Love, serving and faults don’t seem like words to be used in tennis, but instead words one would hear in a 2000s romcom, right?
Wrong.
Using romantic terminology adds a beautiful, poetic touch to the game itself. It can remind us that even amid competition, women’s tennis still has room for passion, fun and even a bit of romance.
While Texas women’s tennis athletes don’t always get to choose their doubles partner, they can still build chemistry on the court and communicate well.
Last week, juniors Rose Marie Nijkamp and Carmen Andreea Herea partnered up to compete in the W50 Austin Drop Short Pro Tennis Open.
This past weekend was only the second time the pair has played together, with their first time being at the ITA All-American Championships in September, where they played four huge rounds before falling to the University of North Carolina pair in the semifinals.
“We had to straight up be alert and be ready for our first doubles together,” Nijkamp said after the ITA All-American Championships. “But honestly, we didn’t have any problems. Like right away we communicated well. We knew how to switch, so it was pretty easy actually.”
Despite this being only the pair’s second time playing doubles together professionally, their on-court chemistry made the match hard to look away from. However, the official draw and results didn’t necessarily match their on-court energy.
Watching singles matches is just as fun and compelling — where the focus is strictly on skill. It’s about who can move quicker and whose set is better. But doubles tennis isn’t solely focused on skill, and players also have to balance communication, chemistry and support.
Of course the pair wanted to win, but their real goal was to keep the ball in play and support one another instead of crushing the other opponents.
The Longhorns started their match at around 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Watching the match play out was fun and exciting for spectators, the same feeling one gets from watching a typical romcom. Spectators even gasped as Nijkamp and Herea covered each other’s weak spots in close rallies, calling out “I got it” to communicate through their mistakes. And for a second, time stopped as the pair came together to adjust their strategy after each round.
While Nijkamp and Herea didn’t make it past the first round in last week’s W50 Austin tournament, their partnership will take time and commitment to grow, just like any relationship.
Doubles tennis is no different.
