TYSON EVANS/Daily Bruin Men’s tennis captain Erfan
Djahangiri will try to lead UCLA to the NCAA title.
By Greg Schain
Daily Bruin Reporter
[email protected]
Team captains are supposed to be strong-willed, motivated and
hungry to win.
They are supposed to have a team-first attitude, should be
superb leaders and need to get along with everyone on their
team.
Most of all, a team captain should be a role model for other
players to follow, both on and off the court.
Erfan Djahangiri, the junior captain of the UCLA men’s
tennis team, has all of those qualities and more.
“Erfan is a great leader for us,” head coach Billy
Martin said. “He is always calm and willing to listen and
talk to his teammates. And he is our best
student-athlete.”
Djahangiri’s ride to playing big-time college tennis
wasn’t easy, or short, for that matter. It has been
circuitous, taking him through three countries and, for all
practical purposes, two different worlds.
Born in Iran in 1979, Djahangiri’s family left when he was
two in order to escape the Iranian Revolution.
“We were supposed to stop in Switzerland for six months
and then come and live in the United States,” he said.
“But my parents loved Switzerland so much, we decided to stay
there.”
Growing up in Switzerland, he decided to take advantage of an
opportunity that many Europeans do. That is, use athletics as a
means of getting into college in the United States.
“He was in California visiting a cousin,” Martin
said. “And he called me up because he wanted to talk to me
about school. To be honest, I had no idea who he was.”
But Djahangiri soon impressed Martin with his tennis skills,
maturity and worldliness.
In fact, the business economics student is fluent in four
languages ““ Persian, English, German and French.
“All I need is Spanish, and I’m all set,” he
said with a laugh.
Djahangiri’s easy-going manner has been a vital character
trait since Sept. 11. Because of his physical appearance, he has
been given extra attention at airports when the team travels.
“The guys razz him when we go through airports because he
looks the part,” Martin said. “But he’s
good-natured, because we laugh at him and he laughs with
us.”
Teammate Tobias Clemens agrees. He says Djahangiri’s
laid-back attitude makes him a popular figure on the team.
“Everyone likes him, and I have a special relationship
with him because he speaks my language,” Clemens, a native
German speaker, said. “But if we were tied three all in a
match, we all want to see Erfan out there because he is a great
fighter.”
Looking back, Martin now knows he made the right decision by
taking Djahangiri on the team. In his freshman year, he recorded an
impressive 28-3 singles record, playing at No. 5 and No. 6 singles,
and he won the Pac-10 Invitational singles title.
In his sophomore year, Djahangiri went 31-10, the only 30-match
winner on the team.
Heading into the NCAA championships this year, Djahangiri is
23-13. Before losing a three-set match to Wayne Wong of Cal on
April 5, he had never lost a home match in his UCLA career.
“I hadn’t really thought about the streak until the
middle of this year,” he said. “I said to myself that
since I had gone two and a half years, why can’t I go all
four? But I knew I would lose eventually.”
The loss didn’t change the weight Martin puts on
Djahangiri’s importance to the team. Knowing that he can bank
on Djahangiri for wins has propelled Martin’s team to top-5
rankings in each of the past three years.
“He is our Rock of Gibraltar ““ both through his
leadership and his tennis,” Martin said.