Lykke Li and Maccy Ds: Tennis Away Days

What's life on the road like for the university's BUCS tennis players?

The journey to a tennis away match begins long before the team of four squeezes into the AU Sports minibus. It starts in the early morning training sessions, when the walk to practice is so dark the line between 9pm or 7am starts to blur.

The five men’s teams and three women’s teams gather around the dinner table the night before matches for a carb-filled, pesto pasta squad dinner. The kitchen is crowded, the table full, and the conversation lingers long after the food is gone.

When British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) match day comes, every team goes their separate ways — different courts, different matches, different results. With bags zipped up, racquets regripped, and tennis shoes packed tight beneath layers of Saints Tennis kit, the teams are ready.

On travel days across Scotland, you really get to know your teammates — including who can sing, and those who definitely cannot. Lykke Li’s ‘I Follow Rivers’ is belted out as the road to another away match stretches ahead. No two matches are ever the same, but the song always is. Consistency is key in tennis — even if it’s just in the playlist.

The song could play anywhere in the world now, and it would take every St Andrews tennis player back to a motorway somewhere in Scotland, heading towards another match.

Each fixture includes both singles and doubles, with players ranked one to four. Unlike other sports, where matches are timed, you never know whether tennis will last three hours or stretch beyond four. It could be a quick victory or a gruelling tie-breaking battle of mental and physical endurance. Maybe you even take your opponent to the bakery with a bagel (6-0) win.

Victory is always the goal, but in some matches, the mission quickly becomes simpler: avoid the bagel. One game. Just one.

“Allez!” is the team’s favourite on-court chant — the word that brings focus back to the point and connection back to the teammates playing on the courts beside you.

Tennis is unpredictable. Being up 5-1 doesn’t always mean safety; momentum can shift in an instant. Equally, being down 8-2 in a tie-break can sometimes be the best thing that happens. With nothing to lose, you loosen up, swing freely, and somehow make your comeback — 8-6, 8-7, 8-8 — and suddenly, you’re in it again.

Tennis is as much a mental game as it is physical. You play the mind before you play the ball.

At the end of each match day, it’s tradition to write a report where every player earns a nickname.

On the way home, laps are stacked with nuggets and fries after the custom McDonald’s stop. With no golden arches in St Andrews, away matches are the only chance to curb those cravings. Not exactly peak athlete nutrition — but nobody claimed we were professionals.

The commitment, teamwork, and competitiveness — those parts, Saints Tennis takes seriously.

The McDonald’s order is optional; ‘I Follow Rivers’ is not.

Image provided by UStA Tennis