Nearing the end of their collegiate tennis careers, seniors Amanda Hastings-Phillips and Ahn Ahn Liu are in similar positions — both are completing strong seasons at No. 2 behind younger players. After working their way up the ladders one spot at a time, both have emerged as leaders on their respective teams.
But just as they followed different roads to get to Princeton, their paths will diverge again in the coming weeks as their final — and most successful — campaigns come to a close.
Liu's journey to Princeton tennis greatness began on a trip to Taiwan with encouragement from his family.
"My grandma told my parents that my sister and I had to start playing a sport when we got home," Liu said. "She said we were getting fat."
Liu's parents took his grandma's advice and signed him and his sister up for tennis because it was a sport they could easily play together.
"I guess I was a chubby four-year-old," he said.
His game was unphased by his lack of a perfect physique in those early days. Though he played only one year for his high school, Liu established himself in the national tournaments that paved the way for his Princeton tennis career.
"I didn't feel it was that important for me to play high school tennis," Liu said. "Colleges don't look at that so much as the junior tournaments when they're recruiting."
When he started playing for the Tigers, Liu said he was slightly burned out. He had, after all, played a lot of tennis since his days as a four-year-old beginner. Being part of a team helped rekindle his desire to play, however, and Liu now intends to play satellite professional tournaments over the summer, focusing on his doubles game.
"I prefer doubles," he said. "It's a faster game, and it's more fun."
Fun was what Liu brought to his senior year matches. The Tiger, who always felt the pressure to win both for himself and for the team, found that the key to success was to relax and enjoy the game. Liu, who has a 24-7 record, must have been doing something right.
He also wanted to set a good example for his teammates. As a captain, Liu knew he couldn't let the team see him down or frustrated. Instead he focused on at least appearing to be relaxed.
"It actually helped my game to stay calm and not get emotional," Liu said.
Though tennis has never been his favorite sport, the intramural junkie still feels that the sacrifices were worth it when he gets to see the results pay off in competition.
Hastings-Phillips' tennis career is also centered around competition. From her high school years, the religion major has thrived on competing as part of a team. In high school, she led her California team to three consecutive conference championships.
Once she arrived at Princeton, Hastings-Phillips battled her way to the No. 6 singles spot her freshman year and never let go from there, steadily climbing the ranks until she consistently played at the No. 2 spot, and occasionally the No. 1.
To add to her sense of urgency during competition, the Tiger makes a point of being aware of what's happening on her teammates' courts. She's trying to figure out if the team needs her match for the win.
"I'll know the score on every court but mine," Hastings-Phillips said. "I'm definitely better under pressure."
She uses the idea of earning her point for the team as extra incentive to push herself, noting that her record is always worse in the fall, when the players mainly compete individually.
"I've worked hard and when I'm out there I feel like I deserve to win," she said. "No one's going to take that point away from my team."
Though she had the highest winning percentage on the team her freshman and sophomore years, Hastings-Phillips ends her final season with a 23-9 personal record, but a more important team glory — an Ivy League championship.
Hastings-Phillips uses her long tennis history as encouragement as she heads to the American Conservatory Theater for graduate school.
"Tennis taught me that achievement is a process, not an event that just happens," Hastings-Phillips said. "You have to work hard even when you don't want to. That's when you get better."
The senior will help lead her team to the NCAA tournament in May, where the Tigers will compete for the first time in 10 years. Even now, with her athletic career almost over, Hastings-Phillips does not intend to coast.
"We're really excited to be going," she said. "And we're going to work hard."
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