By: Robert Paul
The girls’ tennis season wrapped up a great season as a team overall, which included two state qualifiers in Sophia Szczap and Megan Markley. Tennis is a sport that requires mental fortitude, and it showed in the back-and-forth match, finishing 6-2, 5-7, and 7-10 super tiebreaker. I interviewed the state qualifiers about participating in the WIAA State Tennis Championship in Madison and the essentials to play tennis at a high level.
In the interview, I asked Sophia about the main differences between playing singles and doubles. She emphasized accountability, saying, “The biggest difference between playing singles and doubles is definitely being held accountable by someone other than yourself. It makes a difference knowing your mistakes and success matter to you as well as your partner.” While explaining the experience at the championship game at Madison, she admired the competition and the talent at the state level, very grateful for sharing a unique experience with Megan.
Meanwhile, Megan discussed that the biggest difference between doubles and singles is the visual of the court. She mentioned, “Another difference in singles is that I can almost always have a clear visual of the whole court and can anticipate where the ball is headed, but with doubles, it’s much harder to do so.” She also called the experience of playing in state a very fun one and nerve-wracking.
While being asked about mental fortitude, Sophia mentioned that it is one of the skills that allows a tennis player to stand out. She highlighted, “Playing really competitive tennis matches requires mental toughness that has taught me a lot over the years about not letting yourself down, and never giving up.” Megan pointed out that concentration and resilience are needed to focus on current points and recover from any errors.
While discussing the evolution of players as seniors, Megan believes that she has gone a long way from when she started. She explained, “I had never really played tennis before I started my freshman year. Now that I am a senior, I can say that I have evolved a lot.” As a senior, Sophia believes that she has evolved from her freshman year; she went from just trying to keep the ball to learning, playing with strategy. She explained how she improved: “I figured out what works for me, what causes me to make mistakes, and fine tuned my technique. The more matches I played, the more experience I gained and the more I learned about the game of tennis and what is essential for success.”
Sophia and Megan both may have made it to the state, but it did not come without hard work and self-adapting to the little things of playing tennis. Playing tennis requires strength and sharpness in both the physical and mental aspects of the game.
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