ENJOYING PRO CIRCUIT Amaya striving for top The Michigan Daily-Thursday, September 18, 1980-Page 11 0 By TOM SHAHEEN Victor Amaya will be on the road for 48 weeks in the next year on the rofessional tennis circuit. The life of a tenmis pro is not as glamorous as it is sometimes portrayed. It usually means time away from home, constant traveling and hotel after seemingly en- dless hotel. But the former Michigan tennis star, now living in Goshen, Ken- tucky, does not mind the life. In fact, he plans on doing it for a long time to come. Currently ranked number 14 in the orld, the 6-7 lefthander has made his mark on the pro circuit, defeating such name players as Guillermo Vilas, Roscoe Tanner, Brian Gottfried, Harold Solomon and Raul Ramirez. Still, his major goal is to beat the likes of Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors and Vitas Gerulaitus. "The difference between being ranked fourteenth and cracking the top ten, is winning one more match a Bi Ten base ball. re aligned By BUDDY MOOREHOUSE Big Ten baseball teams have divided themselves into two divisions and will play under such a format starting next spring : to alleviate travel costs, Michigan coach Bud Middaugh said yesterday. Michigan will play in one division along with Michigan State, Ohio State, Indiana, and Purdue, while Illinois, Iowa, Northwestern, Minnesota, and Wisconsin will compete in another £ivision, Middaugh said. The "Wolverines will play each team in their own division four times, twice at home and twice on the road. At the end of the season, said the second-year coach, the two top teams in each division will join together in a double-elimination tournament to determine the conference's represen- tative in the NCAA playoffs. Middaugh explained that a key *lement behind the change in format was the rapidly increasing costs of travel to such faraway schools as Iowa. He added that "it makes a lot of sense to have the schools that are closer together playing each other." The Wolverines traveled to Iowa City in May to play the Haykeyes, but the sc eduled doubleheader was cancelled because of rain. Middaugh said he understands the ramifications of changing the system. "It could happen where a team that *inishes second in their division could come back and win the tournament if they're hot," he said. "That couldn't happen in the past, when the team with the best conference record was the con- ference champ." Despite the fact that the Wolverines could have a tougher time holding onto their title under the new system, Mid- daugh said he favors it because, "as far as, the fans, players, and justifying ravel expenses are concerned, I think here are more plusses than minuses with this system," he said. week," said Amaya. "I need to improve my backhand and return of serve. And I have to be more consistent day in and day out." But the key to Amaya's game is his powerful serve. "I would say that Victor's serve is number one in the world, even better than Roscoe Tanner's," noted Brian Eisner, Michigan men's tennis coach. "Amaya keeps his secofid serve very deep, which is important in rating the serve as a whole." It was that awesome serve that led this year's Wimbledon champion on all but one occasion. At the Seiko World Tennis Champion- ships in Tokyo last year, Amaya exten- ded Borg to five sets and had four mat- ch points before the undaunted Swede eked out the victory. Amaya has set out to improve his backhand, the glaring weakness that plagued him in college, and to a lesser extent, in his current game. "I use to have a heart attack if I had to make a passing shot off the backhand side," Amaya recalled. "It's not quite that bad today, but could stand some improvement." Amaya will take that hopefully im- proved backhand with him to 22 tour- naments and 15 exhibitions during the next year. The grind of packing and un- packing is eased by the fact that he travels with his wife to almost all of the sites. The Amayas have been married 18 months. Those who know Amaya feel he will do very will in the upcoming year. Eisner is one of many observers who predict success for his former pupil. "Victor has done very well in a sport where the quality of play gets more dif- ficult year after year. He's an in- telligent person and is very com- petitive," said Eisner. Victor Amaya . Amaya to two consecutive Big 10 single's titles in 1973 and 1974 at Michigan. He narrowly missed a third consecutive title which would have tied him with Marty Riessen (North- western) for most consecutive Big 10 conference championships. He was defeated by Francisco Gonzales of Ohio State in the finals and describes that match as the most important in his collegiate career. "That was my biggest and last match for Michigan. I really wanted to tie Riessen's record," he said. And he probably would have tied the record if it were not for the heat prostration he suffered the day of the match. There was no air conditioning at Wisconsin's new tennis facility, site of See more sports, page 12 "And he has the perfect personality for the game. You have to put up with the constant traveling, the packing and the unpacking. Many tennis players have the physical skills but cannot han- dle these side events." Amaya can indeed handle the life. Right now, however, he's getting ready for the next tournament and it's back on the road.. .again. 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