As a freshman and a member of the women’s tennis team, how do you make a name for yourself?
Try winning a professional tournament.
That is exactly what Lindsey Hardenbergh, a freshman out of Fairfax Station, Va., did in the fall season. Hardenbergh defeated four opponents, including the tournament’s top seed and then-world No. 581 Allie Will, en route to winning the Dwight Davis/Merrill Lynch Championships on the USTA Pro Circuit. She defeated third-seeded and then-world No. 614 Anda Perianu 7-5, 7-6 in the final Oct. 19.
“I didn’t even know if I was going to get in the tournament,” Hardenbergh said. “I think I just wanted it more than anyone else.”
Now, with Virginia playing host in its spring season debut this weekend at the annual U.Va. Winter Invitational at the Boyd Tinsley Courts at the Boar’s Head Sports Club, Hardenbergh will try to make her presence felt as a Cavalier.
“I think the sky’s the limit for someone like a Lindsey,” Virginia coach Mark Guilbeau said. “Everything that Lindsey does is genuine ... If Lindsey’s gonna go from here to that door to get some treatment, she’s gonna do it with some serious intensity.”
And, Guilbeau added, the tennis isn’t bad either.
“She’s extremely quick in terms of the effort that she gets to move to the ball,” he said. “She’s got probably one of the best serves in college tennis. She’s got a great forehand — good from the ground, period.”
Hardenbergh was a top-30 recruit in the country according to tennisrecruiting.net, although she noted that her junior rankings “weren’t as impressive.” Her win on the professional circuit, however, has raised a few eyebrows — including her own.
“When I won that pro tournament, it showed me what I was capable of,” Hardenbergh said. “I’d like to be ranked nationally by the end of my first year and just see how good I can get.”
While Hardenbergh is certainly the leader of the pack of three freshman currently listed on the roster — and Guilbeau noted that the team is attempting to add a fourth if she can become eligible — fellow freshmen Emily Fraser and Claire Bartlett also boast impressive junior resumes. Fraser was ranked as high as No. 23 nationally and Bartlett as high as No. 6, and the two even paired off as a doubles team at the ITF Grasscourt Championships in summer 2007, making the finals. The competition with her peers, along with some veteran leadership from senior Amanda Rales — “I kind of try to take the freshmen and the newcomers under my wing,” Rales said — was exactly the preparation Hardenbergh needed for the victory in her pro debut.
“I really came in here trying to work hard, and then Emily and Clare, the other freshmen, they’re such accomplished players, so it really helped being able to hit with them,” Hardenbergh said. “I’d be out there at the pro tournament playing girls, and I’d say, ‘Oh this girl doesn’t have Emily’s forehand, OK.’ I was seeing things that my teammates were always giving me.”
It also didn’t hurt that when Hardenbergh arrived at Virginia, Guilbeau and assistant coach Troy Porco worked to put Hardenbergh at a level of fitness she said she had never reached before.
“We were out there on the track,” Hardenbergh said. “I’ve definitely been keeping up over the winter, but it’s definitely a challenge to get back into shape.”
Now, Hardenbergh is chomping at the bit to show the college tennis world that the pro win was no fluke — and, as one might expect, she has her eyes on the top dog this weekend at the U.Va. Winter Invitational.
“I know that the No. 1 player in the country is gonna be here, so maybe I’ll get a chance to be on the court with her,” Hardenbergh said.
The player she referred to is senior Aurelija Miseviciute of Arkansas, and it wouldn’t be the first time she faced off with the Lithuanian No. 1 — Hardenbergh noted that she played a practice set with Miseviciute a short time ago.
“I lost 7-5,” she said. “I was actually up 5-4, and I could not finish it out.”
But, she added, she was not quite at the top of her game — “We’re still getting the rust off,” she said.
Now that Hardenbergh has had a couple weeks to work out the kinks, knocking off the best player in the nation this weekend would be another way to make herself known.
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