Enzo Garutti, a junior tennis player from Sao Jose do Rio Preto, Brazil, had a dream of coming to America to pursue his love for the sport. He would spend hours in his room teaching himself English to make this dream a reality. "I just started studying English by myself because the economy in Brazil was down. I started teaching tennis lessons to get some money to pay for the test needed. Then I studied English seven hours a day," said Garutti.

Adapting to a New Environment

When Garutti first arrived in Augusta, his English wasn't the best. But as he spent time here and engaged in conversations, he's almost completely fluent now. He had many school options but is happy he chose AU and is experiencing life in the south. "I think among the offers I received it was the best one that I got. I just felt like in my heart, that it was supposed to be," he said.While he loves it here, being away from his family has been a challenge. "I'm not going to lie it's very tough you know, sometimes I wake up and I'm missing them a lot," Garutti said. Luckily, his family visited him last summer and he got to show them around. He'll also be going home for the Christmas break and is excited to be reunited with them, especially to enjoy the delicious Brazilian food. "The Brazilian food. Oh, my God. It's the best. Sorry if this hurts but the quality from Brazil, it's better you know," he said.Garutti has some favorite places to eat around here like Panda Express, Chipotle, Krispy Kreme, and Chick-fil-a. He mainly goes to these places on weekends when he can have a cheat day from his normal healthier eating habits.In his free time, Garutti loves to go to the gym. Even when he doesn't need to be there, he enjoys a good workout. He also reads, plays video games, and still enjoys playing soccer. Growing up, he played both tennis and soccer. In fact, he prefers to watch soccer games over tennis when he can. But he had to choose which one he wanted to focus on. "I think I chose tennis because it's individual. And I'm that competitive guy, you know. I always have been that, very disciplined and focused guy," he said.When coming to America, Garutti had to adjust to the fact that there are no clay courts here. It was a challenge at first, but he happily accepted it and is still performing his best on the courts.One of his favorite memories here so far was during his freshman year. It was the match he won playing against North Georgia in the semifinals. The team's score was tied at three and his match decided who would advance. "I lost the first set and then I came back with a win in the second and third set. When I won that match, I just fell on the floor, and everybody came to hug me. This was a huge moment for us because I think it had been eight years that Augusta didn't win a round in the conference," he said.This will be a moment Garutti and his teammates will always remember. With his third season coming up in the spring, he hopes to have even more similar moments.While tennis got him where he is now, Garutti still takes his school seriously. He's majoring in business administration with a double major in financial services and marketing. He wants to be the best version of himself and is always willing to learn how to be that person. He's a guy with a good heart and he wants others to know that as well.