The young American rising star Fiona Crawley kindly granted an exclusive interview to Tennis World USA, in which she talked about many topics, opening upher feelings about thefour years at UNC and the beginning of a promising career on the WTA Tour. Fiona was very authentic and honest about the immense joys and effortsthat a student-athlete faces during thecollege years, highlighting her deep connection with both the staff whichfollowed her and with her teammates. The American tennis player also talked in depth about the beginning of her pro career, analyzingwhat are the challenges, the satisfactions and the difficulties that she isfacing during herpath on the women's pro-Tour.
ADVERTISEMENT
With Tar Heels, she was ranked No.1 nationally and she won the NCAA team championship in 2023, while in her pro career, Fiona won 3 singles titles and 2 doubles titles, as well as qualifying for the main draw of theUS Open 2023.
How did you experience the transition from college tennis to professional tennis and how did you impact this new reality?
"Honestly, the transition from college tennis to professional tennis was much harder than I thought it was going to be. My final season as a Tar Heel finished faster than I thought it would when we lost at home in the sweet sixteen of the NCAA Tournament. Then, I was on my own. I had played professional tournaments while I was still in school, but this time it felt different because I didnt have the safety net of my team and coaches to fall back on. This past June was my first official month as a professional tennis player. I also still had 15 credit hours to take in order to finish my undergraduate degree. So, I was playing tennis, traveling, and taking classes. My jobs remained the same as they had when I was at Carolina; however, it felt like I was juggling so much more. Coach and Ty had always taken care of the travel arrangements. Our travel letters had excused our absences, and the personal relationships I had cultivated with my professors helped me catch up when I got back. My team had always taken care of me. Now I was booking my own flights and hotels, taking four asynchronous classes (an entire semester load in only two summer sessions), and travelingwith other girls on tour, but without my team. It was different, it was hard, and long story short, it was not what I had expected. In 2023 I qualified for the U.S. Open, and then won the first three professional tournaments I played, so leaving Carolina and then losing first round or in qualies for seven weeks in a row was a slap in the face. One thing remained the same though. My tennis. How much I love it, even when I hate it. So, although the transition from college to professional tennis has not been without its challenges, I know I can adaptthat I will adaptand that my love for this sport is the constant that will carry me through."
ADVERTISEMENT
With North Carolina Tar Heels you were ranked No. 1 nationally and you won the NCAA team championship in 2023: did these victories help you gain experience when you switched to professional tennis?
"Yes, 100% I feel like these experiences helped set me up for professional tennis. They were actually part of the reason I decided to pursue it. You see, I signed up for a passion profession. And college tennis made me fall in love with tennis like I never had before. Playing for a program and people who you truly love and admire is a feeling that is difficult to articulate with words. Its a feeling that you know only if youve been lucky enough to experience it. I believe those experiences shaped me as a person and a player. Competing with a target on my back while ranked No. 1 nationally made me better because everyone brought their best. Winning the NCAA championship in 23 gave me confidence because it proved that the impossiblewas possible. Maybe this is getting too personal, but I have never been embarrassed of being vulnerable I have a journal entry from that year that I sometimes look back on if Im struggling. In tennis or in life. It reads, Youre amazing. Dont ever forget that. Its the simplest thing, but its mine, and its me. So, you asked me if these victories helped me gain experience when I switched to professional tennis. My answer is yes, they didexperience and confidence, but they are also moments, memories, and people that have helped me, and I know will help me throughout the rest of my tennis career and beyond."
ADVERTISEMENT
What were the technical, tactical and physical changes you had to make to your tennis when you switched from collegiate tennis to professional tennis?
"Well, it has only been a few months since I have switched from collegiate to professional tennis so Im still figuring things out, but I would say the biggest change has not been having a coach on the court with me. Coach (head coach Brian Kalbas, but Ive always just called him Coach) and Ty (UNC assistant coach Tyler Thomson) were with me every day for four years in practice and competition. I felt like they knew me and my game inside and out, and always knew how to support me when I was winning or losing. Being my own coach has definitely been a transition for me; however, I feel like I am learning to embrace this new tactical challenge of figuring it out on my own. And of course, the phrases that they reiterated to me over the years, I still hear in my head as if they were right there saying it to me. Gritty not prettycoach would say. Stay grounded, FiTy would repeat. My favorite one that I often tell myself, Its not how you start, its how you finish.Coach would say that to us if we would lose the doubles point, or to me, if I was nervous and had a rocky start in a match. So although I no longer have them on my court to make me laugh on changeovers, I still have their words that made me into the player I am todayand of course, they are only a text or phone call away.
