Junior tennis player Susanna Hu said her motivation to play tennis full time was due to thoughts about college, as well as her passion for the sport. 

“I really wanted to participate in tennis in college which made me want to focus on it,” Hu said. “This past season was such a great time, and it helped me realize the passion I have for tennis.”

Hu said the people she is most inspired by are the new players, because of the accomplishments they achieve. 

“The people who try out for tennis who have never played before inspire me the most because so many people think that a person can’t become amazing at a sport if they start late,” Hu said. “The improvements you see over the season by the girls who just joined is inspiring to me because of their incredible development as players.”

Eli Curran-Moore

Tennis coach David Breitenbucher said Hu has grown significantly as a tennis player.  

“Susi’s played singles for us the past few years, and I would say the main growth period is that she’s been very consistent over the past few years, and she’s taken her tennis game to a whole new level,” Breitenbucher said.

Hu said the difficult piece of tennis for her was the repetition, which sometimes causes her to to miss shots. 

“The hardest part of the game is the mentality because of it being a sport with a lot of repetition stroke wise,” Hu said. “The days that frustrate me the most is when I have trouble hitting a shots that I’ve hit consistently in the past.”

Breitenbucher said Hu’s leadership skills, coupled with her passion for the game, will make her an excellent captain next year.  

“Her good leadership skills has really prepared her for next year, but most importantly she cares not only about her tennis game, but about the players and the program,” Breitenbucher said.

According to Breitenbucher, Hu’s good attitude and closeness with the team has made her a good team player.

“(Hu) always comes with a good attitude, and all the girls have a good comradery and she really builds off of that. It really makes the captain’s job easy,” Breitenbucher said. “She’s positive, optimistic, and comes with the right attitude.”

Hu said Breitenbucher pushes her and the team to become more competitive by giving pregame pep talks.

“Coach B has pushed the team by making the team mentality become more competitive and positive,” Hu said. “He always gives us a pep talk before each match and makes us say one thing we need to focus on during the match, I think this helps the teams focus and strive to come out on top.”