The 2026 spring season for women\u2019s tennis is just beginning. The fall season was a fantastic one, but these women are not done, especially sophomore Abigail Weaver. She sat down with the Royal Purple and talked about tennis and her goals for the spring.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Q: When did you first start playing tennis?<\/p>\n
A: I first started playing tennis when I was five years old. I was young. I don\u2019t really remember too much because I also played soccer through high school. But tennis was always more fun to me. Soccer is a team sport where tennis is more individual, so it\u2019s more in my control. I was a goalie, so if I had a really bad soccer game and I got scored on a bunch, I\u2019d be really down. Now I can go play tennis, because if I miss it\u2019s my own fault. I really like tennis because of that reason.<\/p>\n
Q:What\u2019s your mindset always going into a match?<\/p>\n
A: To compete to the best that I can and to make sure that I\u2019m not doing it just for myself, but also for my team around me. I realize that if something\u2019s not going the right way, that my team is there to help me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Q: What part of your game have you worked on the most from the fall to the spring?<\/p>\n
A: I\u2019ve worked on consistency the most and trying to move forward into my shots more. I tend to jump up, which causes the ball to go down. That\u2019s not what you want because then you hit the net.<\/p>\n
Q: How do you prepare for your opponent?<\/p>\n
A: I always prepare for my opponent the same. I\u2019m very focused and steady because I never really know who I\u2019m gonna play. We don\u2019t as a team. No one ever looks ahead and figures out who your opponent is. You have to be going into every match the same and keep doing your routine. Then during changeovers, reevaluating the match and picking on their weaknesses and how you can attack those or get a ball where you can attack.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Q: Tennis is very mental. How do you stay focused during long rallies?<\/p>\n
A: I try to stay focused by picking on one thing. It\u2019s either, \u2018Oh, I\u2019m gonna hit every ball to their back end until they give me a short ball,\u2019 and then I can go down the line or change direction. In those long rides, that\u2019s all I\u2019m thinking about. And consistency, otherwise you can get in your head and you\u2019ll make one mistake, but if you\u2019re just focused on one thing, you\u2019re able to keep your same rhythm going through. Your team\u2019s also always cheering you on, and I think that\u2019s a big part because it helps lift you up, especially if it\u2019s like a hard match. You turn and look and your team\u2019s usually right there.<\/p>\n
Q: Do you have any routines before serving or returning before serving?<\/p>\n
A: I always count my balls. I don\u2019t have a specific number, but when I bounce the ball, I like to count them. Otherwise I\u2019ll just totally miss my serve. I\u2019ll count to seven or I\u2019ll count to five, whatever it is. It just helps me focus on the point and allow myself to reset. It really depends on the match, but I always count the number of bounces when I\u2019m serving. And then on returns, I always do the same footwork. When I come up I get my feet ready and I wait a second and then they serve. So I have a brief moment before they serve to get this ball in. And I always tell myself \u2018get this ball in\u2019 rather than \u2018don\u2019t miss.\u2019 If you say it has a negative connotation, it\u2019s in your head already.<\/p>\n
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Weaver and the women\u2019s tennis team now prepare to travel to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina for their annual spring trip. They kick off the trip against Carleton College (Minnesota) March 24.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2026 spring season for women\u2019s tennis is just beginning. The fall season was a fantastic one, but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":539517,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[210739,49,48,82,593,210740,14180],"class_list":["post-539516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-abby-weaver","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-uw-whitewater","tag-womens-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=539516"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539516\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/539517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=539516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=539516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=539516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}