Levant Brings a Taste of Paris to Gainesville
Wednesday, November 21, 2001 | Men's Tennis
-By Pat Smyth, Florida Sports Information-
Olivier Levant has spent most of his last two years at Florida in the driver’s seat while on the tennis court, compiling an impressive 38-20 singles record and 33-20 mark in doubles play while holding a national ranking.
But when Florida’s lone senior and captain from Paris, France, was placed in the real driver’s seat -the one resting above four wheels- for the first time in his life last year, he didn’t fare too well.
Levant may have been 20 years old, but last spring was the first time in his life that he had sat behind the wheel of a car and attempted to drive. The public transportation system in Paris was so impressive, Levant said, that he never had the need to take a driver’s education course to get his license. So he never did and instead relied on the city’s subways and buses to get him where he needed to be.
After much coaxing from teammate Ross Greenstein, Levant reluctantly agreed to allow the freshman to give him is first driving lesson. In the deserted parking lot of the Ring Tennis Center one afternoon, Levant settled inside Greenstein’s car, with Greenstein riding shotgun. Levant’s lesson didn’t last too long, and he hasn’t attempted to drive since.
“I was so scared,” Levant recalls. “You don’t understand, I was shaking. I was going only 10 miles per hour and I was too scared to push the gas. [Greenstein] was like ‘push the gas and go up to 20, maybe even 30.’ I was like no, I won’t do it, and I can’t do it. The minute I would push the gas I got so scared that I pushed the brake. It didn’t go too well.”
The dependence on public transportation isn’t the only thing he has brought to Florida from his country, as Levant still has the same work ethic that his father instilled in him at a young age in Paris. Although Levant said many tears were shed on the court when he would go through his father’s demanding training regime, the days spent with his father alone on the court helped get him where he is today.
Bruno Levant had never played competitive tennis before, but when he began to notice the strides his son was making on the court, he took notice. The former track and field athlete was a comical site on the court, Levant said of his father, with his awkward grip of the racquet and the strange way he hit balls. But he was side by side with his son. Teaching him how to win.
“[Parents] are not involved at the beginning when you start playing at six or seven, and they are just like ‘Oh go and enjoy the game,’” Levant said. “Then you get better at nine or ten and they are like ‘Oh, he’s getting better.’”
Levant was improving, and thanks to the mandatory push-ups and running his father required him to do, his conditioning was stronger. Levant’s mental approach to the game also began to change, as a result of his father stressing that winning was the only thing that mattered after a match concluded. Good tennis doesn’t improve rankings, Levant was taught. Winning does.
At times, Levant didn’t want to be on the court playing because he could no longer find enjoyment in the game he loved. While Levant disagreed with his father’s approach, he said it made him tougher and that he understood why his father viewed things the way he did considering he came from a track background.
“Track is only running and it is very painful,” Levant said. “The only real result in track is to do well and have good results. It doesn’t matter if you lose and play good tennis. Losing still is a loss. So we needed to win.”
The wins began to pile up for Levant around the age of 17 as he competed in amateur tournaments throughout France. Family problems made Levant make the decision to leave his home in Paris and enroll in a Tennis Academy in the south of France at 16, and Levant’s game showed the effects of spending every morning and afternoon on the court. The time away from his family woes allowed him to concentrate strictly on tennis, and Levant earned a Top-20 ranking in both singles and doubles play traveling across Europe on the ITF circuit in Juniors’ play.
After turning 18, Levant was faced with a tough decision concerning whether or not he should attempt to play professional. Levant decided to play in a couple of tournaments, but travel expenses and injuries made it difficult. After discussing his options with a friend who was attending Northern Arizona University, Levant decided that his best choice would be to enroll at a university in the United States to learn English and hopefully earn a tennis scholarship. After earning his G.E.D in France, Levant was off to join his friend at Northern Arizona in 1999.
English was nothing new to Levant, and he already had five years of the language under his belt from classes he took at school in France. Levant didn’t put any time into learning English, however, because he never thought he would use the language. He wanted to be an engineer, and didn’t think that this difficult language would ever do him any good.
“I was not able to understand anything on T.V., and I would just watch people talking,” Levant said of his English skills when he came to the U.S. “Maybe one word here or there sometimes, but at the end I would be like ‘what were they talking about?’”
After he became more confident with his verb-use and vocabulary in the English language, Levant sent out letters to many universities inquiring about playing tennis for them on a scholarship. Levant didn’t know if he was good enough to play, and wasn’t sure if any of the schools will call him back.
His apprehensions were calmed when he received calls from each university that he had written. With his friend, Levant began the tedious process of selecting schools. In the end, Pepperdine, Mississippi State, and Florida were his top three choices.
Levant enjoyed his visit to Pepperdine in Malibu, California, but saw one problem.
“People will say there is nothing like too beautiful, but to me [Pepperdine] was,” Levant said. “I’m not from a very rich family, so being around all those people with Jaguars, BMW’s wasn’t going to match with me at all.”
Next up was Mississippi State, where current Florida coach Andy Jackson was coaching and trying to sell Levant on his program. Jackson had known about Levant because Levant had played on the same club team that one of Jackson’s former players did, and the coach thought very highly of him.
“I’d seen him play in the Juniors, and I felt like he was one the best possible recruits in the world,” Jackson said. “I was very excited to have the opportunity to recruit him.”
Levant visited Florida the same weekend he visited Mississippi State, and fell in love with the atmosphere in Gainesville. Florida’s campus and academics appealed to Levant, but he was still very interested in playing for Coach Jackson. With the abundance of French players on Mississippi State’s roster, Levant didn’t feel that he would learn English very well in Starkville. This helped swayed the tennis player to Gainesville.
“[MSU] at the time had like six or seven French players on their team,” Levant said. “I was scared that I was not going to learn to speak English, so maybe that was one of the reasons.”
Jackson is excited to have the opportunity to coach the player he couldn’t coach at Mississippi State, and is looking forward to coaching the senior for the next two years. While Levant is listed as a senior, he still has another year of eligibility and plans to play tennis for Florida next year while studying economics in graduate school.
“I know he can play at a world-class level in college, and there aren’t a lot of guys in college that can do that,” Jackson said. “That’s a big challenge because he has had problems with his knee and balancing school. I am very excited because I know there is at least one guy, probably more, who could for sure play that level once I got down here.”
The patella tendonitis in Levant’s knees appeared for the first time at the end of April last year, and made it hard to keep his balance when he went to the net. Levant said that rehabilitation has helped decrease the pain in his knees, and that he should be able to play pain-free in early January when the team officially begins practice for the 2002 season.
“I was falling all the time and it was very funny for people watching me, but it wasn’t very funny for me,” Levant said, laughing. “I am going to try to make the knees strong to where I don’t have to worry about it coming back anymore, but it is definitely getting better.”
