Aaron Gross Tells Roman Borvanov's StoryPortland men's tennis head coach remembers Roman Borvanov's journey to The Bluff. Borvanov will be inducted into the University of Portland Athletics Hall of Fame on Saturday.After three years of applying and not winning, the Borvanov's of Moldova won the Green Card Lottery in their native country to be able to come to the United States. Since most of us won the 'Green Card Lottery' when we were born in the USA, this may seem like a strange concept. For Serghei and Claudia it was a chance to provide a better life for their two children. And for their son, Roman Borvanov, leaving extended family and friends behind in Moldova was a small price to pay for potentially removing the barriers that the blocked his progress at nearly every turn at home.
"I remember just walking around for two weeks, experiencing culture shock," Roman said. "There were these gigantic supermarkets with amazing amounts of food, and indoor shopping malls with clothes in every color and style. When I emerged from the sense of awe from the abundance of everything needed for basic survival around me that was scarce in my life a few weeks earlier, I started to recognize that Spokane, Washington and the United States was a place where I not only had a better chance of surviving, but also a way to forward my life to places that I didn't know could be possible.
"Two weeks into my move to Spokane I noticed a park with several tennis courts near where my family was staying with relatives. I hadn't hit a tennis ball in nine months and I was 18 years old at the time. A couple of years earlier I had felt pretty good about my tennis, to the point where I had been on the bubble for the federation to help fund me to go to the neighboring countries of Romania or the Ukraine to play against someone outside of Moldova. But when I graduated from high school that dream ended, as did any future in my mind that included tennis.
"As I walked onto the four tennis courts at the beautiful park, I remember thinking to myself 'how could no one be playing tennis on any of these courts right now?' Since I spent a good deal of my young life hitting tennis balls against a brick wall, I was perfectly content to take an old, dead ball and one of the two rackets I had packed away from my old life and hit for a couple of hours against the wooden backboard on the courts."
Roman continued, "As I was walking off the court I noticed a flier hanging that was advertising a tournament. I studied the flier to try to understand as well as I could the details of the tournament. I had always loved tennis and after hitting for those two hours on the backboard, I knew that I wanted to keep playing. At that moment I did not see any future beyond playing recreationally, but it was comforting to know that an old 'friend' was with me in my new far away home – tennis."
Roman had studied a little bit of English growing up in Moldova and was now immersed and motivated to improve his English, but had no idea how the tennis system worked in the U.S.
"I studied the entry form and tried to make sense of the different categories of events offered in the tournament. I saw that there were 3.0, 4.0, and 5.0 categories offered. I thought that I had played enough tennis that the 3.0 category might not be tough enough. I assumed since there seemed to be so much access to tennis based on the fact that there were tennis courts all over the place, that the players in the 5.0 category must be amazing. So I marked the 4.0 division on the entry form, and sent in $20 for the fee. I know it sounds cliché that $20 was a lot of money for me at the time, but it truly was. In hindsight, it was probably the most important $20 I have ever spent.
"A couple of days later, I found myself playing against a middle-aged man with strange grips and an awkward style. I didn't miss any balls and ran him from side to side and up and back for the entire first set without losing a game. On the changeover after the first set he looked at me and proclaimed 'you are not a 4.0.' He must have been right because I won the tournament without losing a game. After the final, the player who won the 5.0 event came up to me asked me if I would like to practice with him. A few days later I beat him handily in practice. He told me that I should try and play on the local community college team and that one day I may even be able to play Division I college tennis, where they gave scholarships that paid for your school and let you practice tennis all day," remembered Borvanov.
One of the first days of practice at the University of Portland, Roman's new teammate, Quinn Borchard – one of the most outgoing and funniest Pilots ever – cracked a joke about Roman's outfit. Everyone chuckled, but not Roman. He approached Quinn with his chest out looking like he was ready to fight.
I remember immediately taking Roman aside and explaining to him that the other eight guys in the building would be his closest friends and allies over the coming years and that part of the team bonding experience is a give and take and being able to laugh at ourselves and each other. I think Roman understood the idea in principle, but still had a hard time with it. To this day I don't remember Roman ever poking fun at anyone. I think Roman is a guy that gives respect and gets respect. Based on Roman's work ethic and seriousness toward tennis and his education, the other guys on the team gave Roman some space in the 'poking fun' aspect of the team environment.
"Moldova was a tough place to grow up," Borvanov explained. "I didn't know any different since I hadn't been outside of the Soviet block wall. Our family was part of a shrinking middle class – my dad was an engineer and my mom a math teacher. We did OK, by Moldovan standards, but when inflation started to skyrocket in the 1990's, our family really began to suffer. I came to mistrust people and their motives, honestly. In Moldova you can't afford to let your guard down. I had a hard time with that in my transition to the U.S."
