By Jeff Trousdale
UP sophomore tennis player Stephanie Fuchs remembers looking for college scholarships as a standout tennis player in high school at La Center, Wash. While she received interest from various universities, the comments of one school stood out to her as a little disconcerting.
"St. Mary's was frustrating because they were like, 'Ohh you know we'll let you know if the foreigners don't come,'" Fuchs said.
Fuchs was surprised and a little taken aback by the response of the school. While she eventually received a scholarship to attend Portland State University, and has now transferred to UP, Fuchs is one of many American students who have discovered increased competition from foreign players for tennis scholarships at American universities.
Fellow teammate and PSU transfer Lacey Pflibsen said that out of 23 matches she played last year, only three were against American players. She said that getting a scholarship with all the foreign competition was difficult, but worthwhile.
"It's like, 'Yeah, I got one,'" Pflibsen said. "It's more of an accomplishment."
Men's head tennis coach Aaron Gross said that there are so many foreign players because the game is much more popular overseas than it is in the U.S.
"Kids turn on the TV every night and see Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal, where here we just don't get that exposure," Gross said. "It's arguably one of the few sports where internationally they have more success than they do in America."
Gross explained that the popularity of tennis overseas has a trickle-down effect that leads players to U.S. colleges to compete. It has been happening for years, but Gross acknowledged that it is increasingly more evident among the college ranks.
"It's almost an arms race a little bit," Gross said. "There are a group of players that come from America that can help the top programs, but if the 30th ranked US junior isn't as good as a kid I can get from Latvia, I'm gonna get the best player available."
According to Gross, the reason that many of the foreign players are so much better is because many of them have been playing in professional tournaments since they were teenagers, and they often come over as 20 or 22 year old freshmen with much more experience under their belt. Pilot junior Filip Zivkovic is one of UP's top players, and came to Texas A&M from Serbia-Montenegro before transferring to UP.
Zivkovic, a redshirt junior who recently turned 24, played in a number of professional tournaments before coming to America and even reached a professional ranking of 1,688 in doubles in 2005. He said that professional tournaments are normal and necessary for foreign players.
"You need to play those professional tournaments to get exposure because the game is so competitive and scholarships are hard to get," Zivkovic said.
According to Zivkovic and Gross, the NCAA has a rule by which players may not accept more than $10,000 per year in prize money from tournaments outside of school play and they can only play in professional tournaments until they are 20 years old. Most low-level professionals have trouble making even that much, and Gross estimated that only the top 200 or so professional players actually make a profit from their earnings.
"Travel expenses alone typically outweigh earnings because players have to go all over the world to compete in tournaments," Gross said. "At 18 they either need to have the money and the game or they can go to university."
Zivkovic decided it was in his best interest to come to the US to get a good education for practically nothing, so he contacted the program at Texas A&M and signed with the Aggies after one of their coaches flew to his home country to talk with him and scout his game.
"For a lot of us it's the only way out," Zivkovic said. "The average salary in my country is $400 or $500, so if I can come and make $30,000 or $35,000 I am going to do it."
Senior Megan Sporndli, the Pilots' No. 1 singles player who hails from South Africa, also said it was an easy decision to come play at an American university.
"When you finish juniors in South Africa, there's nothing else," Sporndli said. "But here you can get scholarships and an education and continue playing."
College tennis is one of the few sports where recruits often contact the program they are interested in, rather than the other way around.
Foreign players especially generally have to find a program that suits their needs or they are recommended by other contacts within tennis. Susie Campbell-Gross, the Pilots women's head coach, said that a South African coach who she had met in Southern California recommended senior Jenna Tanzer, and that Tanzer recommended Sporndli. Campbell-Gross said that pipelines are often established when a team gets a player from a certain country.
"There are a lot of teams that will have most of their players from Russia, or Latvia or Chile or another country," Campbell-Gross said. "It's pretty common in tennis."
Campbell-Gross said that she appreciates certain things that foreign players bring to a team.
"They are so grateful, not that American players aren't, but they have been trained in a different way, with more discipline," Campbell-Gross said. "Americans expect a lot; their parents have paid a lot of money to get to that point and sometimes they're kind of burned out to where they might not want to improve, or they might just be cashing the check."
Campbell-Gross said that it is often necessary to get foreign players in order to be competitive, as most top-level American prospects go to the best schools with the biggest recruiting budgets.
She said she tries to get a good mix -- three of her players are from Washington -- and she also focuses on improving lower tier players so that they are elite level by the time they leave the program.
Gross said that there have been attempts in the past to limit the number of scholarships available to foreign players, an idea that both Sporndli and Zivkovic didn't seem to mind.
"I think the players that prove their talent and their ability should get the scholarships, but I also don't think an entire team should be foreign players who have played in the professional circuit," Sporndli said.
Zivkovic recalled one experience playing against Baylor while at Texas A&M, when the entire crowd started chanting, "USA" because Baylor's entire team was made up of foreign players.
"I definitely think there should be some rule to limit the number of foreign players on a team," Zivkovic said. "I don't think that's a good thing, even though I am foreign."
Almost everyone who was interviewed agreed that the prevalence of foreign players can be a touchy subject. Sporndli said that it can get nasty sometimes, and Gross said that college tennis often stirs the pot. But Pflibsen said that she is fine with the way it is, especially since she has a scholarship and is on a team where she is happy.
"We love them and I think they have so much talent," Pflibsen said, referring to her South African teammates. "I don't really feel like they're foreign, to me they're just part of the team."
