The American tennis rising star Mary Stoiana kindly granted an exclusive interview to Tennis World USA, during which she explored many interesting aspects regarding college tennis and the transition to the professional Tour. The 21-year-old, who plays for Texas A&M, was ranked No.1 in the NCAA Division I both in singles and in doubles, becoming the first Aggies to achieve that milestone. On the ITF Women's World Tennis Tour, she has just won her first singles title few weeks ago (the Tier W75 Edmond Open, United States, on hard-courts) and a doubles title (the ITF Lakewood, with Fiona Crawley, on July 2023).
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During your collegiate career, did you always have the clear goal of becoming a professional tennis player?
"Yes, I have always had the clear goal of wanting to be a professional tennis player, ever since I was little from age 4. It didnt just start in my college career, I always dreamed I would play the grand Slams, so its been something that has been motivating me to work hard throughout my junior and college career."
How important were the years at Texas A&M in shaping you as a tennis player?
"The years at Texas A&M were very important for shaping me as a tennis player. Being on my own at school helped me on a level of maturity, and I really grew into being a self-sufficient person while I worked on my tennis game. The resources at Texas A&M are truly unmatched and as a player you feel like you have access to anything you might need to become a great tennis player from coaches, to fitness, to recovery, to competition. Everything is covered so I feel like having access to that as a player was super important to shaping me as a player."
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Combining sports and studies is not easy: what are the secrets to balancing college life, sports and studies?
"It is definitely a challenge to balance studies and athletics, but these are important skills to acquire when growing as a person. Some secrets to balancing college life sports and studies is to be very conscious of time management, making sure you get your schoolwork out of the way, so you can value your tennis. I think it is also very important to give yourself some social time so you can feel human outside of the sport and schoolwork, so being able to balance all three is very important."
How was the approach and impact with professional tennis?
"I approach professional tennis as a dream of mine that I want to achieve. I believe it is very important to be professional in all aspects of your life if you are trying to be a professional tennis player, and I think my journey to becoming a professional tennis player has taught me a lot about discipline time management working hard and not giving up when things get tough."
With Aggies you were ranked No.1 NCAA Division I in singles and doubles and you won the ITA All-American Championships in Cary, North Carolina: how important are experience and successes in the switch between college tennis and professional tennis?
"It was an honor to achieve these accomplishments in college. They are super important in gaining experiences as I switch to professional tennis. For example, it is great to learn and experience in my college career how to play with pressures of being highly ranked and defending titles. In addition, it is also very important to experience the feeling of winning big titles and truly believing in yourself in the tough moments, and seeing that you are capable of achieving such great things. That way, when there may be a big title on the line on the pro tour, you are already used to achieving big feats like that."
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How much is mental health discussed in the locker room or during training at Texas A&M?
"I feel like our team as a whole does pretty well on the mental health side. We have a lot of resources at Texas A&M that we can reach out to. As a group I think we are pretty open to talking about any struggles we have and then are very willing to helping each other out if needed."
What are your goals for the near future and which are the long-term ones?
"Some goals for the near future is to try and make a seamless transition from college to the pro Tour. I want to figure out where my training base is going to be out of and I want to keep valuing every day and getting as good as I can every day. Then long-term I want to probably break the top-200 WTA rankings. I obviously want to win big titles like grand Slams but I think I would call that more of a dream, because I honestly know I cant control the specific results of things but I can control how I approach every day and how I value each day and work super hard. Those are the things that give me opportunities to be successful."
Who are your sporting idols and who are the people who positively influence your private and professional life?
"One of my sporting idols is Serena Williams because she was a very influential woman who is the first modern woman to set big records and achieve a lot of things. She was also American that really inspired me I remember being little and thinking I really want to be like her. In my private life, my mom is super inspirational to me. She always believes in me and Ive seen her fight through really hard moments in her life, and that inspires me and reminds me that I have it in me to be tough adverse moments."
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How important is American collegiate tennis as a basis for starting a professional career?
"I think American collegiate tennis is super important as a basis for starting a professional career because it gives you the opportunities to compete for up to four years straight with sort of a safety net. Your school takes care of a lot of the expenses and training and coaching you really are able to find yourself as a player within those years While you have some sort of security. Personally, Ive been able to grow so much as a player and person and now I feel like I have a better understanding of how I can take on the pro tour on my own because of this basis that I was a part of when I played tennis."