I feel like I gained Roman's trust from a few different places before he even got on campus. Gaining Roman's trust is not easy. I had known Kevin Jones, who was one of UP's best players in the 1980's, since I was young. I used to come out to UP and practice with Kevin, Mike Dowse, Kent Lewis, Greg Acuna and other Pilots from the earlier era at UP when I was in high school. Kevin was one of the best players living in Spokane at the time Roman settled there and eventually they found each other. Kevin used to practice with Roman and also told him of the possibilities of earning a scholarship one day. Kevin would drop hints to Roman about knowing me and keeping an open mind to possibly going to the University of Portland. Kevin would drop me emails telling me about this guy who just moved from Russia that was living in Spokane and a good player. My interest was piqued, but then Kevin would mention that his English wasn't good and that he didn't have any results that would make you believe he was a Division I player. Kevin's word was good enough for me to stay interested.
When Roman did make his recruiting trip to Portland, I had him spend time with Travis Parrott, who was on the team at the time. From the second I met Roman in person I knew he was a serious guy with serious aspirations. He asked as many questions about the academic side of things at UP as he did tennis questions and he was very up front with me about his financial situation. At the time no other school was recruiting Roman. He had played a few tournaments that summer, but stayed mainly local to Spokane. So, even though he won a lot of matches, they weren't against players that would make a coach take notice. Even local schools like Eastern Washington and Gonzaga showed little or no interest and I was still skeptical. Then in the very last tournament of the summer he beat Peter Malacek, who played No. 1 for us the previous year. I had been working with Peter all summer and he was playing well. Peter came back the next day after the loss and I jokingly chastised him about losing to some guy from Spokane. Peter looked at me and said 'that guy is legit.'
While on campus during his visit Travis explained to Roman why he transferred to UP from the University of Georgia for his last year of eligibility. Travis transferred from one of the greatest college tennis schools and teams to a small school in the Pacific Northwest because I had been his coach since he was 10 years old. Since Travis was four years old and trailing around after his big brothers it was pretty obvious to everyone who knew tennis that he was a tennis prodigy. Travis felt that he had had enough of the sacrifice of 'team' tennis in college and really wanted to spend his last year of college honing his game in preparation for his professional career. I am still incredibly humbled that Travis would make that leap of faith to come work with me and I am so proud of the career and life he has made for himself. This sacrifice wasn't lost on Roman.
"Between Kevin telling me about UP and learning of the sacrifice that a player of Travis' level made to be here, I figured this must be a good place for me," Borvanov said. "Plus, I wasn't getting any other offers (laughs)."
The one major thing I remember of Roman on his recruiting trip and during his entire time at UP was that he never 'faked' knowing something. English was for sure his second language, but he wasn't going to let his ego get in the way of making sure he knew exactly what was being talked about. I could be in the middle of a talk with the whole team and say a word or phrase that Roman didn't know the meaning of and Roman would stop everyone and ask what I was trying to say. Sometimes it would be cumbersome in the group situation, but I really respect that Roman was never going through the motions. He always wanted to learn and was never afraid to ask for help. I use Roman as an example with all of the international players that come into the program in this regard. I tell them to never be afraid to admit they don't understand something. It is much better to learn it right then the easy way, then to learn it later the hard way.
"When you are poor in Moldova you are fighting and scrapping to survive and make a better life," Borvanov noted. "If you are able to figure a way to make a better life, people want to take it from you – whether it is the criminal element, the government, or just others that haven't made it trying to hold you down. Either way, you have to be on your guard. I felt like if I was going to get the most out of my education in the classroom and on the tennis court, I had to be a proactive learner. From my first day of community college in Spokane I knew that I didn't have the luxury of just hoping knowledge would find me. As uncomfortable as it was for me, the first class I signed up for at the community college was public speaking. I knew I would have to get used to being uncomfortable for a while, and that was a good way to start."
Roman embraced every opportunity he could while at UP, but in learning more and more about his background and sacrifices that his family made to help him have a better life In America, it was understandable that he stayed disciplined in every sense of the word. He was not quite on a full scholarship and had to come up with $500 a month his first year at the university to cover what the scholarship didn't. During that time, Roman worked in the tennis center in the evenings, strung rackets during the day, and would pick up spare hours with university operations to help set up and take down big events that would come to the school.
Also, over his time at UP, Roman became known as the go to guy at the computer help desk. He could fix any issue that came up with computers and I am pretty sure was on the cutting edge of pirating American TV shows with Russian dubbing to be able to watch at his leisure. Roman also worked in the athletic department in the summer. He did all of this to make sure he could cover all of his costs without putting any burden on his parents.
