Feb. 13, 2003

Wiry and smiling, often seen with a hand-crocheted Rasta hat on his head, USF tennis player Pablo Pires de Almeida is the kind of person who can make your day in less than 30 minutes. Monday morning blues? Sit down to coffee with Pablo. Not ready for that match against #15-ranked Pepperdine? Order up a Pablo pep talk. The sophomore who hopes to go pro one day says he owes it all to his parents. "They're kind of behind the philosophy of follow your dreams and don't worry about money because if you're doing what you love, it'll all work out," he explains. "I was really lucky to grow up in that environment." But behind the cheery face and easygoing demeanor is a young man intense about his tennis.

His USF coach, Peter Bartlett, says Pires de Almeida is exactly what the Dons program needs. "He's a dreamer in every positive sense of the word," says Bartlett. "He wants to play professionally and so he's always looking ahead. As a coach, you relish the chance to have a player who wants to get to the next level. He's always reaching."

Pablo's father, Jose Neto, is a renowned musician and mom is a local baker (she owns the Fairfax Bakery) - not your average, play-it-safe parental careers. Both parents played a bit of tennis and had their son playing by age four. By the time he was 10, his parents came to him and asked him if tennis was something he wanted to seriously pursue. "They said 'you're going to have to commit yourself to it now so that by the time you're in your twenties, you're ready to be professional,'" he remembers. "I respected that and made the choice then. Everything I've received from tennis is amazing."

He began to work his way into juniors' tournaments throughout Northern California. He claims that competition was hard for him at first because he was afraid of hurting his opponents' feelings, even when he knew he was more competent. The stress of it even made him sick at times and it took him awhile to get over his sensitivity. "I had to learn how to win," he says, "but when that happened, it was a whole different side of me that I learned to love. Winning was definitely more fun than losing."

"I had to learn how to win, but when that happened, it was a whole different side of me that I learned to love." Pablo Pires de Almeida

By his junior year of high school, Pires de Almeida earned a scholarship to attend the prestigious Weil Tennis Academy in Ojai, California. "I had to make the choice between trying to become a better tennis player at my high school or really going for it." He chose to be in the best environment for his tennis, surrounded by some of the top tennis coaches and up and coming players in the nation. In his senior year, he followed one of the coaches he had met at Weil, Skip Redondo, down to San Diego to train one-on-one. "During that time, I made the biggest jump in my tennis career, so far," he says.

Pires de Almeida focused on getting ranked and earning a scholarship to college. He thought momentarily about going pro, but was guided by Redondo and others to use college as a place to improve. "They told me that my game was good, but not good enough and that college would definitely help me." He came into school with the goals of perfecting his game, getting stronger and devoting each summer to playing on the professional circuit.

Wielding Weapons

This past summer Pires de Almeida took to the court at several satellite and future events, competing against players with world rankings. Since he doesn't yet have a professional ranking, he had to first qualify. But after that, if he wins a round, he earns one ATP point, a professional point that can eventually lead to a ranking. Pires de Almeida played events in Fresno and Sunnyvale but lost his deciding match, ATP points still elusive. "I was two games away," he bemoans. "It was tough, but next time I'll be ready. This season and next summer are going to be huge for my tennis."

"When I was in the juniors I was always mentally tough, so I could win matches on just staying solid and making the other guy break down," Pires de Almeida continues. "When you reach the higher levels, the guys who are really good kill the ball and that's the end of the point. They don't miss." He knows that he has to continue to be a lot more aggressive to get to that level, because on the ATP tour alone there are 1500 to 2000 players with rankings these days. That's not even including all the players - like him - trying to get ranked. "The guys who are ranked 1300 are almost as good as the guys that are 500, they just haven't been out there that long," he explains. "It's all about confidence. The hardest point is the first point and after you get that it's supposed to be a piece of cake. That's what the pros say."

Pires de Almeida says he's been working with Coach Bartlett to take the shots he wants to be best at, his 'weapons,' and make those shots huge - in his case, his forehand, his first serve and his volley to style his game after that of Brazilian star and three-time French Open Champion Gustavo Kuerten. "He's my favorite player. I saw him on TV and it was like seeing myself playing tennis," he enthuses.

