Sophomore brings competition to tennis team

By Thomas Hiley

Men’s tennis team will play just one more match before heading into conference play, and one player to keep an eye on is Frederic Cadieux.

Cadieux is a sophomore business major from Quebec, Canada, and attended Ediuard-Montpetit High School. He’s the No. 3 player on the team, which is a big jump from his spot in the previous year.

During the 2011-12 season, Cadieux enrolled in the school in January and played the four, five and six positions for the team. He finished the year with a 25-4 record in singles. Coach Patrick Fisher said from what he has seen, Cadieux has nothing but promise.

“[Cadieux] is one of the most consistent players on our team,” Fisher said. “He’s extremely competitive and all I can say is that he’s a winner. [Cadieux] has a 3.8 GPA and has done everything right. [He is] an outstanding kid and is becoming a great leader.”

Cadieux is 16-3 in singles play, which is a reason why the Huskies have the record they do at 11-5. The season started off strong for Cadieux against the Minnesota Gophers (4-7) where he defeated Mathieu Froment in three sets, 4-6, 6-3 and 13-11.

“Started with a big win against [Froment of] Minnesota which gave me a lot of confidence,” said Cadieux.

Before getting to where’s he’s at in his sophomore year, Cadieux said he was really on edge about coming to NIU.

“Last year I was a bit nervous about the game and being an incoming freshman and also playing college tennis,” Cadieux said. “Over time though I figured how to adapt and do a whole lot better.”

Looking at what Cadieux has done since arriving at NIU, he has an overall record of 41-7 in singles play. When Cadieux gets ready to play for a match he said he works on his game from the first day of the week all the way until it’s time to compete.

“I start with having a good week of training, and before the match I try to get a good night sleep,” Cadieux said. “I try not to think about my opposition because I heard it makes people nervous.”

Overall, Cadieux has been making a big contribution to this Huskie team and he will need to keep it up if NIU is to be successful in conference action.