"I quickly figured out that working the desk at the tennis center was the best job I could have," he remembered. "I could answer phones and monitor the courts at the same time I was stringing rackets, so I was able to do a couple of jobs at once. At the end of the evening when the courts started to empty and there was no more rackets to string, I could go out and hit on the ball machine until closing time."
There are a couple of famous work ethic stories that I tell quite often about Roman. The first is just the amount of things he accomplished every single day. He would have a private lesson with me nearly every morning, followed by a full load of classes, then would have team practice, find a time to get to the weight room or track for some off-court work, then come back in the evening and work/hit until 10 p.m. and then start over the next day with the exact same schedule.
Secondly, when I work with players individually it is usually a 30-40 minute block of tennis. The workouts are specific and intense. Lots of movement and lots of balls struck. I have a pretty good sense of when a student needs a breather or a drink and will ask them if they are in need when I sense the time has come. I don't think Roman ever took me up on the offer to take that break. I think that our coaching staff does so much individual work with our players that the players begin to take it for granted.
If someone is paying $70 or $80 an hour for a private tennis lesson, they are probably pretty conscious about giving up any of that time to take a break. Roman treated every one of those lessons as if it was the last free coaching he may ever get. There was always something so refreshing about Roman in knowing that he would use every single opportunity that came his way to improve his life. Since Roman was so single-minded and focused, I didn't always feel an outward appreciation of the extra efforts that I might put forth in his direction. How hard he worked and how much he tried to keep improving his game was appreciation enough for me. Give me a guy that forgets to thank you for your time once in a while and busts his butt every moment he is out there over an overly thankful player who is going through the motions.
Tennis-wise I didn't really know where Roman's potential as a big time player was. He was very solid and hated missing. This can be a great trait, but also a very limiting trait. He didn't have any real weapons in his game. We spent hours and hours trying to turn his forehand and serve into bigger weapons. But when things would get close in matches, he would generally get too conservative in the areas he needed to step up in to take wins.
Matt Loucks transferred from Texas A&M at the beginning of Roman's senior year. Matt had been a great U.S. junior growing up and did well at A&M, but was looking for a fresh start. He came right in and got to the finals of the fall ITA regionals at Cal, establishing himself as the top dog on the team in a year that Roman was hoping to step up strong in the No. 1 spot. Roman didn't complain about being No. 2, mainly because Matt kicked his butt in practice most of the time. Matt was playing the game the way Roman wanted to play: big serve, big forehand AND he didn't miss. Roman had a solid senior season. He had some nice wins that I thought might put him in the national rankings, but he never made it into the top 125 in the U.S. in college tennis.
I love college tennis, but pro tennis has always been my passion. From the time I watched John McEnroe play Illie Nastase under the lights at the U.S. Open when I was probably 10 years old, I dreamed of one day playing there, and that is how I coach at UP. I figure that if a coach and a player set a very high standard, then we will all be reaching for that standard everyday, and can't help be better in the short run and long run by measuring ourselves against the best men in the world – not just the best college players. Somewhere along the way Roman bought into that notion.
Roman wanted to travel and play tennis. He graduated with a degree in finance from Portland's School of Business in 2005 and wanted to start traveling right away. He had a bit of money saved up from all of the work he had done on campus and then also found a benefactor to help him get jump-started. Roman would start with a long stint in the country that was right next to Moldova that he had hoped so much to be able to travel to as a young player, but was never afforded the opportunity since he couldn't quite get past one particular opponent that beat him every time. Only one player was subsidized to travel and that player was the guy that beat him.
Honestly, I would have been happy to see Roman get a couple of ATP points at that point in his career. He had some good wins against college players, but did really struggle to raise his level against the higher ranked guys. I thought he would run into more of the same. The thing that I didn't take into account was that Roman's biggest strength was nearly every other player's biggest weakness: perspective. Roman grew up in one of the poorest countries in the world and then landed at a small university with not the resources of a Stanford, Washington, or Texas. UP was not in a position to buy the best string or have new balls all the time, or full scholarships at our disposal.
