Rising Atp Pro and former OSU All American Blaz Rola was interviewed by tennis blogger Colette Lewis on Tennis recruiting site.
http://www.tennisrecruiting.net/article.asp?id=2080&sessionid=1D17EE3C4DACFA71
I especially appreciated these quotes about the college experience.
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CL: Are you traveling by yourself?
BR: Yes, I came to the US four, maybe five, weeks ago and was training in Columbus, at Ohio State. It's also very nice to go back, always good memories. So I trained there with Ty [Tucker, Ohio State head coach]. David [Kass], he's my manager, he's helping me a lot with scheduling, doing everything for me, picking out tournaments, guiding me the right way, with where I have to play, what I have to play. Without him, I'm just hitting tennis balls and without him, I would not be as quickly where I am right now. So a lot of thanks to him. ...
CL: Have you graduated from Ohio State?
BR: No, I went two and a half years - I took a fall off before my last year, so I probably have a year and a half left, probably three semesters. Ohio State gave me an option to come back whenever I want to finish, it's called degree of completion I think, which is a great program. I definitely want to come back and finish school; I didn't study two and a half years [in international business] for nothing. I don't want to waste that. But right now, I'm focusing on tennis.
CL: Do you still keep in touch with the program?
BR: Yes, I had such a good relationship with Ty and everyone on the team. They still follow me when I play all my matches. If they can, they watch my matches and they still give me advice. Ty's still coaching me when I get back to Columbus. They've been such a big part of my tennis and life in general, it's my second home. Every time I land at the airport going back to Columbus, I get a smile on my face. I love to go back, keep in touch with the team, and that is something that you miss on the tour. It's individual, it's not team and that's something that I definitely miss.
You can say you get pretty spoiled in college; you have trainers, you have courts, you have facilities, you have coaches, you have everything you need to get better and focus on just playing tennis, nothing else. Here you have so many other things that you have to pay attention to. But I like what I'm doing, I like everything that comes with tennis, and I wouldn't change a thing."