[ColoradoTree]

Our players seem to play/compete better in team matches than individual ones. For example, against UNC's #1 doubles team, Lampl/Yee beat them in the team match and then lost to them in 2 sets in the doubles competition. I think they must feel extra motivation as well as confidence in the team setting.

I think that's exactly right. And what a credit to Lele's coaching that is, really. Might not be the best thing for recruiting some of those top junior players who are deciding between pro tennis and college tennis, but we've still got Nicole Gibbs (peak of #68, now at #116) and Kristie Ahn (peak of #105, currently #173) out there as recent examples of where Stanford can take them in the pro ranks. 

Winning the NCAA singles tournament isn't exactly a perfect predictor of pro success, too. For every Danielle Collins and Nicole Gibbs (both 2x NCAA singles champions; Collins is #33 and the current poster child of former NCAA players in the WTA), you have an Arianne Hartono (currently #663 on tour) and a Brienne Minor (came back to Michigan, pro tennis prospects seem dim). Jamie Loeb won NCAAs in 2015 and she's doing really well, relatively speaking: she's #238 with a peak ranking of #132. 

It's really hard to make a living from tennis period, and while skipping college was obviously the right decision for players like the Williams sisters, Sloane Stephens, Madison Keys, and others, there are hundreds more young men and women who thought they were ready, flirted with the top 200, but never broke through and never made much money from tennis, and now don't have a college degree. (Or you don't have some or most of the credits you need, at least, in the case of someone like Gibbs or Zhao, who left after their junior years, or Laura Granville, who left after her sophomore year, completed her degree after her playing career was done, and is now the head coach at Princeton.)

Anyway, that's a tangent for another day, perhaps, but I think the fact that Lele gets the absolute most out of her players in a team setting is a credit to her and to the character of the people she recruits. Some players can translate that to individual success better than others, but it's pretty clear that no one else can offer the combination of NCAA success and a chance at pro success that Stanford does. And that's without even talking about the 40-year decision! Just from a pure athletic success standpoint, Stanford stands alone in women's tennis.

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FYI, the women's singles semifinals are #1 Perez-Somarriba of Miami vs. UNC's #4, Cameron Morra and #2 Katarina Jokic vs. Duke's #3, Kelly Chen.

[ColoradoTree]

Our players seem to play/compete better in team matches than individual ones. For example, against UNC's #1 doubles team, Lampl/Yee beat them in the team match and then lost to them in 2 sets in the doubles competition. I think they must feel extra motivation as well as confidence in the team setting.

I think that's exactly right. And what a credit to Lele's coaching that is, really. Might not be the best thing for recruiting some of those top junior players who are deciding between pro tennis and college tennis, but we've still got Nicole Gibbs (peak of #68, now at #116) and Kristie Ahn (peak of #105, currently #173) out there as recent examples of where Stanford can take them in the pro ranks. 

Winning the NCAA singles tournament isn't exactly a perfect predictor of pro success, too. For every Danielle Collins and Nicole Gibbs (both 2x NCAA singles champions; Collins is #33 and the current poster child of former NCAA players in the WTA), you have an Arianne Hartono (currently #663 on tour) and a Brienne Minor (came back to Michigan, pro tennis prospects seem dim). Jamie Loeb won NCAAs in 2015 and she's doing really well, relatively speaking: she's #238 with a peak ranking of #132. 

It's really hard to make a living from tennis period, and while skipping college was obviously the right decision for players like the Williams sisters, Sloane Stephens, Madison Keys, and others, there are hundreds more young men and women who thought they were ready, flirted with the top 200, but never broke through and never made much money from tennis, and now don't have a college degree. (Or you don't have some or most of the credits you need, at least, in the case of someone like Gibbs or Zhao, who left after their junior years, or Laura Granville, who left after her sophomore year, completed her degree after her playing career was done, and is now the head coach at Princeton.)

Anyway, that's a tangent for another day, perhaps, but I think the fact that Lele gets the absolute most out of her players in a team setting is a credit to her and to the character of the people she recruits. Some players can translate that to individual success better than others, but it's pretty clear that no one else can offer the combination of NCAA success and a chance at pro success that Stanford does. And that's without even talking about the 40-year decision! Just from a pure athletic success standpoint, Stanford stands alone in women's tennis.

---

FYI, the women's singles semifinals are #1 Perez-Somarriba of Miami vs. UNC's #4, Cameron Morra and #2 Katarina Jokic vs. Duke's #3, Kelly Chen.