The No. 33-ranked collegiate tennis player in the country, Mate Cutura, delivered serve after serve on Mississippi State’s tennis courts as he waited for the rest of his teammates to arrive for practice. Behind him, second-year head coach Matt Roberts stood watching quietly with arms crossed over his T-shirt, peering out underneath the safari-style hat he wore either for protection from the sun or because he thought it looked cool. Both, probably.
Roberts was calm, relaxed, not overly demonstrative, not yelling. There was no strong language, no huffing or puffing. Just small corrections, encouragement and advisement.