Blue

In this week’s Hot Seat, John interviews men’s tennis player Billy Hopkins. Billy is a senior on this year’s tennis team.

John Rasp: Why is the tennis scoring system so different and hard to figure out? Billy Hopkins: I’ve asked myself that question many times. I have no idea. I know that it all goes back to the people in Britain. It doesn’t make any sense at all.

JR: Ever clocked your serve? BH: Coach brings a clock in every now and then. It’s kind of embarrassing for me because I don’t have a very big serve. The fastest I’ve ever been clocked at is maybe 107 mph, but it wasn’t close to being in. Nick Herzog, who’s on the team, can hit close to 120 mph.

JR: Which NKU women’s player would give you the toughest match? BH: Clara Dorado or Laura Leutzinger. Laura plays one, so she’s obviously pretty good. I usually see Clara at practice and she’s pretty good. She plays pretty close matches with our No. 6 guy actually.

JR: Which player would most likely throw his racket? BH: Jon Hart.

JR: Which tennis star would you most want to play? BH: Andy Roddick maybe. There is no way that I could return his serve, though. JR: What’s your funniest tennis court moment? BH: Me and Amine were playing at Dayton and they hit a lob. I was running back to get the lob to plop it back over their head. I thought I had good perception to where the fence was but I looked up to see the ball and ran straight into the fence.

JR: Since you play No. 4 singles, which players in front of you could you beat? BH: Oliver (Marinkovic), No. 1 singles, would be hard to beat because he plays just like me but better. Marek (Pawelec) and Nick (Herzog) both hit very big shots but if they are off one day it would be good for me to play them because I hit the ball back pretty consistently.