One by one, the Blue Devils complete their stretches at the net and walk out of Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center. Last to leave is 5-foot-5 Mallory Cecil, whose infectious smile is unmistakable even as she slowly ambles off the court.
For this first-semester freshman already playing first singles, however, the beginning of this year has been anything but slow. Cecil only graduated from high school in December, and up until four weeks ago, she was a hot commodity among schools hoping to land her in their lineups.
Trained at Florida's famed Bollettieri Tennis Academy-which boasts Andre Agassi and Maria Sharapova among its many distinguished alumni-Cecil essentially had her choice of colleges as the No. 1 ranked junior in the country.
And not only did she choose Duke, but she also elected to start school immediately, joining the team for the spring season.
At the start of January, though, even Cecil herself didn't know she would be arriving on Duke's campus shortly to begin her college career. In fact, she was still waffling between two schools when she decided to pay Duke another visit.
That trip settled it.
"I came here and visited in the fall, and then I basically came [four] weekends ago to just look one more time, and I ended up staying," Cecil said. "It was a really tough decision, you know, between [starting now and] waiting another semester to start in September, but I really wanted to come in this season, experience that first and foremost... and hit the ground running."
The first adjectives head coach Jamie Ashworth uses to describe the newest addition to his squad-hard-working and focused-have less to do with Cecil's tennis than her attitude. But the 18-year-old has already experienced plenty of success on the junior circuit, and to some extent, even the professional rounds. Cecil competed at the French Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open junior tournaments in 2008. Over the last four years, she has taken home six titles, with the latest coming at the Palmetto Pro Open in June.
Although Cecil boasts an all-around game, Ashworth doesn't blink when asked which shot is Cecil's best.
"She has a professional-level backhand," he said. "You can tell by the sound of the ball coming off the racket-it's just different. Jokingly, I said to one of her [previous] coaches, 'Don't you do anything to screw up her backhand.'"
At the Women's Tennis Association Pilot Pen in August, Cecil worked her way through qualifying, ultimately defeating 39th-ranked Sarah Errani in three sets to make it into the draw. It was a breakthrough moment, Cecil said, to know that she could compete at that level.
Some young players in her position use college to launch themselves into the pros. But Cecil has always wanted to go to college for its own sake. At least for now, this new Blue Devil has her eyes on a different prize, and minces no words in articulating the goals she has set.
"I'm here because I want to win a national championship with these girls," Cecil said. "I think we have that potential."
Despite all her accomplishments, Cecil is jarringly humble when talking about herself. She has been unequivocally clear about her priorities at Duke. Here, her new team comes first.
"[Playing on a team] is really important to me because tennis outside of college is so individual," Cecil said. "It's really nice to be out here with six, seven other girls.... You feel the support, that people truly want you to win, and they're there for you. And I'm really happy to get to experience that."
Cecil acknowledges that college tennis presents a new set of challenges and pressures. On the circuit, if you lose, Cecil said, it's your fault, you messed up somewhere. She will now need to win not only for herself, but for Duke.
And seeing as the Blue Devils didn't hear of her decision to play for them until the start of the semester, they are certainly glad to have her.
"We're very fortunate," Ashworth said. "Everything aligned right for us."
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