KEITH ENRIQUEZ/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Sophomore tennis
player Jean-Julien Rojer will play in the Davis
Cup for Netherlands-Antilles, his home country, this month.
By Greg Schain
Daily Bruin Contributor
If you walk by the Los Angeles Tennis Center, you’d see a
player with ground strokes as smooth as silk, a serve as swift as a
speeding arrow and charisma as cool as Michael Jordan’s. His
slender 5-foot-11, 160 pound frame gives him the speed to
intimidate opponents. It also provides a ubiquitous quality to his
game that makes him enjoyable to watch.
This player, sophomore Jean-Julien Rojer, is the talented No. 1
singles player on the UCLA men’s team. He is a rising star on
not just the collegiate level but also on the international stage.
In fact, this month he will have the privilege of competing in the
Davis Cup for his home country, the Netherlands-Antilles.
Life is great for Rojer now, enjoying a career season for the
Bruins. But times were not always this good for the 19-year-old
tennis prodigy. As a young boy growing up on the small island of
Curacao (located in the Caribbean 70 miles north of Venezuela), he
struggled just to find decent playing space.
“(The courts) were not too good,” Rojer said.
“There was grass growing out of the courts. The nets were not
regulation, and there were holes in the nets … it was
terrible.”
But the poor conditions didn’t stop Rojer from falling in
love with tennis. From the time he was six years old, he would take
his Spalding wooden racket and play with his older brother,
Jean-Jamil, who now plays tennis for Ithaca College in New
York.
By the time he was 10, he had to come to the United States to
play because he needed stronger competition.
“Back home, there weren’t too many kids to play
with,” Rojer said.
Rojer’s first big break came at the age of 12, when he met
tennis coach Robert Gomez. For five years, Gomez coached him and
mentored him during his crucial years of development.
“He taught me everything. He gave me my strokes,”
Rojer recalled.
Eventually, Rojer moved in with Gomez so that he could practice
tennis full-time while attending middle school and high school.
Rojer lived in Boca Raton, Florida during his teenage years. He
travelled both domestically and internationally to play in
tournaments.
He was drawn to UCLA by Jason Sher, the Bruins’ assistant
coach. Rojer worked with Sher at the Evert Tennis Academy in
Florida.
“He was one of the top junior players (in the
world),” Sher said.
In fact, Rojer was ranked as high as No. 12 in the world at the
age of 17. He played in major junior tennis tournaments, such as
the U.S. Open, French Open and Wimbledon.
Sher left Florida to work at UCLA at the same time that Rojer
was searching for the right college.
“(Sher) came here so I followed him here when he recruited
me,” he said.
Rojer had never been to Los Angeles as a teenager and he knew
virtually nothing about the west coast.
“The only school I applied to out here in the west was
UCLA,” Rojer said.
Rojer had a great first year at UCLA, compiling a 27-4 record,
playing mostly third and fourth singles. But off the court, he
struggled trying to get used to his new surroundings.
“When I first got here, I didn’t like it,”
Rojer said.
Rojer attributes his initial unhappiness to the fact that he
didn’t leave Westwood and explore the the city of Los
Angeles.
“I stayed pretty much on campus (my freshman year),”
he remembered.
But this year, Rojer realized that he should savor his college
years rather than be a one-dimensional person. He is making more
friends and has gone to Santa Monica and other L.A.
attractions.
“I am moving around a lot more and having more fun with
it. I realized I was gonna stay here another year anyway so I might
as well start liking it.”
Rojer is also having a great season on the court. He won the
singles draw in the Sherwood Collegiate Cup in January, which
earned him the first singles spot on the team. So far, he is 2-1 in
dual match play for the year.
“He’s really stepped it up a notch or two (this
year),” head coach Billy Martin said. “He has a lot
more maturity.”
Despite his maturity on the court, Rojer has a childlike charm
that makes him popular with his teammates.
“He’s a very foot-loose, fancy-free kind of guy, and
it keeps the rest of us laughing and loose,” Martin said.
This week, he will travel to Costa Rica to play in the
International Davis Cup tournament.
Rojer relishes the opportunity to represent the
Netherlands-Antilles in the Davis Cup, which he is doing for the
second straight year.
“There is just something about playing for your country
(that’s special),” he said. “You get people
screaming with drums, trumpets and flags. And people yelling out
personal things to you. It’s just great. I love
it.”
Coach Martin shares Rojer’s enthusiasm about this unique
opportunity.
“I’m really excited for him,” he said.
“It’s a real high in any tennis players career to get
to play in the Davis Cup.”
Rojer’s long term goal is to succeed on the pro level.
Martin thinks that he has the traits necessary to achieve his
goal.
“He is not afraid of hard work. He is always competitive
and stays very fit,” Martin said.