Roman explained how when he first started playing futures – the ultimate minor league of tennis – that he would purposely go to one specific region of the world and set up camp for 6-8 weeks at a time. Others might have the same idea, but Roman executed his plan to perfection. The beginning of those long stints would be tough because everyone was fresh and eager. By the third or fourth week of playing on bad courts in small towns for very little money, Roman would find that players would be looking to get out. They missed girlfriends, sleeping in their own bed, not having to worry about the water they were drinking or the accuracy of the tournament stringing machines. These players may stick around in body only or just bail altogether. Roman racked up points in those fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh weeks of those trips because he showed up day in and day out ready to play. As an unranked player going up against a former top UCLA player in one of these tournaments, it might be easy to concede before going on the court, knowing that the player has been so much more accomplished throughout his career. When all of a sudden Roman looked up and he had a higher pro ranking then that ex-UCLA guy, Roman started to believe he was as good or better and approached those matches with confidence.
Finances were always a factor in nearly every decision that Roman made with regards to his professional tennis career.
"After that first trip to Romania, I pretty much exhausted the little funds I was given by a very good friend and a longtime supporter of UP tennis team, Thomas Garrison," Roman said. "I came back to him and asked for a little bit more funds. He was a bit surprised, but I think he believed in me so much and decided to help one more time. I knew that I exhausted my last lifeline and I better produce some results in the next few tournaments or I would be looking for a real job in a few months. I trained extra hard for a few weeks and traveled to Mexico for five tournaments. I ended up making the final of the third tournament, which put me inside the top 1000.
"During that trip I realized that Mexico was a good place to play tournaments and not very expensive. I was stringing rackets for some other guys for extra cash. It was not an ideal setup, but at least I was staying alive and continuing the grind. After a while, I learned of prize money tournaments and started incorporating them in my schedule and if I was able to win it or make the final, it was worth it and the money I earned was going towards my traveling expenses on the tour.
"Finally, when I was home, and there were no tournaments to be played, Aaron and my parents were my biggest supporters. My parents were putting a roof over my head and making sure I was eating well so that I could properly train."
There wasn't a day that went by from the time Roman graduated from UP in 2005 until he played his last singles match in Guayaquil, Ecuador on November 10, 2013 that I haven't scoured a couple of renowned pro tennis websites to track Roman's progress in whatever tournament he was playing at the time. There are several amazing memories that Roman has.
"Playing Davis Cup for my country was so special," he reminisced. "Also, playing in three of the four Grand Slam events was like a dream come true. I played a lot of incredible players, made a lot of friends, and proved to myself that there really is nothing that I can't accomplish through hard work and discipline and patience. Aaron preaches that 'just showing up' everyday is more than 99 percent of what other people do. I 'showed up' every single day of my career. Sometimes I won and sometimes my opponent beat me, but I don't feel like I ever lost because I wasn't prepared."
October 24, 2011 was a very special day for Roman and a very proud day for me. Roman was officially ranked among the top 200 tennis players in the world. There isn't much fanfare that comes with this accolade, or much money. Amare Stoudamire of the New York Knicks was unofficially ranked the No. 200 NBA player in the league last year and is pretty well known and handsomely paid. Not many people would sneeze at Stoudamire's career, and I don't think people would at Roman's career either if tennis were more in the public eye. However, Roman and his parents, myself, and a handful of other loyal supporters celebrated that October day in relative obscurity.
Other days in Roman's career that really stand out to me are two days in 2012 when he beat two former NCAA singles champions. Remember, Roman was never even a college ranked player. Roman also beat the then-No. 1 ranked 18-year-old in the world in the ITF rankings – when Roman was 18, he was winning a 4.0 tournament in Spokane, Washington and never ranked by the ITF in junior tennis.
There is much recent debate over the state of tennis in the U.S., specifically why isn't the country producing any champions. Much of the blame has been put on the USTA, mainly because of the huge budgets that they have to work with to help accomplish the goal of 'creating' Grand Slam champions. When I asked Roman his thoughts on this he said:
"I think the champions are produced with the help of supportive parents and by good coaches who instill championship traits in the kids. As a kid, I played tennis because the courts were located close to my house. My major tennis goal was to be good enough in Moldova to be able to earn the right to travel to another Eastern Block country. I never even thought that pro tennis was a possibility. I hit balls against a backboard for hours because I loved it. I played college tennis so that I could get an education. I tried pro tennis because I wanted to test myself against the best players in the world, and travel. I don't think you can build a champion by pounding it into a 10 year olds head that he has to win his next match. Cultivate a passion and enjoyment of the sport in kids. If you can couple that with resources, coaching, money, etc. then you have a chance for a person to do some pretty special things. I am still at a point in my life where Aaron needs to remind me of the special things I did. I imagine someday I will look back and realize that at one moment I was an 18-year-old kid who figured his tennis clock had run out, to waking up 13 years later as one of the very few people on the planet that can legitimately say they were amongst the top 200 people in the whole world at what they do – at least that is how Aaron phrases it. For me, I still think I could have done more."
