Men's Tennis | 4/14/2022 5:56:00 PM
EAST GREENSBORO – North Carolina A&T junior men's tennis player Esteban Lopez lacked something. Talent? No. Stature? No.
Lopez has all the physical attributes anyone could ask for in a Division I collegiate tennis player. What he lacked cannot be measured in the speed of his serve or how fast he charged the net because Lopez laced mental toughness.
"People always told me I was really talented. But, I sometimes didn't believe it," said Lopez.
People recognized Lopez's talents early. He started playing tennis at the age of 6. Lopez grew up in Colombia, South America, with his parents and brother. Lopez's parents played the sport Squash, which is a fast-moving racket sport native to South America.
As for Lopez, he tried many other sports, but with the help of Squash, tennis became his love. Lopez played competitively in many Colombian tournaments. Lopez's brother Sebastian, who plays tennis for Morgan State, started playing early too.
The Lopezes fostered their tennis talents at various academies in Colombia. Lopez said he had coaches who helped him improve his game, but still, something was missing. Finally, he found that something in the United States.
Lopez wanted to play tennis collegiately, and former A&T men's tennis head coach William Crutchfield made that path for him to play in America. He later came under the tutelage of current coach Ansel Bivens.
"My first contact with A&T was with my coach," said Lopez. "One of the reasons I'm still here is because of my coaches and my teammates. The coaches have been beneficial for my development."
Lopez won three singles matches as a freshman and four as a sophomore. However, Lopez has almost doubled those numbers as a junior. He is 13-5 overall and a 4-3 mark in the Big South Conference.
Mental toughness has taken Lopez from the talented player people saw in Colombia to a Division I collegiate men's tennis player, putting those talents to use for his team.
"He was always afraid no matter how good they said he was, he would never live up to that," said Bivens. "He's so much more intense. He is such a different person. He doesn't want to lose. He's a fighter."
As the Aggies No. 1 singles player, Lopez has helped the Aggies win more matches – 11 – than any other A&T men's team in modern history. He also helped the Aggies reach this week's Big South Conference Men's Tennis Championship Tournament.
"You see, Esteban is an extremely talented player," said Bivens. "I just gave him the classic talk. The main thing I tapped into was his mind, which changed his motivation."
Men's tennis opens the Big South tournament against Gardner-Webb at 10 a.m., Friday at Gardner-Webb. Lopez and the rest of the team's physical and mental toughness will be on display.
