 19-4 (10-3 in dual matches) against the opposition’s best players.
“There’s a lot of parity in college tennis, a lot of teams that can upset each other,” he said. “It’s up for grabs really. It’s about who’s playing their best tennis at the end of May. I’m hoping we can be that team.”
Stanford reached the round of 16 the past two years. It clearly plans to make a deeper run this time, with the help of the No. 1 junior player in the world, Axel Geller, a freshman from Buenos Aires, and Frenchman Eric Fomba, the first graduate transfer in program history.
Fomba, a rising star in France as a teenager, decided essentially to drop competitive tennis when he entered the Paris Institute of Political Studies. He played only in occasional tournaments and mainly hit the books. He’s 22 now, already holds a master’s in finance, and decided he wanted to try college tennis in the U.S. for a season and see if he could get on the ATP Tour.
“When we found out we had the No. 1 junior tennis player in the world coming to Stanford, we were all thrilled,” Fawcett said.
Geller has been as advertised, 18-4 overall and 16-3 in dual meets.
The surprise has been Fomba, who didn’t arrive until January.
“We didn’t know who he was,” Fawcett said. “You could just tell if you gave him a couple of weeks of practicing hard and getting into the groove, he was going to catch on. His strokes are very smooth. He moves very well on the court, and he has a huge serve.”
Fomba (13-3 overall, 9-2 in duals) had the decisive win in both dual meets over the weekend, his fourth and fifth clinchers of the season. His teammates marvel at his calmness in high-pressure situations.
“The biggest adjustment was playing every day,” Fomba said. “It’s tough physically. It was really tough at the beginning, but now I feel better.”
Goldstein said, “His tennis has been a little inconsistent at times, but when he’s got it going, he’s as good as there is. … We thought he’d be a contributor for us in May. As it turned out, he’s been a contributor for us all year.”
Geller won the junior Wimbledon doubles title and the junior U.S. Open singles and reached the junior Wimbledon singles final last year. He and Fawcett have a 15-5 record as the 24th-ranked doubles team.
Fawcett “has been a great help to me” in adjusting to college tennis and life on the Farm, Geller said. “We’re both really committed to trying to go pro after school. He’s a really good role model for how hard he works.”
According to Goldstein, Geller has helped Fawcett, too. “There’s someone pushing him to get better every day in practice,” he said.
Fawcett agrees. Geller is “a special player,” he said. “He can generate a ton of pace from anywhere on the court. He’s definitely got a unique talent.”
Fawcett and David Wilczynski (17-10, 10-5 duals), the only other senior, were recruited by Goldstein’s predecessor, John Whitlinger.
“Their freshman year was my first year,” Goldstein said. “For me, it’s been like we’re building this program together. In college tennis, you see a lot of seniors lose motivation. These guys haven’t. They’ve gotten better. They’re playing some of their best tennis.”
Tom FitzGerald is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tfitzgerald@ sfchronicle.com Twitter: @tomg fitzgerald