Mac Gifford’s got a story to tell.

Actually, he has lots of them, but this one has an important point.

Once upon a time, Gifford, the Syracuse tennis coach, met the high school coach of a prized recruit at a tournament in San Diego. A conversation, an e-mail exchange and a few phone calls later, Gifford bristled with excitement at the possibility of landing the Californian phenom in his lineup.

Then one day the phone rang. Gifford didn’t answer, but his machine did. He pushed the play button and listened as his dreams of having the Californian compete at Drumlins Tennis Center evaporated.

Said Gifford: “The message is: ‘Um, Mac… um… ah… I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but I was just talking to somebody, and they told me that it gets below 32 degrees in Syracuse, and I really need a warmer climate.’ I thought, ‘Thirty-two degrees? That’s a good day.’ “

But this day was a bad day for Gifford. Another American-born tennis player slipped away.

Who can blame her? Tennis being an outdoor sport, most players choose warm-weather schools, leaving Syracuse and other northern universities to turn abroad to stock their tennis programs. SU’s roster includes four international players this season.

And all four contribute. Russian Masha Kabanova and Czech Daniela Kaluskova have played No. 1 singles at times this season. Norwegian Kristine Holte has moved around the middle of the lineup, and Marion Charlier, from Morocco, has played No. 6 singles at times.

“When I go out and recruit, I recruit heavily for American players,” Gifford said. “I make three to four trips a year going after American players. How many times are you going to take no for an answer for various reasons?”

Actually, Gifford takes “no” more than 20 times a year. The third-year head coach said he sets his sights on about 25 American-born players each year. He can offer two players, international or American, scholarships.

Adding to Gifford’s woes, tennis players tend to be good students and often choose schools with traditionally strong academic programs. Look at some of the top tennis schools in the East — Notre Dame, William and Mary, Brown, Princeton, Harvard, Penn. With the exception of Notre Dame, these schools have a greater national reputation for high academic standards than for competitive athletics.

William and Mary, for example, has only two international players, one from Sweden and one from Belgium. But head coach Brian Kalbas denies that academics contribute to his team having mostly American players.

“It can go both ways,” Kalbas said. “We can attract people who are looking to get a good education. But if they’re looking to be a good tennis player, they won’t have as much time to spend on their academics. It’s more of a difference in recruiting philosophies.”

Another top tennis school, Miami, may not have the academic standards of an Ivy League school, but the warm Florida sun almost always wins out over the blistering-cold Syracuse winters.

“It has just gotten to the point where I have to sell the school,” Gifford said. “When I go after people, I’ve got to get a feel for them. Are they into school? Are they into weather? You just have to get a feel for somebody.”

The dilemma

Now coaches face pressure from two sides — parents and athletic directors. On the one hand are the ADs who demand winning seasons, and on the other side are angry American parents pressuring the NCAA to get more tennis scholarships for their kids.

But because the talent pool of U.S. tennis players runs only so deep, tennis coaches have no choice but to offer scholarships to students abroad to keep their programs afloat.

“Imagine the predicament of Alabama-Birmingham, or some place like that,” Gifford said. “It’s not a prestigious school. It’s not a destination school. And then the athletic director says you have to have a winning record. What are you going to do?”

Gifford, for one, recruits international players and with four he leads the Big East. The NCAA claims to have no problem with Syracuse or any other school giving all of its scholarships to international players.

“The NCAA does not and can not decide for the schools who those scholarships go to individually,” said Loronica Conway, an NCAA spokeswoman. “The only thing the NCAA does is place limits on the number of scholarships an institution can give out, among other things.

“If a coach prefers to recruit a foreign athlete, he or she need only obey or abide by the rules governing foreign student athletes. The NCAA has no reference.”

Coming over

And you thought Syracuse was cold?

Kabanova, a junior, grew up in Moscow and knows winter weather as well as any Central New Yorker. But while the two climates may be similar, it’s hard to imagine how someone raised in Moscow ends up playing tennis at Syracuse.

Kabanova applied to Syracuse “for the heck of it,” and after impressing Gifford and former head coach Jesse Dwire at a tournament in Florida, she was accepted. She decided she wanted to experience American culture and learn English, so she committed.

Had she stayed in Russia, it’s likely Kabanova’s tennis career would have ended three years ago. In Russia, tennis players face a difficult decision at a young age. Students in only fourth or fifth grade leave school and train to become professional tennis players, Kabanova said.

Not wanting to give up either her studies or tennis, Kabanova stayed in school while playing tennis through her second year of high school. After two years of four- and five-hour court sessions, training and class, she dropped the sport she loved.

“Usually the practices are in the morning, and that’s when you have to go to high school, so it’s either, or,” Kabanova said. “For me it was kind of hard. That’s kind of why I had to quit the last few years of high school. That’s another reason why I came to Syracuse. I could do both.”

One thing Kabanova probably cannot do anymore is join the professional tour. But that’s quite all right with her.

“It’s kind of late now,” Kabanova said. “Maybe I wanted to like a year or two ago. But it’s too tough. They are way too good.”

International flavor

It definitely was not a typical Thanksgiving dinner at sophomore Alexa Konstand’s house.

To celebrate the American holiday, Konstand brought Kabanova, Holte and Shervin Saedinia (a Russian, Norwegian and Californian, respectively) to her Ohio home. Not surprisingly, the dinner-table conversation moved beyond tennis.

“We just talked about ourselves and where we all came from,” Konstand said. “We’re all so different, and our beginnings are all so different. Ohio is a little different than where they’re all from. But it was really cool. They really appreciated where I came from. One day I hope I can go see them where they live.”

But Konstand need not travel abroad to learn a portion of their languages. Holte has taught Konstand some Swedish. Kabanova speaks Russian, but she only uses it when she’s “pretty upset,” Konstand said.

The Orangewomen on the whole may not understand Kabanova’s language, but they have gained a greater understanding of the world through her and other international teammates.

“If you spend time around this team, you see it’s so international,” Gifford said. “It’s so fascinating to be discussing: What does a rooster say in Russia? How do you say this in your country? What’s this all about in your country? Do you have Groundhog Day in Russia?

“What you do get is a lot of animus.”

Published on February 19, 2002 at 12:00 pm