This feature originally appeared in the Spring edition of the Cal Sports Quarterly. The Cal Athletics flagship magazine features long-form sports journalism at its finest and provides in-depth coverage of the scholar-athlete experience in Berkeley. Printed copies are mailed four times a year to Bear Backers who give annually at the Bear Club level (currently $600 or more). For more information on how you can receive a printed version of the Cal Sports Quarterly at home, send an email to calbearbackers@berkeley.edu or call (510) 642-2427.
By Dean Caparaz ’90, Cal Athletic Communications
Gregory Bayane is the prototypical Golden Bear.
On the tennis court, he’s a doubles All-American who reached the NCAA quarterfinals last season and was the Bears' No. 3 singles player for most of this season.
He’s also smart. A product of Meaux, France, Bayane has compiled a 3.64 GPA and was named to the 2015 Capital One Academic All-District At-Large Team and is a two-time member of the Pac-12 All-Academic first team. His success helped men’s tennis produce the best GPA – 3.3 – of any Cal men’s team in the fall of 2014.
Bayane – who graduated this spring – lauds head coach Peter Wright for creating an atmosphere in which he and his teammates can excel.
“Along with being a great tennis coach, Peter cares about us and who we’re going to become later in our lives,” Bayane said. “He cares a lot about school, and he gives us time to study on the road as well as at home. Everything is scheduled to balance tennis and academics.”
“He takes it to another level,” Wright said of his studious senior. “We were laughing and joking with him that if we were on a roller coaster, Greg would have a book open and be reading. Greg is a hard-working and driven person both on the courts and off the courts. He’s done an incredible job graduating in three and a half years. He is a fantastic player. He’s a fantastic student. But most importantly he’s a fantastic teammate.”
Bayane began playing tennis at 3-and-a-half years old. The Frenchman, who grew up idolizing professional players Juan Carlos Ferrero and Andy Roddick, soon excelled in the sport.
He decided to play collegiately in the United States, and Bayane’s father wanted him to go to Texas initially.
“I don’t think his dad had been to the United States yet, and he really thought cowboys were cool,” Wright recounted. “But Greg decided to come to Berkeley, which we were really excited about.”
In doubles, Bayane and teammate Chase Melton initially struggled to become the Bears’ No. 3 doubles tandem. But the pair improved enough to cap the 2013-14 season with a run to the NCAA quarterfinals and a No. 19 final ranking.
He didn’t become a cowboy and he won’t become an engineer – a brief aspiration – either. But the economics major hopes to one day pursue an MBA and perhaps a career in banking after trying his hand as a pro player first.
“I’m really interested in understanding how the world works as far as finance and trades,” he said. “But I think I’m going to play tennis still. I want to give it a chance.”
“Greg is the type of player who can play on the pro level,” Wright said. “Sometimes his biggest enemy is he’s such a perfectionist, and he doesn’t tolerate mistakes very well. Tennis players tend to make a lot of mistakes; that’s part of the game. Over the years he’s become better at accepting himself for who he is and sometimes for the mistakes he makes on the court. That level of maturity and that level of growth will help him as he pursues the dream of becoming a professional tennis player.”