Coming to USF

During Pires de Almeida's year at the tennis academy, each week a different college coach would visit to look at the players. Pires de Almeida never cared about the school's name or financial standing - all he cared about was the coach. Was the coach someone he could get along with? Would he care about each individual player's development? Because a coach from USF hadn't visited, Pires de Almeida hadn't considered USF. He instead had narrowed his top two choices to Pepperdine and San Diego State but wasn't sold on either one.

Around that time, he got a call from good friend Mason Fuller, whom he had known on the juniors' circuit. "He called me and told me to come visit USF," he remembers. "I showed up, looked at the school and the team and saw Peter as a really good coach, a really good person and someone I could gel with."

"As a coach, you relish the chance to have a player who wants to get to the next level. Pablo's always reaching." Coach Peter Bartlett

From USF's perspective, recruiting Pires de Almeida was a real coup. "We hadn't been able to recruit at that level before," stated Bartlett. "Pablo was top five in Northern California and a super kid. A unique kid." He adds that most prospects at that level choose to go to bigger programs, but then end up not getting a lot of playing time. "Pablo saw how a smaller program would benefit him."

Pires de Almeida also saw a team stacked with great players who wanted to get better and do well as a team. "With the big programs, teammates come in with great juniors records but when they get to college, they've given up on the pros and they're just playing because they can get a free education. They don't have that fire inside of them," he says. "The guys here wanted to get better physically, mentally and technique-wise and wanted the program to get better. That was the most important thing."

The players at USF are excited about having their program reach full funding next year, especially since it will allow their coach to spend more time and energy on recruiting, something Pires de Almeida wishes had been the case when he was first deciding schools. If a coach doesn't travel to junior tournaments and to tennis academies, he simply doesn't see many players. "That's why we have so many foreign players," he laughs. "It started with Christian Dyvik, who came to this school four years ago. He's the one that got Norwegians to come to USF. Now the team has four Norwegians. It's hilarious."

Every Spot Counts

Last season, Pires de Almeida was among the top players on the team and as a result was able to compete in a lot more tournaments and see more playing time than some of the other players. He feared that the lower half of the guys might be struggling. "With tennis, every spot counts. The number one to the number six is the same for points," he says. "We've been focusing back on the basics and on building our strength as a team. Those bottom guys are going to be able to step up and compete." He adds that the schedule they're playing this spring is one of the strongest in school history and it's going to be a big test. "If everyone can stay positive then the confidence will rise. That's the biggest issue the team faces," he adds.

Pires de Almeida sees it as his job to keep things positive. "I've told the coach that I'm the father of the team many times," he laughs. "Last year at the big matches I was banging the drum when I wasn't on the court and pumping up the guys." He explains that he's always been blessed with being able to look at the positive side of things, and for that he again has his parents to thank, who advised him as a young boy only to surround himself with positive people. "I try to get everybody on the same mental level. If everyone's going to be positive, everyone's going to do well." He says that especially with limited resources, the differential for USF is mental - set the team's goals high and expect everyone to respond. With the infusion of much needed new funding this summer, the goals and expectations can be set even higher. "Last year we lost close matches that we should have won to Santa Clara and the University of Portland and that negatively determined our placing in the West Coast Conference," Pires de Almeida remembers. "This year, we can remember those losses and not use anything as an excuse."

Musical Family

As intense as Pires de Almeida is about tennis, it's not the only thing he's about. Pires de Almeida is also passionate about music. He sees himself traveling the world playing music after his tennis career winds down and before settling into another profession. He plays the drums and other types of percussion and has since age three. "I just hear things, play it and have fun with it." He loves being in San Francisco for all the music that's around and is especially enthusiastic about all the cultures and styles of music being played here, particularly Brazilian styles and African rhythms. Pires de Almeida often goes to shows and participates in music events, sometimes with roommate and fellow musician Dan Akenhead, who used to pitch for Dons baseball.

Pires de Almeida's father, a guitarist, has played music professionally his entire life. He came to the U.S. from Brazil at age 21 and in short order became Harry Belafonte's musical director, as well as assembling his own band and working with other artists. Right now he's doing a project in London with Steve Winwood. "I went over to Steve Winwood's place in London to visit my dad and we did a jam session," he explains. "I was just playing percussion and Winwood started singing. He does stuff with his voice that no other white person can do. You get chills." His father and Winwood plan to record 12 songs, release an album in Europe and the US and then tour the States from March to July, opening with bands like Dave Matthews. "We want to get a show here at USF, in the gym," Pires de Almeida half-laughs. Knowing Pablo, anything is possible.