One of the goals Romain Bocaert set for himself when he started his career at the University of South Alabama was to make it to the NCAA Division I Men’s Tennis Championship. He and partner Lucas Viel did just that for doubles. But for Bocaert, that is not enough.

He wants another chance at the NCAA tournament, and this time as an individual. In addition to this goal, he also has a few others that he wants to accomplish.

“I’ve wanted to play in the NCAA tournament at least once,” said Bocaert. “I went for doubles, but I also want to go for singles. I still have one more year though. I wanted to get ranked in the top 125 in singles, which I did, but not for long. Hopefully I can do that in the spring.”

Bocaert wants a good ending to his final chapter at South Alabama, and achieving these goals are exactly what he’s looking for.

“Accomplishing his goals, leaving as a conference champion as a senior, team captain and No. 1 player will be a great final chapter for his college career,” said USA head coach Nick Brochu.

While in high school, Bocaert trained at an academy in south France away from his home in Lille. He was then recruited and chose South Alabama over other schools including Drake and Mississippi State.

“I didn’t know anything about college,” said Bocaert. “I didn’t even know any of the university’s names. There is an agency in France that helps tennis players, so I went through them and that’s how I met Nick. I didn’t know more than ‘yes’ or ‘no’ in English and he speaks French, which it made it a lot easier to communicate with him. He sent me some information about the school and pictures, and that’s why I decided to come to South.”

“The advantage I had over some of the other coaches is that I do speak French,” said Brochu, a native of Quebec, Canada. “So when I first got in touch with some French coaches it was definitely easier for me to get all the information and really get to know the coaches, players and parents. It was very easy to communicate because some of the student-athlete’s parents didn’t speak English, so I guess they felt a little more comfortable dealing with me rather than some of the other coaches.”

Brochu also recruited another French player, which made Bocaert’s transition from the French culture to the American culture a little easier. The two were roommates and shared the adaptation.

Coming in as a freshman Bocaert didn’t know the English language and had a hard time understanding his teammates, which made his first semester a little tough.  “It’s never easy to leave home,” he said. “But the year before I came here I was already far away from home. It’s not easy to come to a new country, especially when you don’t know the language.”

Bocaert persevered through the hardships and had a 13-7 overall record his freshman year. He defeated three opponents from ranked teams, despite being pressed into a higher position in the lineup due to injuries.

“Romain as a freshman was very shy, but very talented,” said Brochu. “We always knew that. I would say mentally he was a little shaky. If everything went well he could beat anyone in the country, but if a couple of things went wrong it was all downhill from there. When he came in as a freshman, our No. 1 that year tore his ACL so he was out for the season. Therefore, early in his college career Romain was put in a higher, tougher position. It was hard for him, but because of that he learned so much more. He learned how to handle the pressure and how to play on the big courts against the big opponents.”

His sophomore year, Bocaert improved his game, going 18-9 overall while recording the team’s top overall win percentage. On April 7, 2010 he won the first of his two career Sun Belt Player-of-the-Week awards after going 2-0 in singles at the Sun Belt Shootout.

“I was surprised to have won the award,” said Bocaert. “There are a lot of really good players in the conference.”
“Romain had an unbelievable sophomore year,” said Brochu. “He played No. 1 as a sophomore and was almost unbeatable, especially in the conference.”

The fall of his junior year is when Bocaert first attempted playing doubles with Viel. The two advanced to the third qualifying round of the ITA All-American Championships and the quarterfinals of the USTA/ITA Southern Regional Championships.

“Nick decided to make Lucas and me play together for the fall,” said Bocaert. “We had pretty good results starting off at the All-Americans. Then we got a ranking at the end of the fall season and that’s when we first thought about the NCAA tournament. After that, Nick decided to make us play together for the rest of the season.”

“The way Romain and Lucas really bonded at the All-Americans in the fall of 2010 was incredible,” said Brochu. “It was the first time the two had played together. I put them together because they were both in the All-American championships in singles and we were looking for a doubles team. I thought it could work out simply because they both spoke French and were very good players individually. We played some unbelievable teams that fall, and those two guys kept on motivating and pushing themselves and supporting each other.

