CLINTON, Miss. (WLBT) - The Mississippi College men's tennis team is having one of the best seasons in program history. The team was ranked as high as fourth in the nation by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, and is currently 17th.

One of the top performers for the Choctaws is freshman Alex Benichou Blanchard. Blanchard is originally from Marseille France, and was studying to be a physical education teacher, but wanted to chase his dream of playing tennis.

"I needed to continue to do something more competitive, to go back to competition and tennis," Blanchard said. "I wanted to keep playing tennis, and if I could do something in a team, that was exactly what I needed here."

Blanchard is in his first year competing in tennis in the United States and has had a successful start to his college career, with a 16-3 record so far.
"The way we play here fits more with my game style," he said. "The game here is kind of slower, more of a grinding game style. The courts are a bit slower, and it fits with my game, because I'm a grinder. I like to stay behind my baseline, kind of run everywhere, and discourage my opponent."

The transition on the court has been easy for Blanchard, and so has the transition off the court, as the people around him have helped him settle into life nearly 5,000 miles away from home.

"Our coach helped me a lot, he's a great person, he helped me a lot to find my place here," Blanchard said. "My teammates are really nice to me too, that was really great, to meet everybody here. We feel good here, we have a good team. There was no hard time with the transition. I love it."

Blanchard is currently ranked third in men's singles in Division-II by ITA. He's happy with the ranking but isn't satisfied with it.