Keep the rackets higher - it’s going to hit stronger

By Greta Szilvasi

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - A Hungarian tennis player will head towards a championship season at The University of Alabama.

Luca Fábián, a 23 years old tennis player on the Alabama Tennis team, has been playing tennis since she was 8 years old, and transferred to UA from Georgia Tech. What brought her to Alabama?

“I really liked the people and the family environment here, and the campus is so beautiful, too,” - said Fábián.

As an international student at the University of Alabama, she discussed some differences between practices here and her home country. In Hungary she had more individual practices, while at UA she works more in a team. She described Alabama as a more team-oriented place, where they put a great emphasis on teamwork rather than the individual members.

“We live together, eat, travel together and we spend our free time together. It’s like my second family. I’d say that the biggest difference from Georgia are the supporting fans.”

She visited home over the Christmas break, but was quickly back to work Feb. 17 a competition called ETSU, where UA won 6-1. The next competition will be this weekend (February 21-24) in Montgomery, called "Blue Gray National Tennis Classic."

“This is an invitational tournament," said Fábián. - "A lot of good teams are invited and we are looking forward to the challenge and getting ready for SEC.”

She described a normal day for her as a tennis player.

“We have team practices every day from 1:30 p.m. -to 3:30 p.m., and an hour long conditional afterwards. We have two individual practices scheduled with a coach every week.”

A usual season for tennis player includes a break from May through August. We play individual tournaments during the fall," said Fábián. - "We have three to four of these every year and from January we play against other teams and starting to get ready for SEC, which starts in March.”

SEC is only a month away

There is one head coach, an assistant coach and one volunteer coach for the team. "We have a really unique relationship with our coaching staff, and they are very supportive, and it is easy to talk to them about anything-," said Fábián. "We have a lot of fun together on and off the court.”

“Alabama provides everything we need to be successful as a tennis player and as a student as well. Our facilities are really beautiful and excellent.”