Senior Annette Goulak is ranked as the 8th best female tennis player in California and one of the top 20 recruits in her graduating class.

Goulak plays for the United States Tennis Association and the International Tennis Federation. Additionally, she has played on the varsity high school tennis team all four years of high school. She is undefeated in league play and was named Most Valuable Player her freshman, sophomore and junior years on the team.

Goulak started playing tennis when she was 5 years old and has played ever

since. Goulak’s father, Alexander Goulak, said he wanted her to play a time-consuming sport to keep her out of trouble.

Goulak has trained with her USTA and ITF coach, Mike Gennette, almost every day for nearly seven years.

“Each day consists of stretching, on-court practice with another player, specific training with a private coach, fitness, eating and hydrating properly, schedule management and more,” Gennette wrote in an email.

Gennette has seen Goulak grow as a player and learn more skills over the years.

“Annette has many characteristics of a champion. She is very tenacious and competitive with everything she does. Her intensity can be difficult to manage sometimes,” Gennette wrote. “I am so grateful as a coach that she has a tremendous sense of humor to balance things out. The bottom line is that she is a winner. She will work as hard as it takes to constantly improve and to be successful.”

Gennette said he feels that Goulak is a successful player and always puts all of her energy into each match.

Goulak is the only female at Oak Park High School to be committed to college with a full-ride tennis scholarship.

“I work so hard in school because as with everything I do, I have to try my absolute hardest to try to be as successful as I can,” Goulak said. “[Otherwise] I’ll regret not giving it my all and [not] giving 100 percent of my effort.”

Goulak committed to the University of Georgia in February 2016 as a junior. She was offered a full scholarship by Coach Jeff Wallace to attend the school.

At 17, she was also offered scholarships from other schools, including the University of Southern California, University of California at Berkeley, Pepperdine University, Northwestern University, Vanderbilt University, University of California at Santa Barbara and more.

“I could see myself succeeding at every school academically, but tennis-wise I felt that I connected with the coaches [at Georgia] and the team more. I feel that Georgia’s tennis program was the best one to further develop my game so that I can try to go professional after college,” Goulak said.

The University of Georgia’s tennis team is currently ranked in the top five in collegiate teams, and they are typically national championship contenders every year. The team has won a total of five national championships.
“I am so proud and happy to be able to call myself a Bulldog,” Goulak said. “I can’t wait to spend four years in Georgia.”