On a chilly day at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens this month, Jackie Tang, a sophomore at Columbia University, was embroiled in a tight match in the N.C.A.A. men’s tennis tournament. Tang needed help against his University of Virginia opponent, so he did something professional tennis players normally cannot.
Unhappy with what he thought was lackluster support, Tang, who also plays Davis Cup for Hong Kong, turned to a Columbia teammate watching courtside and told him emphatically, “I want you cheering after every point I win.”
Riding the support of a teammate is one of the many perks college tennis players enjoy over their professional counterparts, and in the last couple of decades many aspiring pros like Tang have chosen the college route because of all its built-in advantages: free coaching, conditioning, meals and travel; ample camaraderie; and a college degree in case a pro career never materializes.