SCHNUGG ON SCHNUGG Medford, Ore., native continues winning ways on college courts

By Hillary Moore

Nate Schnugg is fearless. He’s not afraid to lose, he’s not afraid of hard work and he’s not afraid to change his game. The only thing that may strike fear into Schnugg is a life away from the tennis court.

At age 18, with two junior Grand Slam doubles titles (Wimbledon with Kellen Damico and US Open with Jamie Hunt) and a USTA/ITA Team Indoor National Championship (as part of the University of Georgia Men’s Tennis team) already under his belt, Schnugg is not content to stay the course. He is focused on what needs to be done to reach the highest level of competition in men’s tennis, the ATP Tour.

Currently, Schnugg is in Athens, Ga., gearing up for this month’s 2007 NCAA Tennis Championships where he and his fellow Bulldogs will be gunning for the NCAA Division I Men’s Tennis title after finishing the regular season undefeated. Below in his own words, Schnugg takes a minute to talk about where he’s been, where he’s going and where he wants to be.

…on his success in 2006: “One of my long-term goals was to win two Grand Slams but honestly I was not expecting to do it. My success really just started at the beginning of last year. I started playing really well with a couple of different partners and everything just started clicking. But I never expected to win Wimbledon AND the US Open.”

…on what makes him a great doubles partner: “My serve and my volleys: my partners don’t really have to worry too much on my serve games so it makes it easier for us to focus on our return games and break the opponent.”

…on Wimbledon: “Wimbledon is my favorite tournament. Wimbledon is Wimbledon…it’s history. I mean just being on the grounds, walking on the courts is really special. Playing in the final (Kellen and I) got to play on court No. 1 and there were 10,000 people watching us. It was definitely my best tennis moment.”

…on his role models: “My two biggest role models are my brother and my dad. I really respect both of them. My brother (Scott) helped me a lot with my tennis game and my dad helped me a lot with showing me what discipline means. That really helped me off the court which in turn helped me on the court.”

…on becoming a Georgia Bulldog: “It was really an easy decision for me. I kind of grew up with (University of Georgia) being a perennial powerhouse in tennis. It was the place you wanted to go if you were a good junior tennis player.

I took my recruiting trip and I honestly got goose bumps when I stepped on campus. I took a look around and it reminded me a lot of home and I definitely got the feeling that I could spend the next four years of my life there.”

…on the transition from junior tennis to college tennis: “I’ve been playing in a lot of professional tournaments over the last couple of months so I know that the level is pretty much the same between Futures (entry-level pro tournaments) and college tennis. I feel like my game is ready for college tennis. I’m really excited to be part of the team and I really like the guys. They’re really good players and they’re good people.”

…on his ultimate goal: “I’ve never really worried about the different levels of tennis. I’ve never really worried about having success at national junior or international junior tournaments. I’m not really worried about having success in college. But I will feel like everything else in my tennis career was a waste if I’m not successful in the pros. That’s what I’m practicing for and that’s the most important thing in my career.

My ultimate goal is to be top 100 in singles and top 50 in doubles ATP Tour rankings. That’s really the only thing I’m worried about. My junior career has been fun and I’ve definitely gotten a lot better so it’s helped me to achieve my ATP goal. But really if I did nothing with tennis after this I would be really disappointed with myself.”