MyTennisHQ Interviews: Giuliana Olmos


Quick Facts

  • School: USC (Southern California)
  • Year Graduated: 2016
  • Current Job: WTA #67 Doubles

Bio

Giuliana Olmos (known as Gugu by literally everyone), is an Austrian-born Mexican tennis player. Raised in Fremont, California, the 27 year old attended the University of Southern California. She played four years for the Trojans, where she earned ITA All-American honors in 2016. She was ranked as high as #11 in the country in singles and #4 in doubles. She majored in international relations and minored in occupational therapy.

After a standout career at USC, Gugu turned pro. She reached a career high #343 in singles but has been focusing in doubles. In February of 2020 she won her maiden WTA doubles title (partnering with D.Krawczyk) at the Abierto Mexicano in Acapulco. She is currently ranked #67 in the world in doubles.

Personally, I’ve known Gugu for a long time and she is a fantastic person (if you forget she went to USC..). Oh, and she just got engaged, so after you read her interview, find her on Instagram and congratulate her!!

7 Questions With Gugu Olmos

#1 What was your recruiting/school selection process like?

My recruiting process was non-existent until September of my senior year (very late). My dream was always to play pro and I had some good results in the juniors thinking I might be able to go pro straight out of high school, but that wasn’t the case. Looking back, I was not ready mentally or physically for the pro tour, but of course I didn’t think that at 16. Most colleges assumed I was turning pro so only a few recruited me. I started talking to schools and I was down to USC, Berkeley, University of North Carolina and University of Texas. I talked to the coaches at USC and I agreed to visit. I fell in love with USC right away and I got along well with the coaches. I knew I could be there for 4 years and after that visit I knew I didn’t need to go on another one. I didn’t know the girls on the team super well, but I’d seen them all at junior tournaments and knew they were legit players. I knew that if I wanted to excel in college tennis, I wanted to surround myself with the best.

#2 What was your favorite moment/story/aspect of college?

I have quite a few favorite moments in college but two of the best moments in college came my junior year when we came back from being down 0-3 to win 4-3 twice that season. The first match was against Cal and our team was down 0-3. It came down to the 3 seniors and myself to come back and pull off this win. It started at the bottom of the line up and we slowly won one match after another. It was 3-3 and it came down to my court and I was playing #1 against the #1 player in the country at the time. I clinched the win and for me it was huge; our team came back from 0-3, I clinched against the #1 player in the country and that win sent our team ranking up to #1 in the country. It was an amazing day.

Second memory, we came back from 0-3 against UCLA to win and clinch the PAC 12 conference title (sorry not sorry). It was such a long day and we lost to ucla 3-4 previously during the season so we want revenge, yet ucla was crushing us. We were down, but not out for the yet. Somehow everyone managed to push their matches to third set and we came back once again to win. These memories stand out the most because it takes a team effort to pull off these wins and it means that much more when you do it together.

PS: third favorite memory is when USC beat #4 stanford in football and I rushed the field. That was EXHILARATING.

#3 How did college tennis prepare you for the rest of your career/life?

I am currently playing tennis professionally and college tennis definitely helped prepare me for the tour. College tennis taught me how to be more professional on and off the court. From the first day, our coaches drilled into me that how I did anything was how I did everything. Whatever I did, tennis related or not, I needed to be professional about it and do it with the best attitude. College tennis also disciplined me because I learned that it was no longer about me, it was about the team. This changed my mentality completely because I became more aware of myself and doing my part to help the team. This pushed me even more because I did not want to let my team, coaches or university down. College tennis taught me how to manage my time, priorities, being more efficient with my time on court, importance of recovery (mental and physical), and competing. I became more responsible and held myself accountable of all my actions, learned from them and as a result this translated to the tennis court, giving me some of my best results. Learning this in college taught me what helped me feel my best off and on court, making the transition to the pro tour a little smoother.

Gugu and Krawczyk at the Abierto Mexicano in Acapulco

#4 A lot of juniors and parents worry that tennis will suffer because of the academic demands of college. What advice would you give an 18-year old in terms of balancing academics and tennis?

DON’T study until 4am the day before a match( I had a teammate who did that). Set time aside to study just like you set time aside to practice. The easiest thing for me was to write to-do lists or schedules of all my classes and practices. I would find slots and force myself to study when I needed to. I also recommend being mentally present in whatever you are doing. If you’re practicing for 2 hours, be all in and mentally there for 2 hours and once you’re done you can and go study or vice versa. You will be more efficient that way because if you’re doing one while thinking about the other or what you still need to do, you won’t be as efficient.

#5 Another thing we see parents worrying about is how the social component of college will affect their kids tennis. What would you tell an 18-year old going to college in regards to having fun without compromising their tennis/academics?

College is tough because you have tennis, academics and your social life. I was always told you could only have 2 and to be honest sometimes that is true, but it doesn’t always have to be. I recommend putting tennis and academics first, because that is what you signed up for, to be a student-athlete and you owe that not only to your school, but also to yourself because you’ve worked so hard to get there. Social events will always be there so its not the end of the world if you miss an event, but I think in order to balance school and tennis, everyone needs to have a bit of fun. Prioritize the important, bigger events because it will always be easy to squeeze in the smaller ones later.

#6 Knowing what you know now, what would you do differently if you were starting college again today?

If I was starting college today, I would focus a little more on academics. I always did my work and got it done, but if I had put in more time and effort I know I could excelled more academically. Tennis wise, it took me a bit to grasp the concept of playing for a team and putting the team before me. I would’ve been a bit more flexible about putting the team’s needs before my own and competed better early on in my college career.

#7 In your case, why did you think that college tennis was a good option as opposed to going directly to the pro tour?

College tennis was a WAY better option for me than going directly on tour because I just wasn’t ready. Mentally or physically. My game also was not ready and I know that college allowed me to grow as a player and improve many weak areas on my game. As a kid you don’t think about expenses, travel, being gone 30+ weeks a year, staying in crappy hotels, eating cheap food etc. You think the pro tour is fun and fancy and that you’ll be living your best life, but you’re not unless you’re top 100. College tennis prepared me for the mental hardships that being on the pro circuit brings and how to face adversity. College tennis taught me how to hold myself accountable which has helped because on tour I am alone on the court and on tour so if I mess up its on me, and its on me to fix it and improve as a player and person.

Karue Sell

I’ve had some pretty cool experiences during my tennis career. I’ve reached the semifinals of the Orange Bowl U16 and as a junior, I ranked as high as #33 in the world. I have had wins over Dominic Thiem, Kyle Edmund, and Hugo Dellien (not sure how well I would do against them today, though). One of the coolest things I’ve done while playing was reaching the finals of the NCAA’s with UCLA, so I’m a great supporter of college tennis. I’ve won 3 futures since graduating, and I broke the top 400 on the ATP rankings. And most importantly, I have been to Pete Sampras’ house.

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