Michigan State tennis freshman Ozan Baris says US Open title 'just the beginning'
EAST LANSING – In the hours after Ozan Baris tasted victory in the U.S. Open junior boys doubles final Saturday, he posed for countless pictures with his championship trophy. Carried it everywhere — as one does after winning such a prestigious event. But Baris, adrenaline still pulsing through him, might have been too eager.
Setting down the trophy, he didn't secure it well enough. The next thing he knew, he heard a cracking sound. The top of the vase-shaped trophy tumbled off its base.
Though he's tried to glue it back together, his hope is that the United States Tennis Association, which ran the event, can ship him a replacement in the near future.
"You live and learn," he said.
It was one of the few mistakes Baris, an Okemos native and Michigan State freshman, made during his time in New York City. Along with doubles partner Nishesh Basavareddy, the pair dominated the championship match of the Grand Slam event, dispatching Dylan Dietrich and Juan Carlos Prado Angelo, 6-1, 6-1, in just 41 minutes.
Baris was less focused on the score and more on the the victory, though.
"You always want to win the match 6-0, 6-0 right? " he said. "That's as best as you can do. You want to win every point, but I'm not really picky. I mean, you can win matches 7-6 in the third every time and you're still going to be the champion if you win it."
Baris and Basavareddy dropped just one set over the course of five matches. They lost the opening set of their second-round match, 7-5, to Great Britain's Patrick Brady and William Jansen. Baris and Basavareddy then ripped off eight consecutive sets en route to the championship. The pair entered the tournament seeded eighth, but they upended higher-ranked teams along the way, including the third-seeded tandem of Martin Landaluce and Pedro Rodenas in the quarterfinals, then the second-seeded pair of Gonzalo Bueno and Ignacio Buse in the semis — winning the first set of that match 6-0.
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"They're great players, (Baris) and his partner," said Michigan State tennis coach Harry Jadun, who was in the Big Apple with his star freshman early in the week until returning to East Lansing on Sept. 7. "They played really well together and got really hot and they finished a long week in New York City really, really strong."
So strong, it's hard to believe Baris and Basavareddy hadn't played together before. The two had played against each other in singles, but this time, Basavareddy wanted to team up — which Baris happily agreed to, noting his partner routinely "crushed me" in singles play at junior tournaments. Baris estimated he only beat Basavareddy once in head-to-head meetings.
He's just thankful Basavareddy reached out about doubles at the Open, since Baris admitted he doesn't give as much thought to potential partners as he probably should.
"I was just focused on the singles, to be honest," he said. "But then when he reached out, I was like, 'It's gonna be a good team.' "
It ended up being the best.
Baris acknowledged part of the reason for his success in doubles was frustration with his singles performance: He bowed out in the second round.
"I was thinking, 'Wow, that was just my last junior singles point,' because I'm not playing any more junior tournaments," Baris said. "So I was like, 'Man, I want to end on a winning point, not losing a point.' So I kind of had that mentality for doubles, and we were able to win the whole thing, which was a nice way to go out."
Now, he's shifted his attention to Michigan State. He'll make his college debut Friday, as he travels to Lexington, Kentucky, to compete in the Wildcat Invite. It's the next chapter for a career that holds great promise. Moving from the junior ranks to college was one recent change.
Another was his name.
He formerly went by Ozan Colak. Now, he goes by Ozan Baris — the latter being his middle name.
"I felt that my old name didn't resonate with me as well," he said, "and wanted to create a new legacy."
He arrived back in East Lansing at 3:45 a.m. Monday with a sterling piece of his still-burgeoning resume in tow: his U.S. Open title. By Sunday morning, he said what he had accomplished the day before finally had begun to sink in.
For Jadun, in his first year as coach of MSU's program, it's still hard to wrap his mind around.
"I've never coached somebody at that level before," he said. "It's fun. It's a different challenge. But when you're looking up at other teams and other players, you're always thinking that somebody has some type of recipe or some secret formula. But at the end of the day, you work harder than someone, you compete harder in the moment than someone, you're going to get victories. I think that's what Ozan does really well."
Baris' Open triumph also could pay dividends on the recruiting trail for Jadun. For a program that never has been a powerhouse, Baris' Grand Slam success could make high-profile prospects give the Spartans a second look — the caliber of players who wouldn't have considered MSU in the past.
"You definitely can use this momentum," Jadun said. "It makes the job a little bit easier in terms of getting people on a call. … It's invaluable, and we're lucky enough to have him, because there are not many other coaches who can talk to recruits and say, 'Hey, we have a US Open champion on our team.' "
Yet for all of Baris' immense talent, Jadun said that's not even his best attribute.
"He's a great kid, first and foremost," Jadun said. "He's always the last person to leave our kids clinics that we do with the community, just reaching out, whether it's (former) Coach (Gene) Orlando's wheelchair tennis program, or whatever it is, he's always involved with that stuff. So he understands the value of his platform and how he can impact others."
And he has confidence to burn as he goes forward. Asked if the Open championship only would boost his self-belief, Baris said it merely was "a pat on the back." He's eager to win more. To set his sights higher.
He said he won't stop until he gets there.
"It's great to have (the U.S. Open victory) under my belt, but I'm not really focused on the win at all," Baris said. "I just want to keep working and keep going, because for me, this is just motivation. This isn't the end goal at all. This isn't where I stop. This is just the beginning."
Contact Ryan Black at rblack@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @RyanABlack.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: MSU tennis: After US Open juniors title, freshman Ozan Baris hungry for more
