University of Memphis Athletics
Tiger Tennis Grads Making Bluff City Debut As Professionals
Feb 05, 2016 | Men's Tennis
Dave O'Hare and Joe Salisbury in the Doubles Draw of Memphis Open.
MEMPHIS – One of the most decorated doubles teams in University of Memphis men's tennis history, David O'Hare and Joe Salisbury, is reunited and back in the Bluff City this week for the Memphis Open, an ATP 250 level event that begins Saturday at The Racquet Club of Memphis. The tandem won the wild card entry in to the doubles draw of the Memphis event in December and finds out Friday at 6 p.m. where they are in the doubles draw.
This is the Tigers' second doubles wild card in the Memphis Open. As college seniors in 2014, they received a wild card from tournament officials, but drew the top-ranked doubles team in the world in the opening round, facing Bob and Mike Bryan. With the benefit of a home crowd though, the then-collegiate seniors pushed the top seeds, falling 6-3, 6-4, driving home the thoughts of attempting a pro career after their runs in the Memphis blue and gray ended in the NCAA Doubles Championship.
"Obviously, we are very excited to come back to Memphis and play," Salisbury said. "Partly because we will have great support playing in front of our friends and Memphis fans, but also because it is a big tournament and a great opportunity to improve our rankings."
Chasing those rankings has put the two former Tigers on paths travelling the world, sometimes together, sometimes not.
The tandem won three Futures titles together in 2014 after their college graduation, with just half a season as pros, and having no points to defend each week. O'Hare also teamed with fellow Irishmen James Cluskey and Sam Barry to win a pair of additional titles in 2014. The Cluskey pairing was a repeat of O'Hare's Davis Cup experience from his senior year at Memphis and set up an eventual partnership between the two Irish doubles specialists, competing at Challenger events and building O'Hare's ATP doubles ranking to a career-best 209.
With Cluskey retiring in November of last year, O'Hare and Salisbury reunited in the same city where they last played college team tennis – Champaign, Illinois. With college coach Paul Goebel making the drive up to cheer on the duo, this time playing as professionals, the former Tigers grabbed their first career Challenger title, defeating the team of Austin Krajicek and Nicholas Monroe, 6-1, 6-4 in the finals. That bump in points made future Challenger entries a bit easier to come by. Then came word of an opportunity in Memphis in December for a wild card entry into the Memphis Open.
"Once we heard that the wild card was up for grabs through the tournament over Christmas, it was a no brainer to head back to Memphis to play as we were due to play in Los Angeles the following week already," O'Hare said.
"We came to LA for the two futures because our coach was there with another guy we train with. Then we went to Maui and Dallas (for Challenger events) since we were staying in the States until the Memphis event. After Memphis, we will be mostly back in Europe," Salisbury said.
The second future in Los Angeles worked out for the Tigers, as they claimed the title. But when they head back to Europe, it could again be on different schedules.
"We have played mostly Challengers (Maui, Dallas) this year, which is great for us wanting to jump up the ladder for doubles, but for Joe, with singles, it's harder," O'Hare said. "In the coming months, he will most likely have to play some Futures events, where I might still go and play more Challengers. I would much rather travel with Joe and play, but I may have to play with other people from time to time."
Salisbury is currently ranked 644 in the singles standings. At last week's ATP Challenger event in Dallas, the lowest ranking player in the singles main draw was #185 ranked Daniel Evans with Salisbury's then-646 ranking making him the 49th alternate. The lowest rated singles player in this weekend's qualifying draw for the Memphis Open is No. 173 ranked Somdev Devvarman. And Salisbury now has points to defend as he's had over a full year on tour now, which means some time back on the Futures circuit.
"Our schedule is tough because I am also wanting to do well in singles, so I have been, and will be, playing a lot of Futures for my singles, even though for our doubles, it's best to play Challengers," Salisbury said.
Salisbury (ATP 225) won his first career Futures singles title in Sweden last year and, as of this week, is two spots above O'Hare (ATP 227) in the doubles rankings. But before the duo finds the hard court part of their European tour, and the grass circuit for Salisbury's singles, O'Hare will again suit up for Ireland and play in the first round tie against Estonia, Mar. 2-5 in Tallin. It will be the O'Hare's third appearance in the Davis Cup doubles for Ireland, but to get in the team spirit, he and Salisbury travelled to Nashville on Thursday to watch their former college team take on Vanderbilt, the number 27 ranked collegiate team in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) rankings. There, they cheered a team of mostly sophomores and freshmen to a 5-2 road win before coming back west on I-40 to start a winning run of their own.
