Issue link: http://catalog.e-digitaleditions.com/i/724761
33 "I think that got me down in the rankings, and I didn't have the semester to build my ranking up," Cleveland said. "at's where you can be an All- American and all that stuff. I missed out on all that." Cleveland decided to go to work with his brother aer completing his Iowa career instead of chasing professional tennis. "I was a little burned out from tennis because I had taken the fall semester of my senior year off and had played in some professional tournaments," Cleveland said. "I got a taste of what that would be like. At that point in my life it wasn't what I wanted to do." Cleveland had a change of heart four years later. He had watched one of his former Iowa team- mates, Stuart Waters, and saw he was having some success. "I felt like it would be fun to go out and play and travel with him and see what I could do," Cleve- land said. "It was great for the first year, because I was moving up in the rankings fast, I was seeing a lot of progress and was playing better than I ever had in college." But Cleveland started to break down physically from the traveling and wear and tear of 35 tourna- ments a year. He played in his final professional tournament in 2007, then returned to Fairfield and the business world. His Iowa tennis career remains the source of many fond memories. "I look back on those years as some of the best years of my life," Cleveland said. "I had great relationships with teammates and coaches and enjoyed being in Iowa City. Cleveland never hit a plateau in college. He credits his multi-sport high school career for that. "It motivated me to try harder, to practice harder, and to try and get in better shape because when I came in, I wasn't burned out from tennis like a lot of junior players are," Cleveland said "A lot of people had been doing this full-time since they were 12, 13, or 14-years-old, whereas I didn't start until I was 18 so I had a lot of catching up to do." Cleveland made the NCAA Tournament as a sophomore and junior, but missed it as a senior af- ter taking the fall semester off to compete in some professional tournaments.