If you look up freshman tennis player Kristin Sanderson in the Duke directory, it lists her hometown as Edina, Minn. Yet in the Duke women's tennis media guide, it says she's from Pinellas Park, Fla. Same person. Different homes.
Sanderson left Minnesota after the eighth grade to move to Florida to improve her tennis game. Tennis has been a big part of the Sanderson family, since Kristin's two older brothers and her older sister have played the sport. The two brothers eventually opted for hockey, yet her sister Kari currently plays at Northwestern.
"I remember watching my brother play tennis on the sidelines and I would be dying to play," she said. "His coach would always tell me to come out and hit with him. I just loved it."
When she was younger, Sanderson played softball, basketball and tennis. The move to Florida signaled Sanderson's full commitment to tennis. The move was tough, as she had to leave not only her friends but also her father up North. But she knew it was a sacrifice she had to make if she wanted to improve her game. In Orlando, Sanderson was enrolled in a tennis academy, with school going until 2 p.m. and tennis practice going from 2-6 each weekday. Sanderson didn't like the regimented lifestyle of the academy, so after her freshman year, she moved to Tampa. There, she attended Canterbury School for her final three years of high school, hoping to get a good education while meeting with people outside of tennis. Her family built a house in the Tampa area, and as she said, attempted to establish a sense of normalcy.
But life for Sanderson was anything but normal. Throughout her three years in Tampa, she would leave school once in a while to attend tournaments across the state, nation and world. At age 16, she was ranked No. 3 in the state of Florida, and No. 8 in the world in the 16-and-under classification. The next year, in the 18-and-under category, Sanderson was the top player in her state and No. 10 in the nation.
"I missed a lot of school because of tournaments, and they were great about keeping me after school and working on whatever I missed," Sanderson said. "They were really cooperative about things."
In order to pay back her school for being so cooperative, Sanderson played singles in high school her senior year and won the state title. While she succeeded as a high school player, Sanderson said she improved her game more by playing in professional satellite tournaments. It was that experience that convinced her not to take a year off from her schooling and turn pro right after high school. She realized that many professional players didn't go to college, but that if she were to be injured, she would have nothing to fall back on.
Probably one of the easier decisions Sanderson made in her life was the school she would attend. Ever since she was young, she wanted to attend Duke. So when the Blue Devils offered her a letter of intent in November of her senior year, she was more than happy to sign on the dotted line.
"I've always wanted to go to Duke," Sanderson said. "It's always been a dream of mine. It was the academics that got me here, and the athletics were a bonus. I knew Duke would have a good team, and I knew there aren't many better practice partners than we have right now."
Her previous tournament experiences helped Sanderson adapt to the college experience of being away from her parents and doing things on her own. She was also accustomed to being on top of her schoolwork, since she was often away from school during high school.
Still, she said she thinks she's matured a lot over her first year, both on and off the court. Tennis-wise, Sanderson has worked on diversifying her game by moving from behind the baseline and playing a more aggressive game, achieving a 20-12 singles record in the process.
"Kristin is a competitor," Duke head coach Jody Hyden said. "She fights hard. She wants to win."
Sanderson's idol on the pro circuit is Steffi Graf. Sanderson said she patterns much of her game after the German pro, specifically Graf's all-court game. Hyden said that's one area Sanderson has improved on lately. Specifically, Hyden said she is going to the net more and playing a more aggressive game.
Sanderson has also tried not to put too much pressure on herself. That's something that's been hard for a perfectionist to accomplish. But lately, her attitude has changed towards her game, and she has started to concentrate on just improving her tennis.
"I have four years to improve my game, and if I worry too much about winning and losing I'm not going to do well," Sanderson said. "My goal this year was to be an All-American. I want to be an All-American as many years as I can. When I finish college, I want to be at a completely different level than when I came here, so that when I do play pro tennis I'm ready to go out and make an impact."
Sanderson's goal of All-American. is a goal Hyden thinks is very reachable as long as Sanderson keeps working on improving her game. Her next goal is to succeed on the pro circuit. But Sanderson isn't putting everything into just tennis. The psychology major and pre-med student hopes to be a doctor sometime after her tennis career.
"If I go out and I struggle [in pro tennis], then I am probably going to go to medical school," Sanderson said. "I want to do something with my life."
With Sanderson's mentality and work ethic, that final goal shouldn't be a problem.
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