Duarte Vale: "Using this time to get better."
Junior Duarte Vale weighs in on the year and his mindset heading into the summer and '20-'21 season.
Carroll Rich
5/1/2020
Upon a huge improvement in 2019, Duarte Vale had revealed the best tennis of his career for the Gators, reaching career-high singles rankings as high as 11th in the nation throughout the 2019-20 season. Entering the program with an abundance of success at the juniors level, Vale strived to return to that prominence in recording a team-high 14-2 dual singles record (4-0 SEC) while also becoming a prominent threat on the doubles court with a 10-2 dual doubles record (3-0 SEC) alongside Josh Goodger. Despite the season's untimely demise, Duarte - a two-time ITA All-American in both singles and doubles - continues to keep a positive outlook in hopes of better things to come in the future, knowing the potential to do great things on the court for the Gators still lies ahead.
Take a look below, as Duarte details the transition into his junior year competing for Florida, while reflecting on the season and how its repercussions will prepare him for next fall and spring.
Vale opened the fall season on a remarkable 13-0 singles run through three tournaments to start - claiming singles titles at the Seahawk Fall Invite, Southern Intercollegiate Championships and ITA Southeast Regional Championships.
During that stretch, ranked at No. 52 in the nation in singles, the Cascais, Portugal native recorded six wins over players ranked within the top 85 of the ITA Individual National Rankings.
(Above) Vale after claiming singles title at the Southern Intercollegiate Championships [first] and ITA Southeast Regional Championships [second].
What has your mindset been like going into summer training these past two years?
I mean, I had a very disappointing first season here. You know, I was a top-10 recruit … I was one of the best juniors, ranked No. 14 in the world, and I had a lot of expectations and I massively underachieved. That was really tough on me. I just hit a very low point and that gave me a huge chip on my shoulder.Duarte Vale
Once I finally got over that hump, my mentality and the way I compete in matches … going through that just gave me a lot more will and fire. I just didn’t want to let anybody or the coaches down. I used that like, ‘I never want to feel like that again’, so, that really pushed me to work harder, to never give up on matches and to compete as hard as I can.Duarte Vale
How have you seen that mentality translate into the past two seasons?
My sophomore year, I was playing low in the lineup because of the bad year I had the year before. I didn’t lose much [sophomore year], I think I lost like one match and won like 13 in a row. But, I was winning by competing. My level wasn’t necessarily that good, but I was just competing hard.Duarte Vale
And then this year, I had a good talk with the coaches as to where I wanted my game to be … which was to be an aggressive player, to dictate play and go after my opponent instead of just grinding and running after balls.
Vale was the most improved player in dual singles after posting a 5-11 record his freshman year in 2018 and then amassing a 15-1 record his sophomore year in 2019.
He went a perfect 9-0 in SEC singles, playing mainly at the No. 5 and 6 spots, while recording overall records of 22-8 in singles and 18-12 in doubles. Additionally, Vale ended the 2019 season on a 13-match winning streak in singles.
So, going into my junior year, I really focused and worked hard on being as aggressive as I can and that’s paid off massively for me. I’ve committed 100 percent to that game style and, again, with that chip on my shoulder, I just didn’t want to lose any matches.Duarte Vale
Changing my game style to become a more aggressive player has really helped me go from winning a lot of matches last year at No. 5 and No. 6 to stepping up to No. 3 and No. 2 and winning matches there. That increased my level a lot.
Over the past two seasons, Vale is 29-3 in dual singles and 13-0 in SEC competition.
| Season | Dual Singles | SEC Singles |
| '18-'19 | 15-1 | 9-0 |
| '19-'20 | 14-2 | 4-0 |
| TOTAL | 29-3 | 13-0 |
How did the season’s cancellation affect you personally, given the hard work put in and success you were seeing this year?
For me, I tried to think about it like there’s a lot more things going on in the world. People are getting sick and dying, so I just tried to have that mindset. Obviously, I was disappointed … you just want to keep playing, especially if you’re in a good momentum and you’re playing well. You just want to keep grinding and see what you can do.Duarte Vale
Vale was riding a five-match win streak in singles (including three wins over top-125 ranked opponents) and a three-match win streak in doubles heading into Florida's weekend matchups with Georgia and Tennessee on Friday, Mar. 13, and Sunday, Mar. 15.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, on Friday, Mar. 13, the SEC suspended all athletic activities until at least April 15.
On Tuesday, March 17, the SEC suspended all athletic activities for the remainder of the 2019-20 athletic year.
I was very excited to see what I could do for the rest of the season. But, you just got to put things in perspective and that’s what I try to do. I kind of told myself, ‘Whatever happens, I just got to make the most of what the situation is’, you know. I think the coaches did a really great job of talking to the team and kind of putting things in perspective in making us see the positive.Duarte Vale
Any specific moments from this season that personally stick out to you?
