Hernandez overpowers 49ers

Sophomore North Carolina men’s tennis player Jose Hernandez worked on his return game, serving, volleying and backhand in the offseason.

Just about everything except his forehand.

He showed why his forehand needed little work Sunday, leading the Tar Heels to a commanding 7-0 victory against UNC-Charlotte with his powerful baseline game.

Hernandez opened the afternoon with an 8-4 doubles victory with partner Brennan Boyajian, but his power was most on display in his 6-0, 6-1 singles victory against Charles Martin-Lecamp.

Hernandez overpowered Martin-Lecamp from the first point, using his forehand to rocket deep shots that were difficult to return.

But Hernandez wasn’t just beaming the ball to any area of the court he could find — he used his power to exploit Martin-Lecamp’s weak backhand side.

“I knew he had a weaker backhand, so I was punishing his backhand with my deep forehand,” Hernandez said. “It turned out pretty well.”

The pace on Hernandez’s forehand gave Martin-Lecamp little time to set up his returns, giving Hernandez plenty of short balls to put away for winners.

But even when he has an open court to hit a winner, Hernandez doesn’t hold back. In fact, he puts even more oomph into his finishing shots.

“I try to give more power when I have an easier ball, when the ball is in the middle of the court,” Hernandez said.

To add insult to his domination of Martin-Lecamp, Hernandez’s powerful strokes were also hitting lines and corners — even though he says he wasn’t aiming for them.

“I don’t like to hit the lines. I got lucky that they were in,” Hernandez said. “It’s too risky, I like to play with margin.

“I’d rather hit two extra balls and create more damage to the guy than risk the shot and miss it.”

Either way, Hernandez was putting on a show, showcasing a lethal combination of power and accuracy.

The rest of the team is used to the difficulty of playing Hernandez, who doesn’t have to sacrifice power for accuracy and vice versa.

“I’ve practiced with him quite a bit and it’s really tough,” senior Stefan Hardy said.

“You kind of just have to react to him because he’s hitting so hard and so precise that it’s difficult to really get a decent shot off because you’re always on the defense.”

Even when Martin-Lecamp was serving, Hernandez was always on offense, pummeling forehands from the baseline and finishing with winners down the line.

Hernandez’s only slip-up came in the second-to-last game of the match, when Martin-Lecamp finally held his serve to get on the board 6-0, 5-1.

But Hardy said it wasn’t because Martin-Lecamp had finally figured out how to contain Hernandez’s power.

“He just got lucky,” Hardy said.

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@dailytarheel.com.