May 28, 2000

ATHENS, Ga. — Carlos Drada’s remarkable run in the NCAA Men’s Tennis SinglesChampionship came to an unfortunate end Sunday as he fell to No. 5 seed AlexKim of Stanford, 6-1, 6-1.

Drada (29-21) battled valiantly in the 95-degree heat, but in the endwas unable to continue his outstanding play. Down 3-1 in the opening setSunday, he dropped the last three games. He hung tough in the second set, downonly 2-1, but Kim (45-7) closed out the match winning the last four games totake the singles title.

“Today was a tough match,” Drada said. “He was a really goodplayer, andI just was not at my best today. My goal coming into the tournament was to getAll-American, but everything got better and better. I thought I was going towin. It was a good feeling to make it this far. It was great that I did it inmy last tournament and that I represented my team so well.”This was the first meeting between Drada and Kim, so each was unfamiliar withthe other’s style. Therefore, Drada began the match unsure of how his opponentwould respond to his game.

“Carlos came into the match with a good game plan,” UK head coach Dennis Emerysaid. “He hoped to hit the ball softer with a lot of spin. However, he wasforced to play a different style. You can’t do that against a player of thatcaliber.”

As the NCAA Men’s Singles Runner-up, Drada can be credited with a number offirsts. He was the first University of Kentucky tennis player to advance to thechampionship match. He was also the first unseeded player since 1997 to advanceto the title match and the first since 1996 to upset the No. 1 seeded player.On his way to the championship match, Drada knocked off three of the top 15players in the nation, two of which were ranked in the top five, and hefinished the season 12-13 against opponents ranked in the top 50.

“This was the ultimate experience for him,” Emery said, “playing in the titlematch against a player from Stanford.”