News & Features

by Colette Lewis, 25 October 2024

Special from Zoo Tennis

Blue chip Ava Rodriguez grew up in Georgia, but had little familiarity with the storied college tennis programs in Athens. She had never visited the university, and after moving to Naples, Florida to attend the Gomez Academy in January of 2023, the 16-year-old high school junior had added to the distance between them.

Yet shortly after Rodriguez won the USTA Level 1 Easter Bowl 16s doubles title and claimed the bronze ball in singles, Georgia head coach Drake Bernstein and associate head coach Jarryd Chaplin bridged the geographic gap with a trip to the Gomez Academy to watch her practice. So when the recruiting window opened a few months later, Rodriguez was ready to respond.

"On June 15th, they reached out and we scheduled a call right that day; I think it was my first call from a college coach," said Rodriguez, No. 9 in the Tennis Recruiting Network Class of 2026 and No. 1 in the Southeast. "But I knew nothing about the school, nothing about the coaches. We just talked and I felt a connection and I committed pretty soon, maybe two weeks later."

Although that sounds straightforward, Rodriguez and her family had work to do in that fortnight.

"In June, when the recruiting begins, we got inundated, flooded with Instagram messages on that day," said Rodriguez's father Sam. "We were overwhelmed and overjoyed. As parents, you're like 'wow, it kind of turned out like we planned,’ but I didn't realize all this was going to come before."

"The academy gave us advice, told us we're going to have to narrow that down to 10, then schedule the calls with the different coaches," added Sam, who urged his daughter to take charge of the process. "It was interesting, because it was time for Ava to take those phone calls on her own. It's almost like an interview, you're going to have to do this on your own, because this is what it's like in the real world. We helped with some questions, she'd come up with her own questions and we'd navigate from there. I was really proud of her; she got better and better in each interview."

Rodriguez verbally committed before taking her official visit last month, with that trip affirming her choice.

"The tennis there is awesome, the school is so pretty, the coaches and girls on the team were so nice," said Rodriguez. "For the tennis side, I liked the facility, the energy there was really good and I like having intensity and a good connection with my teammates."

The proximity to her family was also an important consideration.

"My family lives an hour and a half from there, so I would prefer to be close to them," Rodriguez said. "I know how much my tennis means to them, so for them to come watch me, that's really cool."

Growing up, Rodriguez was drawn to any physical endeavor, with her father noting that she was riding a two-wheeler at age 3 and executing backflips off a diving board without any instruction. Softball soon became the focus, given her obvious hand-eye coordination, although with her family history, the switch to tennis felt inevitable.

"I played softball for the longest time, until I was 11 maybe, and then I took tennis on instead," said Rodriguez, whose mother Stephanie competed at Georgia Perimeter, while her grandmother, parents, and older brother Dylan all played recreationally. "It was definitely the best decision for me, to play tennis, instead of softball. I like the movement, there's always something going on. In softball, you just stay still sometimes, it depends on where the ball goes, but in tennis you're more involved, the training is more intense, and that's something I enjoy."

After getting a taste of team sports early, Rodriguez is eager to return to that version of tennis at Georgia, after limited exposure to it during her junior career.

"I've played a few team events, but nothing like the college level," Rodriguez said. "I like the energy, I like when people watch. It just brings the extra motivation. You always want to play well, you don't want to get frustrated, you just want to be there."

Rodriguez believes Georgia's success at the NCAAs this year—finals in the singles and team events and the title in doubles—and the Pro Circuit results of several current and former Bulldogs can serve as a model for her future.

"A lot of Georgia girls go to the ITF pros, and for me, I want to go there after and do the same thing," said Rodriguez, who is hoping to improve her physical strength and her variety while in college. "They have that connection, to do well in the NCAAs. That's my goal as well."

Rodriguez, who attends Forsyth Virtual Academy, where American Literature and Algebra II are her current favorite classes, believes the early verbal commitment will allow her to focus on the objectives she has for her final two years of junior tennis.

Currently a career-high 154 in the ITF Junior Circuit rankings, Rodriguez has set a goal of the top 100 and qualifying for junior slams, with her steady improvement over the past year providing encouragement.

"I feel like this year was pretty memorable," said Rodriguez, who reached the Eddie Herr 16s semifinals last December. "I traveled a lot, but last year is where it all kind of started actually. I didn't play any tournaments for two months, I just trained, and after that I could slowly see the results build up, from an (USTA) L3 to (ITF) J30s, J60s, now a J100, so watching the level grow, with my team, has definitely been the highlight."

With Georgia checking all the boxes for Rodriguez, she is looking forward to turning her attention to continued improvement.

"I think from the beginning, both from my end and the coaches' end, we both kind of knew what we wanted and what we would do together," Rodriguez said. "And I know my parents didn't want me to stress at tournaments or in training. So just getting it out of the way, with somewhere I know I like, and with the coaches, I know if I train hard and do my best, we're all good."

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About Colette Lewis

Colette Lewis has covered topflight U.S. and international junior events as a freelance journalist for over a decade. Her work has appeared in Tennis magazine, the Tennis Championships magazine and the US Open program. Lewis is active on Twitter, and she writes a weekly column right here at TennisRecruiting.net. She was named Junior Tennis Champion for 2016 by Tennis Industry Magazine.

Lewis, based out of Kalamazoo, Michigan, has seen every National Championship final played since 1977, and her work on the tournament's ustaboys.com website led her to establish ZooTennis, where she comments on junior and college tennis daily.