Agostinelli Still Impacting Kentucky Men’s Tennis Program
As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. In the case of three Kentucky men’s tennis freshmen, and Kentucky tennis legend Bruno Agostinelli, one particular picture might even say even more.
As current UK freshmen Gabriel Diallo, Liam Draxl and Alexandre LeBlanc were being recruited to play college tennis, LeBlanc found an old photo on his phone. In the picture was a group of Canadian junior tennis players, including Diallo, Draxl and Leblanc, along with Agostinelli, who was coaching the Canadian juniors at the time.
“We took the photo when we were 12,” LeBlanc said. “When I committed (to UK), I think two weeks later I was scrolling down my photos and I saw that and it like clicked in my head and it was mind-blowing. I sent it to (Diallo) and Liam and we were like shocked, yeah.”
Agostinelli, a native of Niagara Falls, Ontario, played tennis for Kentucky from 2005-2009. Through his years at Kentucky, Agostinelli made a name for himself winning numerous awards, including the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s Southeast Player of the Year. He earned All-American honors at UK and is a member of the Wildcat Tennis Hall of Fame. Off the court, Agostinelli excelled in academics, character and service.
Unfortunately, Kentucky suffered a great loss when Agostinelli died in a car accident in Toronto in 2016. But his influence on the program lives on, with Diallo, Draxl and LeBlanc, all former students of Agostinelli, who are now on the UK roster.
Agostintelli left a lasting impression on all three players.
“I knew him pretty well when I was younger” said LeBlanc. “We used to have those national camps, a tennis camp where all the kids used to meet in Toronto and we would have a week of training everyone and he was one of the coaches there. He was a great guy, a great tennis player also and he was really good with the kids.”
Diallo, who hails from Montreal, notes that he still uses something that Agostinelli – in whose honor the Mr. Wildcat Award is now given at UK’s annual CATSPY Awards – taught him every day.
“I think with him it was about being professional on the court,” said Diallo. “. It was about the little details. Especially when you’re young, you miss the little details. You think they are not important but actually they are really important. He helped me a lot to focus on that.”
Draxl, a native of Newmarket, Ontario, agreed with his teammate.
“I thought he was a great person, a great coach,” Draxl said. “He was really tough on us, but that was a good thing. He taught us a lot of good things about tennis and how to behave ourselves back then.”
Playing together from a young age forged a bond that would follow the trio all the way to Kentucky. The fact that Agostinelli played at UK was a factor for them in deciding to come play for the Cats.
“I knew he played here before. It means a lot to me actually,” said Diallo. “It’s like I am carrying out his legacy in some kind of way. I’m trying to make him proud.”
LeBlanc knows that Agostinelli would have had a great deal of pride in the three freshmen being at Kentucky.
“He would have been proud for sure,” said LeBlanc. “He believed in us and he knew we had some potential. He would be really happy for sure.”
With the three long-time friends united, they hope to make impact on Wildcat tennis.
“Well we know that we’re a strong class coming in. Everyone’s really excited because we can see, wow, we can do something great here,” said LeBlanc.
With the three freshmen having all been coached by Agostinelli, they feel as if there are definitely in the right spot, at Kentucky, right now.
“It’s meant to be. It’s something out of our control,” said Diallo.
Now the freshmen will focus on making Agostinelli even more proud by taking the Kentucky tennis program to new heights.