The other biggest adjustment I would say has been my training. Not on court, but off court. Jordan Conner Nilson (aka Jojo to us) was our strength coach at Carolina. She was so much more than that though. Weight training was relatively foreign to me as a freshman. For example, I wore a skirt to the gym every day for five months until one of the upperclassmen finally told me that that was against dress code. To this day, I still dont know why they let me get away with that for so long. I think they all could just see I really, really loved skirts. Anyways, Jordan was the kind of strength coach who wanted to build you up not break you down. Whether it was what our program called red days(days you would push to your limit) or yellow days(days you would take it easier), she always made sure we were giving it our best and never failed to put a smile on my face. I feel like trust is essential between a strength coach and athlete, and trust me when I say, I would (did) follow Jordan to the ends of this earth. She had a baby during my time at Carolinaa girland little does that girl know she has the most badass mom of all time. She will one day though. I diverge, but to articulate it simply, that physical off court component is definitely missing from my professional identity. I moved to Boca Raton, FL in September and have spent a total of ten days there (have been on the road playing since). So, in my defense I am still getting my routine during training blocks, but the strength and conditioning for me is a crucial component to my tennis success and I look forward to figuring out and developing a plan the way that Jordan did for me."
ADVERTISEMENT
Balancing sports, study and private life is always complex but, at the same time, very stimulating: how did you experience your college years at North Carolina?
"They were my favorite four years of life so far. The saying, college is the best of times and the worst of timesrang true for me though. I matured a lot and definitely had my highest highs and lowest lows. I think thats part of the cost that comes with loving something as much as I loved Carolina and the people with me there; moments can make you, but they can also break you. I was lucky enough to have a team who truly picked me up when I was down. We picked each other up. I know thats how we did it. How we made history together. Not everybody gets fortunate enough to get along with their team as well as we did. Like any group of 13 girls, it didnt come without its challengesI would be lying if I said it was always easybut I can sit here today and say that nearly all of my teammates throughout my four years will be at my wedding, and some of them will be standing up with me as bridesmaids. So, you asked me how I balanced sports, school, and my social life The honest answer is that I have no idea. I do know however, that I couldnt have done it and been as successful as I was without the girls who coach and Ty just happened to recruit from juniors who then ended up being people who I will call my best friends for the rest of my life."
You have already won three pro-titles in singles and two in doubles: what are your goals in your professional career? Have you always had in mind the idea of becoming a tennis player?
"When I was little the idea of becoming a professional tennis player was for sure exciting, but it was never really a goal. It was more so a mesmerizing what if? that I never said out loud than any sort of professed dream. I am the youngest of three and my childhood truth with tennis is, I was always just trying to keep up with my older brother and sister. My brother is five and a half years older than me and my sister four, so that was a tall ask for little me who couldnt even see over the net. Nevertheless, I was stubborn and remember forcing myself to keep going no matter how many tears it took. Fast forward ten years and the goal had become to play in college. To get a scholarship to a school, compete at the collegiate level, and obtain an undergraduate degree. Both of my siblings had done it, so naturally, I wanted to too. Never did I think that playing for coach, Ty, and Carolina would have made me somehow fall even more in love with the sport that I already thought I loved. Practice was my favorite part of every day. I remember crying the day I left UNC (in my car with the windows rolled down, dramatically), thinking to myself how those coaches showed up for me every single day for four years. It didnt matter if they were having a bad day themselves; they always made my day better. You see, coach could make me laugh while there were tears streaming down my face. There arent many people who can make me do that. My point to all of this context is that those coaches brought joy into my tennis by bringing joy into my life. I wanted to do the best job that I could for them and for the team. That mindset made me work harder than I ever had before, and that work is what brought me success. Slowly, and then rather abruptly when I qualified for the U.S. Open, that success began to transfer to the next level. I didnt believe I belonged. You can ask them that. They were the ones before matches who would look me in the eye and tell me to believe. And the truth of it all is, they were the ones who believed in me so much everyday, they made me start to believe in myself too. That was when I knew I wanted to go pro. It was like a switch in me, I would say my junior year of college, that excited me in a way I had never felt before, and still does. I am not going to write down exactly what my professional tennis goals are, but I will say, I competed at the highest level of college tennis, and now know that I want to compete at the highest level of professional tennis. I qualified for the U.S. Open once and it was kind of an accident. I know I can do it again. Intentionally."
ADVERTISEMENT
Who are your tennis idols?
