Cavalier Corner is the publication just for UVa sports fans!
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1494955
APRIL 2023 17 "I first got into tennis when I was 6," Rodesch said. "I saw Rafa [Nadal] and [Roger] Federer play on TV. That's how it started. I wanted to play really badly after seeing that match. My dad took me to start playing in a club about 15 minutes away." When he was 12, he dropped his other sport, handball, to focus solely on tennis. He attended a sports academy that allowed him to practice five days a week while working on his academics. It also kept him on the radar of Luxembourg's National Tennis Federation. As Rodesch rose through the junior ranks, reaching a world ranking inside the top 60 and racking up four ITF Juniors singles titles across Europe, the Federation paid even closer attention. In 2019, his final year of high school, he was named to his nation's five-player Davis Cup team. "The year before, I was sad that I didn't get nominated," Rodesch said. "And I was kind of angry, but I did have an injury. The next year, I knew I would get nomi- nated, but then when it was in the news, I was really happy about it. Finally, this was a dream coming true!" Rodesch officially learned of his nomination through a group chat of all of the eligible players. He saw his name on the news 22 hours later, cement- ing that the dream was an actual reality. In a whirlwind, he was in Greece days later, not just on the team but playing in the Group III tie. And he was playing in front of a na- tional hero, Gilles Müller. The Davis Cup cap- tain is the most-successful Luxembourgish player in the sport's history, rising to a top-25 world ranking with two ATP Tour career titles and two Grand Slam quarterfinal runs. "My first Davis Cup was a roller coaster of just getting drilled from Gilles Müller," Rodesch said. "He was so professional when he was a tennis player. I learned so much from him about being professional off the court. I was not professional. It was a crazy experience because I was a high school kid who didn't take tennis that seriously yet. "I was always so competitive and wanted to win, but professionally, I was not there. I got drilled in that first nomination." Rodesch, at 21 years of age, is now a seasoned Davis Cup player. After the 2020 ties were canceled because of the CO- VID-19 pandemic, he returned to play in 2021 in Cyprus. Last June, Rodesch helped Luxembourg advance from Europe Group III to the World Group II playoffs. He went 3-0 in doubles in the tie, partnering with an ACC alum in Florida State graduate Alex Knaff. They formed a formidable pair, winning a pair of ITF World Tennis Tour doubles titles over the summer and earning promotion for their home nation in Davis Cup play. As a bonus, the World Group II playoff tie they advanced to would be played in Luxembourg. "Those first three World Group III ties, it wasn't a real Davis Cup feeling because you have all of these teams at the same spot, and you don't play at home, so it feels like an ordinary tournament," Rodesch said. "This year, we played in Luxembourg before our home crowd. And that's really when I was like, 'Oh, OK. This is Davis Cup.' "It was 700 people, a full crowd, cheering for your country. It was amazing. To play in front of the legend of our sport, Gilles Müller, who was sitting on our bench, coaching us, and you have family and friends there was amazing. "To have the anthem played with the flags in the crowd and everyone cheering was the whole Davis Cup vibe. It was the first time I really felt that." Rodesch, Knaff and their teammates downed South Africa 4-1 in the playoff earn- ing a spot in World Group II. They will take on Slovenia in September. The victory was covered in the local press, unlike Rodesch's NCAA championship last May. Despite the fact that Rodesch most likely is the first Luxembourgish student-ath- lete to win an NCAA championship, it did not make the news. But it was hardly unnoticed. "My friends are basketball fans so they know all about March Madness. Some of them understood, and I still got respect," Rodesch said with a laugh. His father, Guy, his mother, Laurence, and brother, Maxime, were also watching all of the matches, despite the six-hour time differ- ence for the home matches and the seven- hour difference at the site of the finals. "My dad is an IT guy and knows all about computers," Rodesch said. "He had the TV showing the broadcast and all the courts, and then he had his other computer where he watched my singles match so he wouldn't miss a thing. That's basically how he, my mom and my brother watched the match." That included the rain-delayed NCAA quar- terfinal match against Florida that ended after 5 a.m. in Luxembourg. His father stayed up to watch his son battle Ben Shelton on the top court in one of the most exciting matches of the tournament. Shelton, who is now ranked No. 41 in the world after making a run to the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, had just dropped his second set 7-5 against Rodesch when Jeffrey von der Schulenburg won his third set on court three to clinch the 4-1 victory for the Cavaliers. Shelton had edged Rodesch 12-10 in a tiebreaker to decide their first set. "Mom went to bed at some point during that one," Rodesch confessed. The whole fam- ily, however, made it through the semifinals and the champion- ship match. Rodesch called them the next day to share the cel- ebration with them. "It was nice to talk Luxembourgish with my family, who knew what winning the NCAA title was like." Rodesch has found another family at UVA. His multi-cultural third-year class includes fellow Europeans in Iñaki Montes from Pam- plona, Spain, von der Schulenburg from Zu- rich, Switzerland, and Mexico City native Alex Kiefer. Add to that Israeli graduate student Bar Botzer and Swedish freshman Måns Dahlberg. "It's so amazing to have Jeffrey, Iñaki and Alex in my class," Rodesch said. "I knew Jef- frey from juniors and knew that if I came here with Jeffrey, I would have such a fun time. The others are very open-minded people. "The whole tennis team is like cultures coming together and getting along with each other. That's really nice about it." He also feels very at home in Charlottesville. "Charlottesville is a little bit like Europe," Rodesch said. "Here you have a lot of na- ture. Everything is close. That's basically how Luxembourg is, and that's what I really liked about this place." Just don't ask him how he is. " It was 700 people, a full crowd, cheering for your country. It was amazing. … To have the anthem played with the flags in the crowd and everyone cheering was the whole Davis Cup vibe." RODESCH ON HIS DAVIS CUP VICTORY IN LUXEMBOURG