Long road to success

For four years, Christoph Palmanshofer gave everything he had to the Washington tennis program. He practiced every day, attended classes and played hard on every point. In less than two months, his four-year journey will come to an end as he closes out his senior season. "It's tough," he said. "I thought about it a lot at the beginning of the year and what it was going to be like at the end of the year, but I'm still kind of in denial about the whole thing. I still think I can come back next year." Since coming back is not an option, Palmanshofer has been making the most of his final year in purple and gold. As a veteran presence playing mostly at the No. 2 and No. 3 singles spots, Palmanshofer has collected a team-leading 15-5 record in dual play this season and is ranked as No. 57 in the nation. While rankings mean winning championships and helping his team, Palmanshofer does see the significance in them. "It means something to me because it's a reward you get for being consistent all year long," he said. "I was in the rankings all year, so that shows that I did my job well the last couple months." Washington coach Matt Anger attributes Palmanshofer's success to the development of his tennis game during his years at the UW. "I think that he has been able to become a complete player," Anger said. "He used to just rely on his forehand, and now he is able to attack in some ways with his forehand and different ways with his backhand, and he can put pressure on guys by coming into the net. It's more of a complete package is what it is." Palmanshofer credits much of his success this year to the experience he has gained by being a senior. "I don't think I'm doing anything a lot differently than the last three years," he said. "I've focused a lot on being consistent and being in shape, and if you have been around for three years, you know what the places are like that you're going to go to and you know what the conditions will be like. I think that is one of the reasons why I am having my best season in my last year." Palmanshofer hails originally from Austria, and during his four years at Washington has had to adjust to a new language, culture and a different brand of tennis than he was used to back home. In Austria, tennis is played mostly on clay courts as opposed to the hard courts played on in the United States. "Clay courts are a lot slower, the points last longer and it takes a lot more out of you," he said. "Here it is a lot faster so I had to adjust to that, but I think that fits my game really well right away because I love to attack." Anger said Palmanshofer's game has developed even more because of the hard courts. "The fact that his game is that much more well-rounded and he comes in more than he used to, I think that it suits the hard courts more today than it did a few years ago," he said. The transition from Austria to the United States was made much easier by the presence of another freshman from his home country, Pete Scharler. "He was from pretty close to where I live," Palmanshofer said. "I had someone who spoke my language, so that always helps a little when you are uncomfortable." When he came in as a freshman, Palmanshofer was not able to arrive at the UW until January. At that point, he had little more than two weeks to prepare before the season started. During his freshman campaign he held a 12-10 singles record, mostly at the No. 3 and No. 4 spots. "If I could do it all over again I would have tried to get here in the fall," he said. "I think that the three months in the fall prepare you, with all of the conditioning you do and getting to know your teammates. By the time I played my first match, I still had trouble with some of the guys' last names." He was a steady force for the Huskies during his sophomore and junior seasons. He won 34 singles matches during that span and made it to No. 61 in the rankings during his third season. At the end of last year, Anger said Palmanshofer's performance began to match this year's. He won four of his last five matches and upset Stanford's 40th-ranked K.C. Corkery in the Pac-10 championships. "I think that he really started to turn a corner at the end of the year last year," Anger said. "He had been doing fine before that, but at the end of the year last year he played really well in his last matches, he has just been able to carry that through and build on it this year." Majoring in sociology, Palmanshofer has one goal once he graduates from the UW after two extra quarters next year. "I want to play professionally for a little bit. I don't know how I'm going to finance that, but hopefully in the next half-year or so something is going to work out for me," he said. "So many people play in high school and play in college and then they stop and get a job somewhere else. I can't see myself walking away from the game of tennis quite yet." He's not looking at that future quite yet, with the most important part of the tennis schedule left to go. With a win over Oregon this weekend, the UW could clinch at least a share in its first Pac-10 title in the history of the men's tennis program. "Sharing the first place would be huge for us," he said. "It's something we didn't even talk about at the beginning of the year, and we have this chance and we need to make sure we take advantage of it."

Long road to success

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