Johnson and Radman Set for NCAA Doubles Championship
May 23, 2007 | Men's Tennis
May 23, 2007
University of Louisville seniors Damar Johnson and Slavko Radman will play Florida State's 20th-ranked Sam Chang and Jonathas Sucupira Thursday in the first round of the NCAA Doubles Championship at Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Georgia, hosted by the University of Georgia. The match time will be determined Wednesday afternoon.
"We have prepared very hard and meticulously for the championship," said U of L head coach Rex Ecarma. "We want to do well and advance as far as we can go. It means a lot for our seniors to be closing their careers at the NCAA championship. I am proud, not only of their careers, but also ho much work they have put in after the Big East Conference tournament."
Johnson and Radman earned the BIG EAST Conference automatic bid as the league's highest ranked doubles team. The duo is currently No. 18 in the ITA doubles rankings and earned the school's highest ranking of No. 7 earlier this season. They have posted an 18-8 overall record including a 9-5 mark as the Cards' top-seed this season. They earned All-BIG EAST honors after going 2-1 in the conference tournament.
Johnson (Steer Town, Jamaica) is a four-time all-conference selection. He posted a 19-15 overall record and was 14-9 playing mostly at No. 2 for the Cardinals this year.
"We feel confident that we can do well," said Johnson. "We have never played this team, but we are all here with the 32 best doubles teams in the NCAA and we have played well against quite a few of them. It has been one of my goals to compete in an NCAA championship in singles or doubles. If I could have chosen a year to go, it would be now, my senior year."
Radman (Split, Croatia) earned all conference honors in each of his three seasons at U of L. Radman, who posted a 20-11 overall record and a 14-7 mark as the Cards' top seed, is currently No. 85 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association singles rankings, and reached as high as No. 29 earlier this season. Last season, Radman became the third player in U of L history to be selected for the NCAA singles championships.
Johnson and Radman become only the second doubles team in program history to be selected for the NCAA doubles championship, following in the footsteps of 2006 selections Jeremy Clark and Jakob Gustafsson.
"We feel like this is a great first round matchup," said Radman. "We are ranked near each other and are similar teams. We've had some really good practices these last few days. We just need to get off to a strong start tomorrow."
The Cardinals finished the 2007 season with a 10-15 overall record and were second in the BIG EAST Conference Championship.
Players Mentioned
