By Ajah Yee (@ajah_yee):
She aligns her feet at the baseline with her right hand firmly gripping the racket handle.
Her left hand holds the ball with ease and tenderness as her eyes scan the other side of the court.
She pictures exactly where to land the ball. Taking a deep breath, she draws back the racket, tosses the ball — and in midair — the face of the racket pounds on the spiraling ball with a snap of her wrist.
Although new to the Spartans’ tennis team, freshman Savannah Sendar is no stranger to the courts.
At the age of 8, Sendar began her tennis career in her hometown of Horn, Netherlands — tucked between the edges of Belgium and Germany. Her love for sports wasn’t limited to only tennis.
“I just love sports in general,” Sendar said. “I started off playing volleyball, then I started playing soccer with it.”
It was not until her mother started playing tennis that Sendar chose to follow in her footsteps.
“I always went to the court with her and at some point I just fell in love,” she said.
Trying to juggle three sports kept Sendar busy until she decided to drop volleyball and soccer to make the tennis courts her stomping ground.
Her decision paid off, as she ranked in the top-80 in Dutch singles and doubles by high school, according to SlamStox.com.
“I didn’t expect myself to be that high in Dutch rankings,” Sendar said. “But I’m really happy with it.”
She also never believed she would come to the U.S. to play for a Division l team in tennis, let alone be the only undefeated singles player for SJSU this season.
With an overall record of 14-4 in her first campaign with the Spartans, Sendar is on an incredible run with a nine-match win streak in singles, earning a recent bump to No. 1 doubles with senior Sybille Gauvain.
While the humble Sendar may not have expected her athletic talents to shine immediately, her teammate, freshman Jackie Wagner, definitely did.
“I think she’s doing great,” Wagner said. “She’s improved a lot, and she’s got I don’t know what record of winning streaks.”
Before every match, Sendar preps herself to play as best she can against her opponent.
“I try to be confident,” she said. “Just saying to myself, ‘I can do it.’ I know I’ve been playing well, so I just need to trust myself.”
Even when Sendar doesn’t feel that she is playing at her best, she knows she can fight her way through a match until the end.
In her first year at SJSU, Sendar competed against and defeated nationally-ranked athletes. Her first singles win of the season came against Kimberly Yee of No. 1-ranked Stanford with a 7-6, 6-2 straight-set score.
With the stats on her back, Sendar believes that she has what it takes to be the top-ranked singles player on the team.
“My short-term goal is to keep up the good work, but the next challenge would be staying at that level,” Sendar said. “In the long term, it would definitely be to move up a little bit [from No. 6 singles].”
Leaving her family and her hometown to come to the U.S. was a little frightening for Sendar.
“I really didn’t know what to expect. I tried to not overthink it because you could get a little scared,” she said.
While she doesn’t see her family often, she tries to call them as frequently as possible. Her love for tennis keeps her going until she is reunited with her loved ones.
“It’s been a wonderful journey,” Sendar said. “When I started playing tennis I didn’t expect myself to end up here.”
If she had to give up her racket right now, she would miss it all.
“I just can’t imagine myself not playing tennis,” Sendar said. “There is no way.”
