From Tajikistan to Russia to Auburn, Tigers ace Hamza Nasridinov is right where he wants to be — and undefeated in SEC play
Though he’s held a lifelong dream of playing pro tennis, Auburn’s Court 1 player says, “I’m just trying to be present.” His long journey has brought him to the Plains, and he’s enjoying it.
Years ago, when he was a young man in his early 20s just after graduating from Tajik University, Mirzomuddin Nasridinov left Tajikistan to work in Russia. Migrant work is common in the region, given the economic dynamics in the region after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Especially for people in the former Soviet republics, like Tajikistan, finding economic opportunity in Russia is still commonplace.
But what he found there wasn’t so commonplace: His son today, Hamza Nasridinov, says Mirzomuddin just happened to get a job cleaning at a tennis club in Russia. Watching them play first from afar, he fell in love with the sport. And, somewhere along the line, he must have seen what tennis did for the players there, and thought he wanted that for his own loved ones one day.
“My parents say I was basically born on a tennis court,” Hamza Nasridinov, Auburn’s standout sophomore, puts it in his own words. “My dad, he was just a normal worker, like, cleaning a tennis club in Russia. And then he just fell in love with tennis. And he was like, ‘I really want my son to be a tennis player.’ So, yeah, he just dreamed about it. I didn’t really choose tennis; tennis probably chose me. But I don’t regret it. I really enjoy playing tennis.”
Hamza’s dad later moved back to Tajikistan, and started a family in Nurek that would eventually include Hamza and his four siblings. As Hamza grew up and started to show prowess on the court, displaying the coordination earned from practicing and playing with his dad — and also starting to show raw speed on the court that Auburn coach Bobby Reynolds says is “God-given” — it was time for the son to follow part of his dad’s journey.
In search of better opponents to play with and opportunities to improve his game even more, Hamza and his dad moved to Russia together during his upbringing, living separately from his mom and siblings, to continue to chase the dream.
“It’s not really a popular sport in Tajikistan — back then. It’s getting popular now, day by day, but at that moment it was not really popular in Tajikistan,” Nasridinov explained. “It was essentially just wrestling, fighting, these types of things are popular, but not tennis. But I’m really glad that now it’s more popular.
“Back then, we decided to move to Russia because there’s not a lot of great players (in Tajikistan). I just didn’t have anyone to play with. So, yeah, we decided to move to Russia — a great decision, because Russia has a lot of incredible players. It was one of the best decisions.”
Nasridinov was playing in Russia and at the Russian University of Sport in Moscow when he was recruited by Auburn. A 5-foot-7 underdog uprooting himself to move to yet another country yet another time to the United States, he climbed from playing on Court 5 or Court 4 for Auburn last season to now as a sophomore playing on Court 1 for the Tigers — the team’s ace. This past fall, he became the first native of Tajikistan ever to play in the men’s singles NCAA Tournament, winning in the first round and advancing to the round of 32.
This spring, Auburn is 3-1 so far in the SEC going into today’s match at 1 p.m. at Vanderbilt, and Nasridinov is 3-0 in his conference singles matches — and he was leading by a set in his fourth match, against Alabama, when the team clinched and his match was left unfinished as the Tigers celebrated a 4-0 rivalry win over the Tide.
“I’m really happy that I’m here with the guys on the team,” Nasridinov said on the indoor courts at Yarbrough Tennis Center, moments after that celebration last weekend. “They’re great guys. I feel like they’re just my family. On the bad days and the good days, they’re always with me, supporting me.
“Great guys, great teammates, and I’m really happy to be a part of this team.”
‘Electric’ on the court
Under the lights in Auburn’s first road match in conference play at Tennessee, it all came down to Nasridinov: The match was tied 3-3 with only Nasridinov’s match at Court 1 left playing, with him and his opponent battling into the third set. Tied 4-4 in the third set, Nasridinov picked up a massive break to go up 5-4 with a chance to serve it out — then held to 15 to win the match for Auburn and send his teammates jumping for joy.
He won 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.
Against Florida, the 5-foot-7 Nasridinov was matched up against the Gators’ 6-foot-6 Henry Jefferson. On match point, Jefferson moved closer to the net, compacting the court to close Nasridinov in and make his wingspan even more formidable — but Nasridinov still managed to get to a drop shot and send it past Jefferson’s outstretched racket to win it 6-4, 6-4.
“He’s one of the most electric players that I’ve seen, you know?” Auburn head coach Bobby Reynolds said of Nasridinov.
Even the untrained eye sees that out on the court. Nasridinov uses his speed to cover the court well, despite his small size, and Reynolds says it’s what he does when he gets to the ball that’s truly special.
“There’s nobody that I’ve seen in a long time that moves and strikes the ball as well as he does,” Reynolds explained. “He’s always on balance. And the amount of power that he has generating off such a small frame, is really amazing to see.
This video illustrates how Nasridinov covers ground on the court, moving from sideline to sideline and back again during a winning point against Alabama.
“When he’s in the right headspace and he’s really competing and focused, there’s not a lot of guys in the country that I would put up against him to beat him. He’s still growing, in maturity, and figuring out how he wants to play in really X’s and O’s, but it’s neat to see.”
Reynolds figures Nasridinov is one of the best pure ball-strikers in the country, and there’s one more difference-maker for Nasridinov: His split step.