Tennis profile: Yuki Sugiyama

Last year, Yuki Sugiyama was attending Portland State as an exchange student from Japan when her tennis skills caught the eye of Vikings tennis coach, Jay Sterling. Sterling quickly recognized her talent and recruited her onto the women’s tennis team as a freshman. Since then, Sugiyama has not failed to impress, earning nine wins from 11 matches in her first season while playing the number one spot in singles competition.

“Yuki came to us last year as an exchange student,” Sterling said. “It was a combined effort between me and the administration to make it possible for her to come in and play here.”

“Last year, I was an exchange student,” Sugiyama said. “Because of my university program, I had to study abroad for one year. I came to Portland State and I wanted to join the tennis team. But because of NCAA rules, an exchange student couldn’t join the tennis team. Then coach Jay saw my tennis one day and he asked me if I would be interested in playing tennis for them.”

Sugiyama took up tennis when she was five years old. “My father is a tennis coach, so when I was a kid, I started playing tennis and it came naturally,” Sugiyama said.

While playing for Waseda Jitsugyo University in Japan, she won the singles and the doubles tournaments in a private school competition in 2006, and her team was ranked in the top eight in the country.

“In high school, we had a very good tennis team. I played singles at lines one to three and doubles at line one,” Sugiyama said.

Sugiyama, who is majoring in international studies, played her first match as a Viking against Oregon’s number-one singles player Pavlina Smatova. Despite putting up a tough fight, Sugiyama lost the game 6-3, 6-4.

“That was my toughest game so far this season,” Sugiyama recounted. “It is hard to win at number one in singles because my opponents are also that good.”

But since then, Sugiyama hasn’t looked back and has won eight matches in a row.

“This season, Yuki has been a really solid performer and a great motivator for our team,” Sterling said “She has really stepped up and held her own at the number-one position and competed well and dominated. The whole team is proud of her.”

Just like her favorite player Kim Clijsters, Sterling attributes Sugiyama’s mental toughness as her major strength.

“She fights and never gives up,” Sterling said. ” No matter what the score is, you can’t tell if she is winning or losing. She does not quit until the last point, and that motivates the other players when they are grinding it out.”

Sterling has also been impressed by Sugiyama’s technical abilities on the court.

“She plays well from the baseline. She plays well at the net,” Sterling said. “She serves really well and transitions well. She does an amazing job of seeing the court and developing points. She is an incredibly smart tennis player.”

Sugiyama feels that the women’s team has opportunities to improve this season and continue to become an even better team overall.

“We are getting better,” Sugiyama said. “We have to win doubles point [so] we can put pressure on our opponents, and then we can improve our chances of winning.” ?