By Amit Mallik
The sun pounded down on the courts of the Vandy Christie Tennis Center on the hottest day of the year. Northwestern was practicing with just one week remaining until the NCAA tournament.
The team finished a long, grueling series of overheads when associate head coach Chris Klingemann challenged them to one more.
Nobody grimaced or even looked upset. The players smiled and jumped right in.
In head coach Arvid Swan's now nine-year tenure, the culture of hard work has become standard fare. It seems like the least kept secret to success, but Swan believes in constant, sustained effort.
"It's important to work hard on a day-in and day-out basis," Swan said. "It was important to stress being competitive in every match and trying to build a 12-month program."
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Swan's approach has paid off. Since Swan took over the program as head coach in 2007, the Wildcats have been on a steady rise. In his second season in 2009, he flipped the team's record from 7-17 to 18-9, posting the highest jump in the national rankings over a one-year period in all of Division I, and also qualifying for the NCAA Tournament.
The team continued its climb the next year when it defeated then-No.18 Alabama to achieve a No. 36 ranking, its highest in five years.
"Early on, I just wanted to build on the last coach [Paul Tortorelli] and continue the success of the program," Swan said. "I worked for him for a number of years. When I coached DePaul and had some success there, I felt ready to take over when I came back."
Swan served as the associate head coach at NU from 2003-06. He left for one season to become the head coach at DePaul, where he posted an 18-7 record one year after the Blue Demons had gone 8-14.
Northwestern had two sub-.500 seasons in 2010 and 2011, but the team resumed its track to current success in the 2011-12 season, when it notched 15 wins and a NCAA tournament berth. The uptick was no coincidence, as Klingemann joined the program in 2011.
Swan proclaimed in November of 2011 that Klingemann would "immediately become one of the top assistant coaches in Division I Tennis." He wasn't wrong.
The Wildcats have qualified for the NCAA Tournament every season since 2012 and steadily improved their national ranking as well. In 2013, they reached as high as No. 18, and last year, they went all the way up to No. 14.
Their meteoric rise entered a new stratosphere this season, as they have posted a program record 25 wins and reached as high as No. 7 in the national rankings, while also being selected to host the opening two rounds of the NCAA tournament. 2016 marks the program's fifth straight NCAA tournament appearance and fourth consecutive 20-win season.
Both Swan and Klingemann were recognized for their accomplishments this year, winning the ITA Midwest Region Coach of the Year and Assistant Coach of the Year, respectively. Clearly, the two have forged a successful partnership.
"He brings tremendous work ethic and the expectation of winning," Swan said of Klingemann. "He prioritizes the team over so many other things in his life. He's a winner and brings that mentality."
Klingemann spent two and a half year years playing professionally on the ATP circuit after four successful seasons at Ohio State University where he helped the Buckeyes win three straight Big Ten championships.
"It all starts with our work ethic," Klingemann said. "We want guys who are never satisfied. We strive for excellence on a daily basis, and we feel like we have that culture with the guys here now."
The coaches' mentality has rubbed off on the players, who have bought into what they call "going about their business the right way." This year, Northwestern has three players ranked in the top-57 nationally in Konrad Zieba, Sam Shropshire and Strong Kirchheimer, who were also each First-Team All-Big Ten selections.
"Coach makes us work really hard, and he doesn't let us have any excuses," Shropshire said. "What he's really good at is understanding how different people work. He's figured out how to coach each of us."
One of the best examples of player growth has been freshman Ben Vandixhorn, who posted a 20-5 record this season. His favorite memory from the season was not a match, but when the team used Navy SEAL training in the fall to bond and build resilience.
"Arvid has helped me mature and develop not just as a player, but as a person," Vandixhorn said. "Chris has also really helped me with my mental toughness, especially as a freshman. It has definitely shown on the court."
Vandixhorn has come up clutch for Northwestern, registering five match-clinching points this season, including the winner over then-No. 8 Illinois in March, which stands out as one of the most monumental wins in recent program history.
"The win against Illinois was just a big win this year for the team and big for our program," Swan said. "Our benchmark is to max out our ability each year, and it feels like we're doing that."
Together, Swan and Klingemann have forged an emerging powerhouse of a tennis program through hard work and a winning mentality. The Wildcats continue to raise their standards and have their eyes now set on just one thing: postseason success.