Strong and strategic: OPHS girls tennis senior captain Sofia Selcer
On the Oak Park High School girls tennis team, no one is more involved than senior captain Sofia Selcer. Instead of heading home early, twice a week, Selcer uses her free period to help set up for games.
“Usually, I get here pretty early because I have a free [period],” Selcer said. “So I’ll get here and we’ll start setting up. And then we’ll have everyone start warming up and, you know, just hitting serves, hitting with each other.”
On gameday, Selcer is constantly in motion, pitching tents, talking to coaches and cheering on her teammates, all while competing on varsity herself. Even when she’s not playing, Selcer is focused on the court: she never misses an opportunity to cheer a teammate’s point or a win.
Now one of the team’s most involved members, Selcer began playing tennis over the pandemic, and hasn’t looked back since.
“My childhood friend, she’s played tennis for as long as I’ve known her, which is, like, since I was six weeks old,” Selcer said. “She’s played tennis since forever. And she’s always kind of wanted me to get into it. But I don’t know why I just never did until COVID shut everything down and my parents were like, ‘you need to go exercise.’”
Tennis was a hobby at first, until it became something more.
“I actually didn’t think about joining a team, like, at all until I started high school,” Selcer said. “I started mainly just for fun. And then my coach actually, he developed cancer. And that kind of made me want to keep playing, especially because he taught me all [of] my foundation and all my basics and I wanted him to be able to know that he’s had an impact on other people.”
Now, Selcer is one of the team’s most proficient players. While she’s warm and bubbly off the court, when playing, she describes herself as far more intense.
“I like playing aggressive,” Selcer said. “I like it because I’m not that tall. So I like being able to put the ball away and have the other team not be able to get it. But if I’m playing baseline, I try to be more consistent and just get the ball back in.”
Selcer’s strategy morphs when she transitions from playing singles to doubles. There’s only three or four singles spots open on the team, so the players are instructed to focus on their doubles game, which can be a large adjustment for those who haven’t played that way before.
“Getting to a single spot is really challenging,” Selcer said. “So I did focus a lot of time and energy learning the game of doubles. So yeah, finding a good partner is important.”
Selcer and her doubles partner, sophomore Precious Fernandes, aren’t just teammates but also close friends. Having gotten closer over the summer, the two clearly understand each other well, not only as players but as people.
“So we weren’t actually very close friends until this summer,” Fernandes said. “And then coincidentally, we randomly got put together and we wound up playing really well. So we’re much better friends now.”
Like any other avenue, compatibility is necessary to succeed on the court.
“Our playing styles mesh well,” Fernandes said. “Sophia’s more consistent than I am. She likes to put the ball away, pretty much at every opportunity, where I’ll just try to get it back in. But she’s able to set me up and she’ll just kill the ball at baseline, so it works.”
Of course, having company behind the net is always a plus.
“Playing doubles with Sofia is really fun, because it’s great having a doubles partner who understands your playing style and is motivating throughout the game.” Fernandes said.
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