One Saluki tennis player’s season is making a turn for the better.

Freshman Filip Aleksic started his career with the Salukis, going just 1-12 in his first 13 matches. But since Feb. 1 Aleksic has turned his season around, going 6-1 including two 6-0, 6-0 match wins.

Aleksic was born in Gnjilane, Serbia where he played mostly on clay courts. Clay courts require a different style of play, so Aleksic needed to adapt to the hard courts the Salukis compete on — this meant he also needed to change his racket.

“This [racket] is much heavier,” Aleksic said. “I used to play with Babolat rackets, and I think they’re more for clay because they produce more spin.”

After replacing his racket, Aleksic had more issues to deal with in the form of injuries.

“I had problems with my wrist, with my lower back and with my ankle on my right leg,” Aleksic said. “It’s all because of the court and changing rackets and everything, but now I’m used to it.”

When Aleksic came to SIU, tennis wasn’t the only area he had to adapt to. He was living on his own in a new environment for the first time.

“Every beginning is hard,” Aleksic said. “The first couple months, it was hard to get used to this school system, practicing everyday, going to school every day. A lot of times I was tired and sometimes I felt home sick, I really wasn’t focused just on tennis.”

Once Aleksic was able to settle into the new playing style and living situation, his results started to improve. Aleksic began pushing matches to third set tiebreakers and coming up just short of wins toward the end of the fall season.

Things started clicking for Aleksic when he beat University of Detroit Mercy’s Chance Conley 6-0, 6-4. After his win, Aleksic never looked back. He would go on to win six of his next seven matches for the Salukis in a period of just more than a month to post a 6-4 spring semester singles record, a vast improvement from his 1-9 fall record.

Coach Dann Nelson said Aleksic has learned how to slow down his play since the fall.

“He’s much more patient during the points that he’s playing,” Nelson said. “He’s not trying to end the point so early, which is actually putting him in a better position to win matches.”

Senior Rafael Cuadrillero has been Aleksic’s doubles partner for most of the year. Cuadrillero said Aleksic came back from winter break a better tennis player.

“He changed his serve over the break and at the beginning of the semester,” Cuadrillero said. “He has a huge forehand, so he slices his backhand to get to his forehand to go for points. He’s been working really hard.”

Aleksic said the big difference in his play comes from the level of comfort he feels now that he’s used to playing tennis on the hard courts of the United States. Aleksic also said he is looking forward to the remaining matches this season.

“I feel really confident,” Aleksic said. “All of us have improved a lot since the fall. We’re looking forward to it. We’re going to make some [good] results until the end.”

Aleksic said he owes a lot of his success to the coaches and supporters on campus who have helped him adapt to his new surroundings.

“My coach Dann gave me support all this time.” Aleksic said. “I want to thank all the people here who have been nice to me like my professors and trainers and the people that care about us as a team.”

Aleksic will look to continue his successful season Saturday when the Salukis (6-5) take on NJCAA Vincennes University at Saluki Courts.

Tony McDaniel can be reached at [email protected], @tonymcdanielDE or at 536-3311 ext. 282