Ask anyone who’s been around the California men’s and women’s tennis programs the last few years, and they’ll tell you that Andre Goransson looks a lot like his older sister, Annie Goransson, who played for the Cal women’s team.
Andre, 20, now a sophomore on the Cal men’s team, and Annie, 25, aren’t twins, but there are plenty of similarities among the Goranssons’ immediate family members, who hail from Sweden. They all play tennis, and most have played collegiately in the United States.
“There’s a definite resemblance there,” said Cal women’s tennis head coach Amanda Augustus, who coached Annie from 2009-13. “All the kids look a little bit alike. They come from a great family.”
Andre became familiar with Cal tennis through Annie, and he first came to Berkeley several years ago to visit his big sister.“They have a very strong gene working through that family,” Cal men’s tennis head coach Peter Wright said. “There’s a strong family resemblance all the way through there. Andre doesn’t resemble anyone else in that family in terms of his tennis, though. He’s the Frank Sinatra of that family – he’s doing it his way.”
“He was a much smaller, skinnier teenager at the time,” Augustus said of the now 6-3, 187-pund Golden Bear. “He was quiet and just there to see his sister.”
It wasn’t a sure thing that he would follow in her footsteps at Cal. Back when Andre visited Annie, he wasn’t thinking about playing college tennis.
“I was more interested in the women’s team because of my sister,” Goransson said. “I wasn’t really thinking about coming here at that stage. I obviously liked it here. Later when it became a question of whether or not I wanted to come here, I was really interested.”
Sweden-USA Pipeline
“It’s wonderful to have that amount of tennis history in the family and that amount of support from his family as well in terms of understanding what college tennis is all about and what the opportunity is,” Wright said. “That’s one of the reasons that Andre has been able to be so successful here – he understands the opportunities that are here for him, and he’s maximizing it both on the tennis courts and in the classroom. Academically he’s doing a fabulous job.”
Tim Goransson didn’t play collegiately but did play on the pro tour.
“Tim tried to go pro after high school and played for about three years,” Andre said. “He did pretty well. I think he got a little lonely out there, and I think he wasn’t mature enough at that point. During the juniors, you have the federation and all that backing you up. But all of a sudden on the pro tour, you’re pretty much alone. That’s why college tennis is such a good thing to have, if you’re able to play it.”
Andre has a new family of sorts in the Golden Bears, with a touch of home in teammates and fellow Swedes Filip Bergevi and Oskar Wikberg. Goransson knew both back home, through juniors tennis – he played against the similarly aged Bergevi several times back home – and through attending the same high school, Bastad Gymnasium.
Goransson says he has a 16-10 record in his all-time series with Bergevi.
“But he’s getting closer,” Goransson added.
He has gotten the best of Bergevi in their head-to-head battles so far, but who is the best player among the Goranssons?
“When he was at his best, Tim was probably the best,” said Andre Goransson, who is currently the most active player in his family. “In his prime, he was really hard to play. But right now, I hope I would be the best one.”
Sophomore Surge
As a freshman at Cal, Goransson played most of the season at court-four singles, behind senior Ben McLachlan on court one, senior Campbell Johnson on court two and Bergevi on court three. Goransson, who posted a 21-10 singles record, had his share of success, beating Johnson, 6-0, 6-2, to take the singles title at the Battle of the Bay tournament in San Francisco. He captured key victories such as one against Alabama’s Saxon Buehning, 6-4, 4-6, 6-5 (7-3) – to clinch Cal’s 4-2 win over the Crimson Tide in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend at Pepperdine – and one against Junior Ore, 6-3, 6-2, in Cal’s 4-3 upset of Texas A&M in the NCAA tournament’s second round.
In doubles he partnered with Bergevi in the fall. In the spring Goransson paired with McLachlan mostly on court two, and the Bears finished the season with a No. 71 ranking. Among their notable victories was an 8-6 result over the 70th-ranked Harrison Adams/Shane Vinsant in Cal’s postseason upset win at Texas A&M.
But with McLachlan gone and Johnson now an undergraduate assistant coach under Wright, Goransson worked his way up to the top spot in the singles pecking order. As of April 5 he had a 22-9 record, including a 10-4 record on court one, and was ranked 59th in singles.
“Andre has really worked on refining his game,” Wright said. “His game style is not a traditional game style, and he’s difficult to play against. One of the things he’s learned and continues to learn is how to utilize his skill set to make other people uncomfortable. He’s doing a really good job of that this year. As a sophomore, making that move from No. 4 to No. 1 in that year, that’s a big step, and there’s a lot of responsibility. There’ve been bumps along the way, but Andre is handling that as well as possible.
“I see this experience being one that will certainly making him stronger and successful in the future and a team leader in the future for us. But certainly he’s been the one putting in the effort into this whole endeavor, and so he’s reaping the benefits of a tremendous amount of hard work. He’s incredible in all aspects of how he tackles his tennis.”
This season, Goransson reached the round of 16 in the USTA/ITA Northwest Regional Championships and was the runner-up at the Battle of the Bay. When he was ranked 106th in January, Goransson upset the likes of Texas A&M’s then-No. 29 Adams, 6-4, 6-7(2), 6-3, and then-No. 45 Vinsant, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, as well has Harvard’s then-No. 57 Denis Nguyen, 5-7, 6-2, 7-5.
Goransson has also done well in doubles. He pairs with Wikberg, usually on court two. As of April 5, the Swedish pair had compiled a 13-6 record.
Tennis Thespian
Goransson doesn’t have a major yet, though he says he’s interested in sociology and the theater. The prospective thespian is inspired by a theater 10 class he’s taking.
“It’s very pure,” he said. “You get to let it all out. It’s kind of what you have to do on a tennis court as well. You can’t hold back. I can relate to it in that way.”
He has a ways to go before he has to worry about what comes after Berkeley.
“I’m not sure what I want to do after I graduate,” Goransson said. “If I can continue developing as a tennis player, I might consider going pro. But I might have other things I want to pursue. I still have two and a half years here. I like acting; I like the theater. If I can get something in that area, something with acting, I’d be down to do that, too. We’ll see what happens.”
“When you talk about Andre, you talk about someone who’s very serious about what he does and takes his job very professionally, whether it’s in the classroom or on the tennis court,” Wright said. “But also he’s a very interesting guy off the courts, because on some level he’s one of the most entertaining guys we have, one of the funniest guys, yet he’s also a very deep thinker.
“Watching him grow these last two years, it’s been a real privilege to work with him because he’s so motivated to do well. He’s becoming a faster and faster learner in terms of what his goals are with his game, and we really think he’s got a very positive future ahead. It’s exciting to have him as part of the team.”
