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.