“Putting them together was a big gamble, but it paid off tremendously.”

Bocaert and Viel rounded out their spring campaign ranked 39th nationally and No. 4 in the Southern Region. Their national ranking was enough to earn a berth in the NCAA Men’s Tennis Doubles Championships.

The pair arrived a day early and got a chance to see the finals of the team competition. This was a moment Bocaert said has stuck with him ever since.

“We got to the tournament a little early,” said Bocaert. “We saw the final day of the team championships, and it was impressive to see the atmosphere. That was definitely something I wanted for my team.”

“Watching the team finals really inspired him,” said Brochu.

Bocaert and Viel were matched up against a team from Florida State in the first round of the tournament. Ultimately, the 13th-ranked Seminoles duo proved to be too much and they outlasted Bocaert and Viel 6-4, 6-4 in a back-and-forth match.

 “If I could go back there isn’t anything I would change or do differently,” said Bocaert. “First, to get to the NCAA tournament we had some pretty insane games and very close ones that came down to match points. We didn’t play that great, we lost. I think we could have done better and that was pretty tough.  It will be tough no matter who you play. Of course I want to go back and get one or more wins this year.”

“I think he learned that going to the nationals, which was his first time, was great,” said Brochu. “He really enjoyed it, but now he wants a little bit more. Getting to nationals isn’t his ultimate goal though, he wants to get to nationals and get past a few rounds. I think it opened his eyes and gave him additional goals.”

To help Bocaert achieve these goals, he and Brochu made some off-season changes, not only for Bocaert but for the team as a whole.

“We did a lot more conditioning and making sure the guys are extremely fit,” said Brochu. “I believe this fall we didn’t lose a match because we got tired. I haven’t seen one guy walk off the court telling me that he was out of juice. This off-season, especially this fall, we’ve been working on getting healthy and strong. We have a new strength and conditioning coach who is really pushing the guys and getting them stronger.”

Fitness is not the only change Brochu has seen in Bocaert since the NCAA tournament. Leadership is a quality that Bocaert has been starting to show.

“We’re starting to see a real senior who is a captain of the team,” said Brochu. “He wants to win conference and make it back to the NCAA tournament before he graduates, which is definitely a characteristic of a senior and mature player. He really wants to compete and wants to win. I think he is going to translate this to the new players. He’s doing much better helping and taking care of the freshmen.

“Now he’s really looking at it as a team because he knows he can’t carry the team himself.”

Bocaert knows what he has to do this season to make it back to the NCAA tournament and is willing to give it everything he has for that chance.

“That’s the kind of tournament that you see all the good players,” said Bocaert. “You can tell the difference between tournaments where the whole team comes and when only the top players come. It is more professional, almost like it’s a better level. I’m going to have to beat great players and have some great wins at the No. 1 flight. I also need to make sure to take care of the games that I’m not supposed to lose.”

“Last year he got a taste of the NCAA tournament as a doubles team, and they also played the singles championship at the same site,” said Brochu. “He was able to see all the singles players and he definitely could see himself in that group. We talked about what he needs to do to get a ranking, which is very simple. He already got one or two key wins this fall, now he just needs to maintain that level of play and make sure he doesn’t lose to any players that are below him. If he does that he will achieve a ranking of top 50 in the nation that will qualify him for the national championship.”

Bocaert can guarantee himself and the team a spot at the NCAA tournament if he can lead the Jaguars to a Sun Belt Conference championship. After losing in the finals last year, he is determined not to repeat it.

“We were so good last year, I don’t want to see that happen again,” said Bocaert. “We lost Lucas, but we have some new freshmen that are very involved in the team and I think we are overall a better, stronger team with more depth. Hopefully we can win the championship. And this is my last year, so I would like to get a ring before I leave.”

“I’m excited to see how he and the guys are going to respond to losing last year,” said Brochu. “I think Romain is going to be a great leader. He’s a senior and I think he now understands not only that it’s his last year, but that leaving the team as a conference champion is priceless.”

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