Renard Adds a French Twist to Finals

Nicolas Renard may be Cal State Northridge’s No. 1 tennis player, but he has no illusions about his chances of winning a Division II individual singles title.

The championships start today at Cal State Northridge and run through Sunday. Renard, ranked No. 35 among Division II players by the Intercollegiate Tennis Coaches Assn., has made plans to catch an airplane headed for his home in France on Saturday.

“I hope to do well,” Renard said. “But there aren’t very many weak players here.”

Renard is the only player from CSUN to qualify for the 64-player individual tournament, and is unseeded. In the first round today, he plays Benjie Aguirre of UC Davis, also unseeded.

A sophomore at Northridge, Renard has concentrated on changing his style to compete against tougher players. He developed a solid clay-court game growing up in Paris but is vulnerable on faster surfaces.

Renard’s strengths are his ground strokes and his return of service, but CSUN Coach Tony Davila has worked with him to improve his serve and volleys. Renard struggled at the beginning of the season with Division I opponents but finished above .500.

He plans to play several tournaments in France during the summer and is eager to try out his new hard-court game on the clay courts. He is ranked among the top 300 players in France and hopes to improve his ranking this summer.

But Renard has enjoyed his first year at CSUN--he played at Santa Monica College as a freshman--and will return for the fall semester.

“It’s too hard to play tennis and study in France,” Renard said. “It’s not like it is here. We don’t have sports over there in schools.”

Renard said he had offers from Temple and other Division I schools, but wanted to attend a Division II school to concentrate on academics.

“Division I players are the best players there are,” Renard said. “But there’s no way they can study. They just play tennis to prepare to become a pro.”

Said Davila: “To a certain case that’s true, although it’s not 100% that way. But constantly flying around for different tournaments makes it difficult to study.”