Former Gator Tennis Player Greg Ouellette Claims Bronze Medal at Pan Am Games
Thursday, October 27, 2011 | Men's Tennis
Former University of Florida tennis All-American Greg Ouellette competed in the 2011 Pan Am Games in Guadalajara, Mexico, last week and returned home with some hardware. Ouellette teamed with former North Carolina All-American Nicholas Monroe to capture the bronze medal for Team USA in men's doubles.
Ouellette and Monroe defeated the duo of Darian King and Haydn Lewis from Barbados in the bronze-medal match, 6-7(9), 6-2, [10-7].
"We had set points in the first set," Ouellette told the Daytona News-Journal earlier this week. "We came out maybe a little too pumped up. It maybe made us a bit nervous. We threw in a couple of double faults, but once we settled down we played much better."
The USA pair opened the tournament with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Mauricio Echazu and Ivan Miranda from Peru before getting a walkover in the quarterfinals. In the semifinal match, Ouellette and Monroe lost to the tournament's top-seeded pair, Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah from Columbia, after coming up on the short end of two tie-breaker sets, 7-6(4), 7-6(7). Cabal and Farah went on to claim the gold medal.
"It was a great experience," Ouellette said. "I had a fun time. I thought I fought very hard for the first time of being able to represent my country. ... To get on the podium and represent the U.S. was a great feeling."
Ouellette also competed in the singles competition, advancing to the third round before being knocked out by Brazil's Rogerio Dutra, 6-4, 7-5. The Gator had a first-round bye and won in the second round, 0-6, 6-2, 6-4, against Duilio Beretta from Peru.
Ouellette currently plays professionally on the ATP Challenger Tour.
