Our Student Claire An is a National Champion!
Just one week ago, our very own Claire An took home the title of USTA Girls 12s National Hard Courts Champion. An, who has been playing tennis since six years old, joined the CourtSense community two years ago. Previously jumping from one venue to the other, she found her tennis home in Bogota, New Jersey, as she trains with our high performance players and coaches.
“Living in New York City, the commute is not the easiest.” comments Hannah An, mother to the National Champion. “It’s not the closest location, but we love the community. CourtSense has a way of keeping the right ratio, and they care about the players both on and off the court.”
Moreover, An trains not only in our Bogota location, but under the guidance of Saul Salazar, director of high performance. Together, they are looking to introduce a more aggressive serve as well as incorporate more tools into her groundstroke game. Even off court, Saul is working to strengthen her mental and physical game.
Saul is not the only coach contributing greatly to An’s success, however. The entire coaching staff is committed to improving An’s performance–and all of our players’ performances! Specifically for An, Ognen Nikolovski, general manager of CourtSense, played a very important role in recommending her the right tournaments to compete in.
“Even after the very first tournament that he recommended back in March 2019, Claire’s confidence and enjoyment of the sport escalated and motivated her for more competition.” Recalls Mrs. An.
An admits that her focus for the next couple of weeks is in training, however. After her week long pursuit for the title of “National Hard Courts Champion”, and her entire summer of back to back national tournaments, she recognizes the opportunity to recover and improve.
This being said, An does have her eye on the Orange Bowl coming up in the fall early December, as the biggest international junior title that a player her age can win; with the combination of her self motivation and the CourtSense team in her corner, there is no doubt that An will arrive more than prepared to compete.
Once again, congratulations to our National Champion!!!
Author: Liya Davidov