What was Brian Vahaly's reward for becoming just the second tennis player ever to compete in the finals for both singles and doubles at the T. Rowe Price National Clay Courts Sunday?
As he returned from Baltimore, he got stuck in traffic around D.C. He arrived in Charlottesville at 10 p.m. and pulled an all-nighter finishing a group project for one of the toughest classes in the Commerce School.
Vahaly's all-nighter sealed an exhausting weekend that saw him play 11 matches in four days as he became the first ACC player to advance to the finals of Clay Courts.
After the Atlanta native lost a two-and-a-half hour marathon against Arkansas' Oskar Johansson (5-7, 7-5, 6-2) in the singles final Sunday, he played with Cavalier teammate Huntley Montgomery in two doubles matches before bowing out in the finals.
Vahaly became the victim of his own success at Clay Courts, the first leg of the collegiate Grand Slam. None of his opponents had his level of success in both brackets - and therefore they did not play as many matches as he did.
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"Brian ran out of gas," Cavalier coach Dick Stockton said. "He was actually in the best condition I've seen him in but it was too much tennis for anyone. The format of the tournament was ridiculous because of the number of matches that took place over such a short time."
Competing on clay, a surface traditionally dominated by foreign players, Vahaly had the odds against him despite his No. 1 seeding. Clay Courts has not produced an American champion since its inception in 1986.
Yet Vahaly, who has played on clay only a handful of times in his Virginia career, won his first five singles matches without dropping a set.
"I was playing well before the tournament," Vahaly said. "And I carried it over this past weekend."
In the final Johansson avenged a straight-set loss he suffered against Vahaly a year ago. Trailing by a set, Johansson came back from down 5-4 in the second to outlast Vahaly.
"Conditioning has never been a problem for me," Vahaly said. "But after playing seven hours of tennis for four days in a row, my body began to give out. He started running me around, and that was the kiss of death."
Johansson, a Sweden native, grew up playing on clay courts. His performance this past weekend led some observers to believe he should have been playing in another tournament taking place on the opposite end of the globe.
"The way Johansson was playing at stretches during the match, I thought he should have been in Sydney" at the Olympics, Stockton said. Vahaly "is a bulldog. He really hung in there with [Johansson] and that's a testimony to how well he played."
Vahaly, ranked third in the preseason collegiate singles rankings, teamed with the 27th-ranked Montgomery to advance to the doubles final. The pair, ranked No. 13 in the nation, lost to VCU's Florian Marquardt and Frank Moser (7-5, 5-7, 6-3).
"I was exhausted from my matches," Vahaly said. Montgomery "kind of carried me along for the ride."
Vahaly's performance this past weekend marked the culmination of a very successful summer campaign. After a spring season in which he established the school record with 35 victories, Vahaly advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAAs in May. There he fell to the eventual national champion, Stanford's Alex Kim. Vahaly then joined the USA collegiate team and participated in various pro tournaments.
Perhaps the highlight of his summer came when he defeated K.J. Hippensteel of Stanford (7-5, 6-3) in the ITA National Summer Tennis Championships. The win gave Vahaly a ticket to New York and a berth in the U.S. Open qualifying tournament.
"It was a great experience," Vahaly said of the Open. "I was able to play competitively against the pros and soak up the environment with the great court and crowds."
Vahaly will look for his first Grand Slam title at the ITA Men's All-American Championships October 12-15 in Stone Mountain, Ga.
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