"As a kid, I never really had professional tennis players who I idolized. I never loved watching tennis the way my brother or dad did, or had posters in my room the way some of my friends did. I did have (still do) a collage covering an entire wall of my bedroom, but they were magazine cutouts of random things that I found aesthetically pleasingand some of Taylor Swift, I will admit. But tennis remained surprisingly separate from my life outside of the court. I honestly felt like I idolized my friends, siblings, and parents more than anyone that I saw on television. Flash forward a few years to college though, and I finally did feel like there were tennis players who I idolized: my teammates. Going through some of the things that we went through together created another level of respect for some of the people I got to play alongside with. You see, from the outside, you see us competing, laughing, and often winning together. What people didnt see were the long days where some girls would have three classes, an individual in the morning, team practice, weights, and then sometimes a meeting or tutoring session after it all before they started their homework that was due the next morning. In 2023, UNC womens tennis won the national championship for the first time in program history and ended the academic year with the highest collective GPA of any other female sports team (and second for female and male teams behind men's fencing). We excelled both on and off of the court, and that statement proves this, but it does not captivate the kind of work it took. From all of us. It is what Ty called, being in the arena together.The line is a metaphor for being able to empathize with what the person next to you is going through. Understanding the grind day in and day out of giving your physical and mental best, and on the days when you couldnt give your best, giving 100% of whatever you had. I saw this in the program that coach and Ty built at Carolina and I saw this in my teammates. So you asked me who my tennis idols are They were the people who I was in the arena with. Who I saw finishing an assignment at midnight on a plane while we flew back from an away trip. Who I saw going into office hours if they got below an A on a paper. Who I saw showing up at practice on red days with a great attitude, never complaining, and trusting the coaches. Who I saw supporting each other, regardless of whether or not they were in the lineup. Who I saw fighting in every dual matchnot for themselves, but for the person playing next to them and the word written across their shirt. Those were the tennis players, the people, that I idolized, and they made me want to give my best everyday because when I looked around, that was the standard I saw.
How important is American collegiate tennis for all students who aspire to a professional career on the WTA or ATP Tour?
"I believe that American collegiate tennis is a great pathway for students who aspire to a professional career. Unless at 17 or 18 years old you are having enough success and making enough money to earn a living on the WTA or ATP tour, I believe that going to college and reaping all of the benefits it has to offeracademically, athletically, and sociallyis an amazing option. I grew so much during my time in college and would want every young player to have the kind of experiences I had at Carolina. To be fair, I wasnt the 16 year old who at the time saw professional tennis in my future, so I had a bit of a different incentive in going to college; however, I took advantage of all of the resources they had to offer and am now paving my own pathway to professional tennis. I believe that this trend is becoming increasingly more common and that more and more collegiate players are transitioning to professional tennis and finding success!"
ADVERTISEMENT
Who really is Fiona Crawley and what does she want to achieve from her career and from her life?
I have been staring at this question for a while now and cant seem to find what words I want to write. Can part of my response be that I am still trying to answer it myself? Im only 22 years old. However, I have learned some things about myself in that time. Ive learned that Im passionate about a lot of things. Writing being one of them if you couldnt tell. Ive learned that it is hard for me to hide those passions, even though Ive never really tried to because why would I? Ive always been proud of the things I love. Ive learned that Im optimistic. Im open to trying new thingsanything from a different type of food to a shorter forehand take back, Ive never been afraid to try or even change. Im positive. Not all the time (who is?), but I pride myself on focusing on the good instead of the bad. Im curious. I feel like I am interested in most things (it took me a year and a half to declare my major because I loved every class I took), and I ask a lot of questions. These, I believe, are some of the qualities that make up who I am, and I would argue they translate to who I am as a player. Its sometimes hard to separate who you are from what you do, but for me, what I do is a part of who I am. Tennis is a part of my identity and I dont think that thats a bad thing. Its actually something that I really love about myself. Something Im proud of. Something that has introduced me to so many people and something that has always brought my family together. It has already given me so much; however, I feel like this new chapter (professional tennis) still has more to offer. So you ask me what I want out of my careerwhat I want out of the sport that began as a passion and has evolved into my profession. I want to travel the world. I want to qualify and play in the main draw of every grand slam. I want to be in the top 100 in the world. I want my brother and sister to come with me to tournaments and be so proud watching me compete, knowing that they were my inspiration as a kid and knowing that they were part of the reason that I got there. I would be lying if I said I didnt want to win the U.S. Open one day, but sometimes saying things (or writing them down) makes them more real and therefore more terrifying, but that is a dream I have. It is still a dream, but I hope one day I can get close enough to turn it into a goal. Your question, what do I want out of lifeis a little bit more complicated, but to answer it simply I would say, something to work forsomething to work towards. Whether it is tennis, the next career path I choose, being a mother (for sure something I want out of life), or one day writing a book, I love having things that challenge me. Things that make me so excited when I wake up in the morning that I cant wait to do them. To try to figure it all out, and to do the best job that I can at it. I think that is what makes life so rewarding, so that is what I hope for myself."
