MyTennisHQ Interviews: Luísa Stefani


Quick Facts

– School: Pepperdine
– Years: 2015 2018
– Current Job: WTA Player – #46 Doubles

Bio

Luisa was born in Brazil on August 9th, 1997, and she is one of the best female Brazilian tennis players to ever play the game. She had a successful junior career, reaching the #10 spot in the world. She chose to attend Pepperdine University (Go Waves!), and had an amazingly successful college career.

During her freshman year, Luisa ranked as high as #2 in the nation in singles and #6 in doubles. Her final winning percentage after 3 years at Pepperdine was an outstanding 84.7%. She became an All-American in all 3 years, and she was selected ITA National Rookie of the Year.

After leaving Pepperdine, Luisa managed to crack the top #100 in the world in doubles – within 1 year of playing on tour. She is currently ranked #46 in the world, and she has won 1 WTA International title and 2 WTA 125Ks.

On a personal note, Luisa is one of the most humble and down-to-earth tennis players I have ever met. I’ve had the privilege of being at Pepperdine during the same years Luisa was there, and I can say that Luisa is as much a great person as she is a tennis player. Everyone at Pepperdine cherished her and admired her for her work-ethic. She has some great advice to share with us today, so we hope you enjoy!

7 Questions With Luísa Stefani

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

I never considered playing college tennis until my last year of Juniors. At that time all I knew was that I wanted to turn pro and keep playing tennis. My parents pushed me to give it a second thought as they saw college tennis as a great opportunity for me to go to a good university in the States, use it as a plan B for life, and also get a break from the continued financial expenses that a pro career requires. It was a stressful few months trying to process everything and decide what to do. I finally committed to Pepperdine in March of 2015 after going on a few official visits and that was the first time I fully embraced the decision and felt excited about it.

Throughout the whole recruiting process I was lucky to have a lot of school options and coaches reaching out to me from all over the country. I didn’t know much about college tennis back then and it got pretty overwhelming hearing about all the programs. My parents were extremely helpful in the process by communicating with some coaches while I still wrapped my head around the idea, and that way I could also keep focusing on my tournaments. I received messages and offers from coaches progressively throughout high-school, but only started to actively talk to programs and consider college tennis during my senior year. Before committing I officially visited 4 schools: Florida State, Oklahoma State, Georgia (UGA), and finally Pepperdine. Last one, best one. Go waves!!!

My priorities were:

Weather: coming from Brazil I really need the sun and hot weather so I crossed out anywhere remotely cold. Pepperdine was hard to beat in that aspect.
Coach: someone I believed could help me with my game and also trust
Team atmosphere and vibe

It’s easy to get stressed and overwhelmed during the recruiting process. So many schools have incredible facilities and support, cool gear, fun college towns, big athletic programs, and so many other tempting factors that can make the decision of “where do I wanna spend the next 1-4 years of my life” very challenging. Having my priorities straight and just trusting my gut was very important when making a final decision.

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

It’s really tough to choose a favorite moment because thinking about it reminds me of so many great times. Tennis wise, one of my favorite moments was during my sophomore year playing against Ellen Perez from UGA (now one of my fave dubs partners and good friend) at UGA under a solid crowd on the stands and my teammates standing court side while we battled out in a whole third set to clinch a spot in the quarter-finals of team NCAAs. I remember me sitting next to my coach after we split sets and looking up to the crowd, then seeing both teams courtside anxiously waiting for the third set, and just letting the emotions sink in. Per had a big smile on his face and told me: “are you having fun yet?”. His words and energy that day have stuck with me forever since and it’s a feeling I still strive to find when I step out on the court. I ended up winning the match, all the Waves rushed to the court celebrating, and it was definitely a day to remember.

Some highlights off the court were the deep talks and laughs during road trips, going hiking, watching sunrises and sunsets, paddleboarding sessions at Kelly’s, and just being able to go to the beach whenever take up some of my best memories. Living and spending time with some of my best friends on and off the court is tough to beat.

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

I played 3 seasons at Pepperdine and put a stop on my college tennis career to turn pro in the summer of 2018. Since then, I’ve been traveling and playing on tour full time. I’m currently focusing on doubles, and still playing (or at least hoping to) play more singles too. College has helped me learn to communicate better with people, and especially be open minded to other people’s views and opinions no matter their culture or backgrounds. The pro tour is competitive and can get pretty lonely so going to college also allowed me to meet incredible people and build relationships in the tennis world who I can talk to, and rely on while on the road. Being on a team and having to play under a lot of pressure has also helped me learn how to control my emotions and behavior on court.

#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?

Managing your time properly to maintain healthy habits. These include your nutrition, getting plenty of sleep, choosing and building positive relationships, and keeping up with the school work. It might be easier said than done but if you can find a good balance when doing all these things it will allow you to get the most out of yourself in both practices and matches.

#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?

Like I said before college is a perfect time to learn about yourself, become more independent, and mature both on and off the court. My advice would be to choose your group of friends and relationships wisely. Be smart about who you hang out with because chances are you’ll learn a lot from them, do what they do, spend a lot of time together, and vice-versa. I will also say to definitely enjoy your “social” time while in college because you’re most likely to never have a similar opportunity to live with many of your friends and teammates together again. Be responsible about it and remind yourself of your priorities (tennis/academics/etc…) and that should be enough to motivate you to be a good influence to others around you and especially yourself while still having a good time.

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

I think I would have taken things less seriously at times and maybe even gone out more with my friends. I have always been very self-disciplined, and limited the partying time to a minimum, but looking back, I feel like I could have let myself go a little bit more when the time was right. Another way of putting that is I wish I would have done a better job “trusting the process” with the help of my coaches especially on the tennis court, and not put too much pressure on myself and on my decisions during that time. While taking care of my responsibilities was always a priority for me, I learned that enjoying things day by day and not overthinking the future (which is easy to do in school) is also crucial.

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

Looking back I’m sure that going to college was one of the hardest but best decisions of my life. The pro tour can be very challenging in many ways so nowadays I can’t think of a better alternative than taking a few extra years to mature in college and benefit from all the training structure, financial support, social life, all while earning a good education before facing the pro tennis player life grind. Now that I have lived through at least a couple of years of both worlds I can clearly see that college tennis is an incredible route for juniors transitioning into the pro tour. Personally, I had a life changing experience and I’m so grateful to Pepp and everyone who made my time there so memorable. GO WAVES!

Gui Hadlich

I got a chance to play junior and professional tournaments across the world, and in 2015 I began playing as the #1 player for Pepperdine University, a great division 1 school. I’ve had the chance to play against great names of the new generation, like Christian Garin, Cameron Norrie, and Kyle Edmund. I’m extremely passionate about the mental and technical part of the game. Oh, and I had lunch with Brad Gilbert once.

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