By pete ruden
It took fewer than two years for Iowa men’s tennis junior Josh Silverstein to accomplish what he had wanted to since getting to Iowa City.
At the end of his sophomore season, Silverstein reached a goal of becoming the team’s No. 1 player.
“When I came to the University of Iowa, I knew that there was a chance that I could reach that goal,” he said. “Every single day, I’d work hard to be on top and then to stay on top. And that improves my game. Being competitive every single day, you’re just going to get better and better. You can’t have any off days.”
Silverstein started his career at Iowa as the team’s No. 5 player, and after clinching a match to beat Utah, he became No. 4. He then clinched a match for a big win over Michigan, moving him up yet again.
After starting his sophomore season at No. 3, he kept rising until he reached No. 1.
A big reason Silverstein wanted to chase that No. 1 ranking so much is because of former teammate and current assistant coach Matt Hagan.
When Silverstein was a freshman and Hagan was a senior, Hagan was the No. 1 player on the team and went on to receive first team All-Big Ten honors.
Silverstein said he always saw Hagan walking around with his head high, and he wanted the feeling, too. Hagan was a great influence on him, he said; Hagan respected Silverstein’s game and always pushed him hard.
After being Silverstein’s teammate for a year and being in his second year as a coach, Hagan knows Silverstein’s game really well. He has seen Silverstein improve to the player he is today, giving him confidence that Silverstein has the ability to play well at No. 1 for the Hawkeyes.
“I think Josh has made a lot of improvements with his tennis game and also his attitude in the last year,” Hagan said. “You could kind of see at the end of the last year that he started kind of gradually having big wins, and he started really competing hard at the No. 1 position and doing well and having success. I really think he could compete well and have a really good season at No. 1 for sure this year.”
Silverstein reached the No. 1 mark in his sophomore season last year, and he will be on the team for another two years. With a lot of young talent on this Iowa team, the Hawkeyes want to have success in the present as well as in the future.
Head coach Ross Wilson said he knows that the team is focused on reaching its goals this year and thinks it is definitely a possibility.
“It obviously says a lot about the future for the program and the team,” Wilson said. “We’ve got two more great years with Josh and [junior Lefteris Theodorou] and a lot more with some of these other talented young guys. For us, it’s definitely realistic to be able to accomplish our goals, and I know that that’s what the guys are really focused on this year.”
