USD Magazine, Spring 2000

UII OJP'fRI IUR

I T rs AVERY UN-SAN DIEGO-LIKE DAY as Zuzana Lesenarova walks onto the USD ten– nis courts - windy, cold, a threatening steel sky. It's an appropriate day for Lesenarova's mood. She is coming off a nasty loss in the Rolex National Intercollegiate Indoor Champion ships in Dallas where, as the top seed, she was knocked out in the first round of the Grand Slam tournament after pulling a hamstring. That injury now has her hob– bling around the court flailing at cross-court winners, and her frustration is building like the thunderheads above. "Nohy, nohy, " she yells at herself as she fails to get to a shot hit by opponent Allison Bradshaw, a freck– led-faced San Diego native who not only seems flus– tered by the fact that she is beating the No. 1-ranked collegiate player, but also because she can't figure our what her Czech Republic-born opponent is yelling (translated, it's "move your feet"). A quick tape of Lesenarova's thigh by assistant coach Chris Atzet gives her a second wind. Her thun-

dering baseline game returns and she gets her feet moving enough to take the next set. But Bradshaw plays to Lesenarova's injury, running her around the court till the tape no longer works. 'Tm sorry, I played so terrible," Lesenarova apolo– gizes to a friend who came to watch. Bradshaw's extended family, meanwhile, empties the bleachers, hugging and high-fiving the Arizona State University sophomore. Her father talks about her turning pro. Giddy, the 19-year-old Bradshaw allows herself a huge smile. Unranked, she knows what the victory means to her fledgling career - she has just beaten the woman some consider the best collegiate tennis player in U.S. history. "II Always Ends Up OK" Two days later, the San Diego weather is back in proper balance- turquoise sky, rain-scrubbed spring air. Lesenarova sits by the Sports Center pool and points her face to the sun, looking like any other USD student in sweats and t-shirt and backpack.

BY SUSAN HEROLD

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