Probably when we played Wake Forest at [ITA National Team] Indoors. I had lost the day before against North Carolina and I was playing a very good player from Wake Forest. I mean, it was tough from beginning to end. Three-setter, coming off a loss the day before … the guy wasn’t going away and I was down in the third set.Duarte Vale
UF made their first appearance since 2012 in the ITA National Team Indoor quarterfinals, as the fifth-seeded Gators would clinch a 4-0 decision over No. 9 Columbia in first round action at the Nielsen Tennis Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin.
The Gators then fell to No. 5 UNC prior to finishing the weekend 2-1 for the first time since 2010 with a comeback 4-1 victory over No. 6 Wake Forest.
Just the circumstances around that match and everything and I clinched it for the team. So, against a top-10 team in a three-setter in a big tournament also at National Indoors … that’s probably the moment I’m most proud of because of all the circumstances.Duarte Vale
COMEBACK COMPLETE ???
— Gators Men's Tennis (@GatorsMTN) February 17, 2020
#11 @DuarteMVale clinches on 3?? over @WakeMTennis’ Taha Baadi in three sets, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, for his team-high ??th W of the year ??
?? 1 | ?? 4 #GatorWayBestWay | #WeChomp ???? pic.twitter.com/FhVZMAg7Xt
(Above) Vale's match-clincher over No. 6 Wake Forest. [via @GatorsMTN]
Top-10 team, National Team Indoors, coming back from a loss … three-setter, coming back in the match itself. I feel like that match probably proved to myself that I was mentally tough and it was cool to come out on top of that match.
The resiliency the team was able to show in bouncing back from losses was somewhat of a theme of the season.
Coming off the Texas A&M loss, how did you and the team feel going into Georgia-Tennessee weekend?
100 percent, I felt we were going to get the job done. Coming back from losses, personally, I thought I was going to win. I thought the team was going to win. I think coach [Shelton] did a fantastic job with managing the Texas A&M loss, and he always does.Duarte Vale
The coaches - every one - do a great job managing losses and making sure we bounce back and I think everybody was ready.
After each of Florida's losses on the year, the Gators used to the results as fuel to the fire in bouncing back on track with vengeful confidence:
LOSS: Florida fell to No. 2 Texas, 5-2, at the Alfred A. Ring Complex on Weds., Jan. 15.
EFFECT: The Gators responded by rattling off an eight-match win streak, including a top-10 win over No. 9 Columbia, heading into the ITA National Team Indoors quarterfinals.
LOSS: No. 5 North Carolina went on to defeat the Gators, 4-0, in the ITA Indoors quarterfinals on Sat., Feb. 15 - exactly one month after the Texas loss.
EFFECT: The Gators then retaliated with a comeback victory over No. 6 Wake Forest to conclude ITA National Team Indoors, followed by pushing a five-match win streak that included four consecutive sweeps (Alabama; Auburn-Mercer; LSU) to open SEC play 3-0 prior to Texas A&M.
We’re kind of building a culture that, individually and as a group, we look at losses as the best thing that could happen to you. That’s how we looked at losing to UNC. If you look at those moments and think like, ‘Man, this is exactly what I needed to get better’ … then, you’re going to get better. You’re going to get the most out of it. I think that’s what we tried to do individually and as a team.Duarte Vale
Texas A&M was very tough, we weren’t expecting it. We weren’t expecting losing that match. But, that week of practice, I mean we were fired up. Those were two teams – Georgia and Tennessee – that we were ready to beat.
Throughout your career, your doubles partners have mostly been McClain Kessler ‘19 or Andy Andrade.
What was it like pairing up with Josh Goodger and, after seeing success early on, what did you see in how you complimented each other?
The thing is, you have to have good chemistry with your partner. I think that’s the most important thing. If you get along with your partner, it makes things easier. We’re all so close on the team that that’s how I’ve played with three different partners, and each one has been pretty successful because everyone’s so close.Duarte Vale
Adding to that, Josh is a great doubles player. He’s lefty, has great energy, he gets hyped up and I love to get hyped up. And I think, overall, the combination of lefty-righty, we both have good energy … he’s a good doubles player and I know what I’m doing on the doubles court too. So, it was just a good recipe for success I would say.Duarte Vale
What’s your biggest takeaway from this season and how can/will you apply it into next year’s approach?
The main thing we can all take away from this is, you know, don’t take your time on the court for granted. You never know what’s going to happen. After the Texas A&M match, we all thought we were going to have an opportunity to keep playing, and we didn’t. So, that just tells you like when you’re on the court, instead of focusing on the negative, focus on the positives.Duarte Vale
The biggest positive is that you get the opportunity to be on the court and you get the opportunity to be competing. So, that is certainly something that I’m going to take away with me for the fall and spring. It’s like, man, I get to play tournaments, I get to play matches, I get to practice with the team. So, look at that from the positive standpoint.Duarte Vale
The other thing is, even though this was a setback for the whole world, you can look at this time to get better and work on the things that you need to work on and come out better, you know. When the virus goes away, we can be better than we were by using this time the right way and those are probably the two things that I’m trying to keep on my mind right now as we go through this … Use this to get better and then remember, when we get back to competition and practice, to take nothing for granted.Duarte Vale
