30178: Hermantin(News)FAU tennis team captain also plays for native Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Posted on Sun, Mar. 11, 2007reprint or license print email
PLANTATION
FAU tennis team captain also plays for native Haiti
Haiti's tennis federation selected Olivier Sajous, who has been living in 
Plantation, to represent the country again at the Davis Cup.

BY MARVIN GLASSMAN

Special to The Miami Herald
Like many former Haitians, Olivier Sajous came to live in the United States to 
fulfill his dreams of a better life. But unlike others, Sajous did not have to 
seek political asylum or even lose ties with Haiti.

Thanks to his tennis skills, Sajous, now 20 and living in Plantation, was 
selected by Haiti's tennis federation to represent his country in the Davis 
Cup, an international team event, even if he does live in the United States.

Sajous has represented Haiti in Davis Cup since he was 16.

''Being in the United States has nothing to do with politics for me, so I don't 
feel anything but proud of playing for Haiti in the Davis Cup,'' he said.

Sajous does not comment on either the 1980s dictatorship of Jean-Claude 
Duvalier or the 1991 and 2004 ousters of elected leader Jean-Betrand Aristide, 
which accounted for the exile of many former Haitians to South Florida. But he 
does admit that had he continued to live in Haiti, his progress in tennis would 
have been curtailed.

''There is an attitude in Haiti that you are on your own to make your 
success,'' he said. ``I was not given the advice or coaching help that I have 
now to improve my ranking and ability to compete. When I lived in Haiti, nobody 
seemed to care if I progressed or not.''

Sajous' parents have lived with him in Plantation since 2005. A few years ago, 
when they were still living in Haiti, his mother was kidnapped.

''There have been an increase in kidnappings in Haiti over the past few years, 
but my mother, thank goodness, is safe now,'' Sajous said. ``I don't know all 
the details, but her kidnapping had nothing to do with politics.''

After arriving in the United States, Sajous started working with Mike Daley, 
who has been his coach for the past four years.

''What I saw right away in Olivier is the sense of pride and willingness to 
fight for every point. He is fast, has good ground strokes, but it is his 
mental toughness that makes him an elite tennis player,'' Daley said.

Sajous has been so good at tennis that he was awarded an athletic scholarship 
to Florida Atlantic University, where he is seeded as the top player on the 
tennis team. In the latest college team rankings in men's singles, the freshman 
is No. 63, the highest individual ranking for an FAU player.

''I've never coached a player who loves the game more,'' FAU coach David Kromie 
said. ``Olivier's happiness is contagious, and I'm sure that is a big part of 
why he was voted team captain.''

Sajous won seven matches in a 128-player prequalifying event in November to 
allow him to compete in qualifying at the recent Delray Beach International 
Tennis Championships. Although Sajous lost in the tournament's qualifying round 
to Switzerland's Michael Lammer, he put up a good effort, winning four games in 
a row after trailing 0-4 in the second set.

''His ability not to ever quit when he easily could have in the match makes him 
endure. . . . Olivier will have a good career in tennis,'' Daley said.

Sajous is studying architecture and is equally proud of his 3.5 grade-point 
average as of his tennis prowess.

''I hope to elevate FAU to new heights,'' Sajous said. ``We have good players 
and could be in the top 30 in the nation.''

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