An Eastern European accent might make Marek Michalicka difficult to understand, but his emergence on the tennis court for the University of Wisconsin men's team this season has made a top finish in the Big Ten Conference believable.

"I think we have a better team than last year with Marek now," said Moritz Baumann, the Badgers' No. 1 singles player who helped UW to a fourth-place conference finish in 2007.

Since joining the team for the spring season, Michalicka, from Ricany, Czech Republic, is 9-0, with most of his wins coming at No. 4 singles.

"I think he's the best No. 4 you can have in the country," Baumann said.

As Michalicka's record indicates heading into Saturday's Big Ten opener against Northwestern at Nielsen Tennis Stadium, the change in scenery and surfaces — clay courts, not hard courts, are common in Europe — hasn't affected him.

Interestingly, the way he handles himself and performs has rubbed off on his more experienced teammates.

"He's a great team guy, because he always comes out and works hard in practice and competes hard and lays it on the line," UW coach Greg Van Emburgh said. "The really great thing about him is he can back it up with his tennis."

Van Emburgh knew the caliber of player he was getting when he recruited Michalicka.

Asked if he knew he'd have this much success to start his college career, the 21-year-old Michalicka chuckled.

"I think I haven't played against any really good opponents, so I've had no problems winning so far," he said.

Nolan Polley, UW's No. 2 singles player, had no idea how talented Michalicka would be.

"It's been a really good surprise to get someone like him," Polley said.

While Michalicka has cruised, the same can't be said of the 28th-ranked Badgers (5-5), who suffered all of their losses in consecutive matches last month — all to ranked teams.

They'll try to reverse that trend against the Wildcats (6-8, 0-2 Big Ten), a team UW hasn't beaten since 1991.

Doubles play has been the focal point of practice this week. During the losing streak, that's where the team struggled, dropping the doubles point every time.

"I feel like if we could have won some of those doubles matches, those doubles points early on that probably would have been the difference in us winning some of those matches as opposed to losing them," Van Emburgh said.