After winning the USTA/ITA Mountain Regional title on Oct. 21 for the second time, senior tennis player Enej Bonin is now advancing to the USTA/ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships, which will take place Nov. 8-11 in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.
“It’s the most important tournament of the fall season and winning it is definitely the highest goal,” said Bonin. “I felt that I was expected to win since I won it my sophomore year.”
Bonin entered the tournament surrounded by high expectations, having won the 2010 Mountain Regional title and making it to the semifinals last year. Head coach Danny Westernan said he knew Bonin would do well.
“It was a fantastic performance. I thought he played well all throughout the tournament,” said Westerman. “He couldn’t have done any better.”
Bonin moved past the quarterfinals with a 7-5, 7-6 win over Idaho’s Abid Akbar. Bonin said this was one of the toughest matches of the tournament. He then advanced past the semifinals with a 6-3, 6-7, 6-3 win against Air Force’s Lance Wilhelm.
In the final singles match against New Mexico’s Samir Iftikhar, Bonin took the title with a final score of 6-0, 6-3. Now Bonin is headed to New York for the USTA/ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships. Bonin said he’s taking the few weeks in between tournaments to prepare himself further.
“Everything will be faster since it’s indoors. They’ll be much better than the players in the region,” said Bonin. “I’m just going to work on faster serves, faster returning and an overall faster game.”
Westerman said he’s confident in the Koper, Slovenia, native’s abilities and has seen how he has grown over his years here.
“He came in not knowing what to expect, coming from Europe, but he puts in so much work and the team loves him for it,” said Westerman. “He’s learned to be more aggressive and take chances.”
Bonin said he hasn’t been learning the ins and outs of tennis for as long as some of his teammates or opponents, but that didn’t stop him from pursuing his passion.
“At around age 16 or 17 is when I actually started to become better and when I dedicated myself to a lot of rigorous practicing,” said Bonin.
According to Bonin, practicing with his team at DU helps him to improve himself and get prepared for tournaments.
“We support each other, even though it’s a singles tournament,” said Bonin. “Whenever you’re playing, they’re keeping you going. Win or lose, you see what they’re doing and how it makes them successful. You learn from that.”
As the team prepares for its upcoming season, Westerman said they are looking first and foremost to win the NCAA conference. Westerman said they are also looking to secure a top-40 national ranking as well as try to improve the team dynamics on a daily basis.
As for Bonin, he is also looking to bring his team to the conference. In order to make the NCAA singles, Bonin must maintain his ranking in the top 50 this season.
“It’s always our goal to win every year, but this year especially with the WAC since we’re hosting it in Denver,” said Bonin.
Since this is Bonin’s final year as a Pioneer, he said he is also looking to his future beyond tennis and DU.
“There’s no clear plans just yet, but I’m looking into finance jobs,” said Bonin. “My backup plan is coaching tennis, because I love it. It’s something for me to fall back on.”
In the meantime, Bonin said he’s just taking things as they come, starting with his upcoming tournament.
“I’m going to keep on working hard and pushing myself for the next two weeks before I leave, and prepare myself for the tougher competition,” said Bonin.
