The coach recalls that Wetzel, even though he was two years removed from South Florida, remembered to call Barr’s wife and wish her a happy birthday earlier this year.
Wetzel predominantly occupied the top singles spot for the Bulls with his booming forehand and experienced game, never losing in a regular season spring dual match.
SEEING CRIMSON
In March of 2001, the Harvard squad traveled to Tampa to play South Florida, and Wetzel defeated Cliff Nguyen, now a Crimson teammate and co-captain, in three sets.
It was the first time Crimson coach David Fish ’72 would see Wetzel, but not the last.
At the time, Wetzel couldn’t seek advice from Fish—a player must gain release from his athletic program before talking to others—but he talked extensively to Crimson players, gleaning as much information as he could about the university.
At the end of the 2002 academic year, Wetzel gained release from South Florida and left Tampa. He intended to transfer schools, though he was forced to take a year off while he waited for colleges to review his applications. During the time, however, he spoke closely to both Harvard and the University of California at Berkeley.
“I told myself, ‘If I’m going to get into Harvard, there’s no way I’m going to deny it,’” Wetzel explains. “It was definitely my top priority, and I felt that those two schools had the best overall packages.”
Wetzel returned to Germany for the year and interned with both Nike and Ferrero, flying back to Cambridge for an admissions interview.
When he heard that he had gained admission into Harvard, he knew “that was it.”
He split time last summer practicing tennis in Florida with Crimson teammate Mark Riddell and taking summer classes in Cambridge.
FEELS LIKE HOME
“Martin’s got some great experience,” Fish says of the new addition to his team. “He brings sort of an X-factor to the team.”
And finally, the Crimson has that X-factor healthy again. Wetzel was sidelined for much of the season with a lingering groin injury, and Fish said he “felt [that] we were past that window where we have a chance of getting him back.”
But Wetzel has recovered, and though his movement was somewhat hampered at first, he looks to be improving just in time for the NCAA tournament.
He has won his last four matches, explaining that “every single day now, I feel like I’m making a huge improvement.”
Still, though, “[the time off] has been kind of sad, because I wanted to contribute so badly to the team.”
Wetzel points to Riddell and co-captain David Lingman as teammates he admired for “their work ethics,” adding that he hopes to be as strong a leader next year.
And if the path Wetzel has taken to get here is any indication, he will be.
It’s been quite a trip from Hergatz to Tampa to Cambridge—24 years to be exact—but next weekend, as Wetzel bikes across the Charles River to the NCAA Tournament his team is hosting, he will bring with him a host of experiences. And he wouldn’t have it any other way.