This is the Tigers' second doubles wild card in the Memphis Open. As college seniors in 2014, they received a wild card from tournament officials, but drew the top-ranked doubles team in the world in the opening round, facing Bob and Mike Bryan. With the benefit of a home crowd though, the then-collegiate seniors pushed the top seeds, falling 6-3, 6-4, driving home the thoughts of attempting a pro career after their runs in the Memphis blue and gray ended in the NCAA Doubles Championship.
"Obviously, we are very excited to come back to Memphis and play," Salisbury said. "Partly because we will have great support playing in front of our friends and Memphis fans, but also because it is a big tournament and a great opportunity to improve our rankings."
Chasing those rankings has put the two former Tigers on paths travelling the world, sometimes together, sometimes not.
The tandem won three Futures titles together in 2014 after their college graduation, with just half a season as pros, and having no points to defend each week. O'Hare also teamed with fellow Irishmen James Cluskey and Sam Barry to win a pair of additional titles in 2014. The Cluskey pairing was a repeat of O'Hare's Davis Cup experience from his senior year at Memphis and set up an eventual partnership between the two Irish doubles specialists, competing at Challenger events and building O'Hare's ATP doubles ranking to a career-best 209.
With Cluskey retiring in November of last year, O'Hare and Salisbury reunited in the same city where they last played college team tennis – Champaign, Illinois. With college coach Paul Goebel making the drive up to cheer on the duo, this time playing as professionals, the former Tigers grabbed their first career Challenger title, defeating the team of Austin Krajicek and Nicholas Monroe, 6-1, 6-4 in the finals. That bump in points made future Challenger entries a bit easier to come by. Then came word of an opportunity in Memphis in December for a wild card entry into the Memphis Open.
"Once we heard that the wild card was up for grabs through the tournament over Christmas, it was a no brainer to head back to Memphis to play as we were due to play in Los Angeles the following week already," O'Hare said.
"We came to LA for the two futures because our coach was there with another guy we train with. Then we went to Maui and Dallas (for Challenger events) since we were staying in the States until the Memphis event. After Memphis, we will be mostly back in Europe," Salisbury said.
The second future in Los Angeles worked out for the Tigers, as they claimed the title. But when they head back to Europe, it could again be on different schedules.
"We have played mostly Challengers (Maui, Dallas) this year, which is great for us wanting to jump up the ladder for doubles, but for Joe, with singles, it's harder," O'Hare said. "In the coming months, he will most likely have to play some Futures events, where I might still go and play more Challengers. I would much rather travel with Joe and play, but I may have to play with other people from time to time."
Salisbury is currently ranked 644 in the singles standings. At last week's ATP Challenger event in Dallas, the lowest ranking player in the singles main draw was #185 ranked Daniel Evans with Salisbury's then-646 ranking making him the 49th alternate. The lowest rated singles player in this weekend's qualifying draw for the Memphis Open is No. 173 ranked Somdev Devvarman. And Salisbury now has points to defend as he's had over a full year on tour now, which means some time back on the Futures circuit.
"Our schedule is tough because I am also wanting to do well in singles, so I have been, and will be, playing a lot of Futures for my singles, even though for our doubles, it's best to play Challengers," Salisbury said.
Salisbury (ATP 225) won his first career Futures singles title in Sweden last year and, as of this week, is two spots above O'Hare (ATP 227) in the doubles rankings. But before the duo finds the hard court part of their European tour, and the grass circuit for Salisbury's singles, O'Hare will again suit up for Ireland and play in the first round tie against Estonia, Mar. 2-5 in Tallin. It will be the O'Hare's third appearance in the Davis Cup doubles for Ireland, but to get in the team spirit, he and Salisbury travelled to Nashville on Thursday to watch their former college team take on Vanderbilt, the number 27 ranked collegiate team in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) rankings. There, they cheered a team of mostly sophomores and freshmen to a 5-2 road win before coming back west on I-40 to start a winning run of their own.
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