Tennis On Campus

The USTA National Campus Championship is the pinnacle event for college club tennis teams from around the country. Sixty-four colleges qualify for the championship through their respective USTA Campus Championship - Section Events and compete for bragging rights and the illustrious title of National Champion. The 2011 event is taking place April 7-9 at Cary Tennis Park in Cary, N.C., where Northwestern’s team, originally founded in 2005, will be playing in its fourth championship. Northwestern Club President Peggy Hemphill recently spoke with USTA.com about what they are looking forward to most about competing at the championship, her favorite Tennis On Campus moment of the year, why Marat Safin would be a good fit on her club and much more.

USTA.com: What has your team been doing to prepare for the upcoming National Campus Championship?

Northwestern Club President Peggy Hemphill: Our team has been practicing three times a week as normal for the first few weeks following regionals, though it isn’t mandatory since we are heading into finals week. We have asked all our nationals team members to make every effort to practice over spring break and will likely have practices five days a week once we get back from break on the 28th and will require that nationals team members attend at least three per week to get everyone playing as much as possible before we leave.

USTA.com: What is your team looking forward to most about attending the National Campus Championship?

Peggy Hemphill: Warm weather! Our team is made up of three seniors who made it to nationals their first two years and then two sophomores and two freshmen who have never been before. We are all very excited to get to experience the atmosphere, competitive tennis and also just the fun that comes with nationals.       

USTA.com: What are your team goals at this year’s National Campus Championship? Any predictions on your placement or outcome?

Peggy Hemphill: Our main goal is to make it into the gold bracket, but short of that we are really just so proud to make it out of a tough region and are looking to have a lot of fun.

USTA.com: What are some of the things you attribute to the success of your team?

Peggy Hemphill: We try our best to keep practices fun for everyone and also hold events off the court to form friendships between members. I know for a lot of people on the team club tennis is a way to take a break from the stress of being a Northwestern student, so we try to keep it fun while still being competitive for people who played competitive juniors and want to keep playing at that level.                           

USTA.com: What advice do you have for fellow club tennis teams that are striving to qualify for the National Campus Championship?

Peggy Hemphill: Set it as a goal from the beginning of the season, and make sure that everyone is on the same page from the beginning.

USTA.com: Does your team have any unusual or unique pre-match rituals? Any team superstitions?

Peggy Hemphill: Not really. People have their own pump-up songs but mostly just really long warm-ups.

USTA.com: Describe your typical practice schedule or week with your team before a big tournament.

Peggy Hemphill: Normally our schedule has men’s practice Mon/Wed, women’s practice Tues/Thurs, and then combined practice Sunday. Leading up to a big tournament, we will open up all the weekday practices to those team members who are going to the tournament so that they can be at the most practices possible.

USTA.com: Are there any teams you are hoping to meet at the National Campus Championship? Any big team rivalries?

Peggy Hemphill: No big rivalries. We’re just excited to be there and competing with the best teams in the country.

USTA.com: What has been your team’s favorite Tennis On Campus moment this year?

   
Peggy Hemphill: In the quarterfinals of our sectional event, we played Marquette, the team that knocked us out of contention for nationals the year before, and it ended up coming down to a super tiebreaker in overtime. We won the tiebreaker, which was definitely an awesome moment, but also, as a captain of the team, seeing how everyone came together to cheer on our team as loudly as we did throughout the entire mixed doubles was great to see.

               
USTA.com: If you could add one professional player to your team’s roster, who would it be and why?

Peggy Hemphill: I polled the team, and we decided Marat Safin. He’s attractive, obviously good at tennis, tall (a rarity at Northwestern) and generally seems like he would be a lot of fun.   
               
USTA.com: What type of community involvement has your team been a part of?   

Peggy Hemphill: Not a lot. Some of us are still involved in leagues or clinics at the clubs we played at when we go home or will play in charity events on campus, but there isn’t any team-wide community involvement.

USTA.com: If your team won the National Campus Championship title, how would you celebrate? Would you take the trophy anywhere interesting?   

Peggy Hemphill: We would throw a party for sure. Probably end up bringing the trophy to Northwestern’s favorite Evanston bar, the Keg of Evanston.