Q & A With Women's Tennis Coach David Schumacher
Oct 18, 2001 | Women's Tennis
Q. What is the present state of Tulane women's tennis?
A. It's the same answer as last year, better than it has ever been, but not as good as it's going to get. This season we won our first Conference USA championship, beat #16 Texas A&M to get our first win in the NCAA tournament, at times had two players ranked in the top 100 for the first time, and had our first top ten ranked player. We also had four players who had multiple wins over Top 100 opponents. We're proud of these accomplishments, but not satisfied. We are always working to get better as a team and looking for players who want to improve as individuals and who want to help make Tulane one of the elite programs in women's college tennis. To that end, our new assistant coach Meike Babel should help immeasurably. She was ranked as high as 27th in the WTA rankings and brings a level of knowledge and experience that will certainly add to our program.
Q. What accounts for the team's improvement?
A. For a combination of reasons we went from unranked to a final ranking of #39 in 1999 and 2001, with our highest rankings being in the mid-thirties each of the last two years. Obviously, in large part it is because we have a better overall level of talent now. When Anna Monhartova, Maiko Cook, Anneli Axsater and Joyce Bergman joined the team in 1999 their impact was immediate and dramatic. The additions of Julie Morris last year and Nancy Kockott this year leave us now poised to take the program to the next level.
Q. What will it take?
A. I think that we are one or two players away from being a top contender. The good news is that now that our team has gotten national recognition in the rankings, many top players are contacting us, it makes recruiting a lot easier.
Q. Which schools are you primarily recruiting against?
A. Certainly all of the top ranked schools are competing for the best players, but the private schools that currently have good teams and a similar academic emphasis include Vanderbilt, Wake Forest, Duke, William and Mary, Northwestern and Notre Dame.
Q. How do you compete for recruits against such established programs?
A. Recruits can see that all the pieces are now in place at Tulane. We offer an Ivy League academic experience with a tennis schedule consisting of SEC, Big 10, Pac 10, ACC and other top ranked opponents. We have the facilities, coaches, support staff, budget and the desire and commitment from the top administration to compete for a championship. Also, the addition of Meike Babel gives our players a rare opportunity in college tennis to work with a coach who has won matches at all four Grand Slam events. Of course, other schools may have some or even most of these components in place as well, but none have New Orleans - which is without a doubt the most interesting city in the United States. And none of these other top academic schools have the weather to compete outside year-round. One more thing that we uniquely offer is the chance to be remembered for Tulane's assent to the top. We are looking for nice girls who have these goals, who are excellent players and students, and who want to become even better.
