University of Tennessee Athletics
Serve & Volley: Andrew Dromsky
February 04, 2015 | Men's Tennis
By Amanda Pruitt
UTSports.com
Andrew Dromsky was one of the "new guys" last year after arriving to Tennessee as a junior. Now in his second year, he already qualifies as an "old guy," one of four seniors on the roster.
Dromsky, the 6-foot-5 lefty, joined the Vols prior to the 2013-14 season after spending two years at the top of the lineup at Georgia Southern. The native of Martinez, Ga., is now one of three Vols from the Peach State on the roster this year.
So far this spring, Dromsky's contributions have come on the doubles court with teammate Jack Schipanski. They are 5-1 together at No. 3 in the lineup.
Before the Vols head out for a road weekend at Duke on Friday and Wake Forest on Sunday, Dromsky took time out to talk team building, being a lefty and family trips to Wyoming.
Q: First off, the team has been back home training getting ready for this weekend's matches at Duke and Wake Forest. Things didn't work out exactly as the team had planned at the kickoff weekend. How have the practices gone since then?
A: We've actually had the best couple weeks of practice of the semester so far. I think that loss helped us see where we were as a team at that point. We identified a lot of things, that honestly, it's good it came out early in the year as opposed to down the road. I think everyone's coming together very quickly. We've had some really good practices. I think everyone's getting confident and starting to get that trust that good teammates have in each other.
Q: How is your game right now?
A: I think I'm playing very well. I didn't have a great fall at all for the standard I would like to hold myself to. I was just struggling on court more than I'd like. I feel like I've started off the semester with some good practices. I've been playing really well in practice. Jack and I have been playing some pretty good doubles as well. That's been a lot of fun, playing with Jack. I've enjoyed it a lot. All of us are just working hard to do the best we can.
Q: You went from one Aussie to another this season, after playing with Jarryd Chaplin at the end of last year. Is that just a coincidence?
A: I don't know how much of a coincidence it is. It's definitely different. The two of them play very different game styles. Jack, singles wise, likes to stay back and grind you down and finish you off. Jarryd liked to create and come to the net at any possible chance he got and finish you off at the net. It's definitely different playing with Jack than Jarryd, but it's been a lot of fun.
Q: As you say, they do play very different styles. How does your doubles game adapt to your teammates?
A: Every teammate you play with is going to complement your game, and you're going to complement theirs. With different partners, that happens in different ways. With Jarryd, I kind of let him take over the net because he has incredible hands. When we were playing together, I just let Jarryd do his thing up there and I was trying to be solid. Then playing with Jack, I've worked on stepping up and being the guy at the net who's going to take the ball and finish the point. It's been fun and allowed me to work on a lot of different parts of my doubles game.
Q: You're the lone lefty on the team right now. Are you left-handed in everything?
A: I'm pretty ambidextrous actually. I can throw with both arms, but I throw more comfortably with my right arm. Same for kicking. I can kick either way, but I prefer my right foot. I write left-handed, but I probably do everything else besides tennis and writing with my right side. Golfing, bowling, it's all with my right side, except I ride a snowboard goofy footed.
Q: So did you make the conscious decision to play left-handed, or is that just how you picked up the racquet as a little kid?
A: I wasn't that serious about tennis when I was younger, like a lot of other guys were. It took me until my middle teens to get serious with it. I started playing for fun when I was four. I think that's how I started, just playing lefty.
Q: You've mentioned a lot of sports so far. What all have you played growing up?
A: I played just about every sport there is growing up. Swimming, basketball, baseball, soccer, tennis. I did everything except football. I had a pretty busy sports schedule.
Q: Your dad swam at Georgia, right?
A: Yeah. We always have good banter about that, especially when it comes to tennis because obviously Georgia is a very good team every year and that's one of our main rivals. Always some good fun.
Q: Last year, you were a new guy on the team. Now suddenly, you're one of the old guys, a senior. How do you feel like your role on the team has changed from last year to now?
A: It's definitely interesting. I'm a senior, but I've only been here for one year. Originally when I came here, I was going to redshirt and play this year and next year. With getting that role of redshirting in the fall and we had some guys with injury questions -- we didn't know if they were going to play -- so I broke my redshirt and I ended up having a decent year. I think that experience definitely helped. Even though I've only been there for a year, I've played three years of college tennis. I know what to expect and know how the system works at this point, how to try to be a good teammate.
Q: Now we'll change gears here to off the court questions. First off, have you ever collected anything?
A: One of my parents' favorite things to do was travel, so I traveled a lot. When I was young and even through high school, I liked to collect hotel room keys. I had a lot of room keys. Some of my favorites were a couple from Hawaii that I liked. I'd have your average Holiday Inn ones, but then you'd go to a place that would have decorative key cards. That's what I collected as a kid.
Q: Where are some of your favorite places to go?
A: My favorite thing to do is snowboard. For eight years, I'd go out with my family to Jacksonville, Wyo. They'd ski and I'd snowboard. That's my favorite place I've ever been to. I'd definitely love -- even if not to live out there -- to go be able to go out there every year. In the summer, it's incredible. It's a valley in the Rocky Mountains, and it's beautiful. In the winter, it's incredible for winter sports. Great snow. It's a great place.
Q: You live really close to a great golf course, Augusta National. You'd mentioned playing golf. What have been some of your favorite courses to play?
A: Growing up, I was a very casual golfer. My little brother and my dad are very good and very competitive about it. I just like to go out there and have fun with it. We go on vacations and play golf. I live about 200 yards away from a course, and that's probably my favorite. I just go out there with friends when I'm home. One of my good friends who lives in Atlanta and lives near the Marietta Country Club, and I like playing that one as well.
My favorite thing to do in golf is just to go and watch the Masters. I've been lucky enough to go pretty much every year until starting college, since we have our season then. It's an incredible event and a lot of fun to go to.
Q: If your life were a movie, what musician would play the background music.
A: I have no idea. That's tough. I listen to everything. I listen to rock, classic rock, country, rap, house. I'll listen to anything.
Q: What's been the best costume you've ever had?
A: My sophomore year of college for Halloween, I dressed up as Mitt Romney. I had the full suit, put a little silver in my hair and the power slick going, the Romney/Ryan button. It was right before the election.
Q: Pets. Do you have any?
A: I currently have two fish here. One is named Willis (after freshman Jess Jones), but the other one we haven't named, since we just recently got it. Growing up, my mom was really allergic to fur, so we didn't have any cats or dogs. (laughs) I've just got my fish. Really exciting pets.
Q: What are some of your favorite movies?
A: I've seen a lot more movies than I'd like to admit. My dad has a ridiculous movie collection back home. I'd say probably one of my favorites all time is "The Shawshank Redemption." That one just never gets old to me. I'm a big fan of Star Wars and Lord of the Rings as well. Not the three new Star Wars ... I don't count those as being made. The original trilogy.
Q: Okay, so last one ... Would you rather live in the Star Wars universe or the Lord of the Rings universe?
A: Probably Star Wars. The whole medieval thing would probably get old really quickly. I'm a big fan of electricity and things like that. Though it would be pretty cool to fight with a sword.
Q: But you'd have a lightsaber in Star Wars.
A: Yeah, it'd be the best of both worlds.
