She ended her season ranked fifth in the NCAA, and took home some hardware with Ohio State as the Big 10 conference\u2019s women\u2019s tennis player of the year award.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was really cool to get that recognition,\u201d Chavez said. \u201cI\u2019ve been working really hard and it was awesome to see that. I had a great year, finished fifth in the nation which I was super happy about.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tennis began at an early age for Chavez, who had a racket in her hands at six years old as she followed in the footsteps of her older sister Anya.<\/p>\n
The pair quickly rose through the Saskatchewan ranks, both earning number one rankings in their respective age groups and appearances at the Canada Summer Games.<\/p>\n
Anya eventually graduated to Missouri Western State University, which provided a road map for Teah and other elite players in the province.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Anya) went to college, I went to college and there\u2019s another kid named Keegan Rice who is super successful,\u201d Chavez said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe obviously grew up together, we trained together, are best friends. It\u2019s super cool having that person, especially having my sister as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
With each victory Chavez collects in Saskatoon, she inches a bit closer to a life-changing tournament opportunity in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n
Chavez is part of Tennis Canada\u2019s Road to the NBO program, which allows for a coveted Canadian wildcard berth for the annual National Bank Open tournament.<\/p>\n
Points earned at the Saskatoon Pro Classic will go towards Chavez\u2019s bid towards playing alongside some of the top players in the world in Toronto next month, as she\u2019s currently ranked sixth among Canadian wildcard contenders.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just something that every kid dreams about in Canada,\u201d Chavez said. \u201cYou grow up hearing the National Bank Open, it\u2019s such a cool tournament. I just want to play in front of Canada because it\u2019s so special here and I love being at home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her path to the National Bank Open is still not complete, as Chavez is determined to walk away from Saskatoon with her first singles title and a chance to climb up the wildcard list.<\/p>\n
The enjoyment of her time on the court has fuelled those results as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really just trying to go back to who I am as a tennis player and as a person,\u201d Chavez said.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust having fun and enjoying it, so it\u2019s really awesome to be able to showcase my best tennis abilities right now for other people to see. I\u2019m really happy to be playing this level of tennis.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even though she\u2019s just a few years graduated from Martin Collegiate Institute in Regina, Chavez hopes her accolades through the collegiate and professional levels will inspire other young athletes in her home province and turn Saskatchewan into a hotbed for tennis.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey really have the opportunity to be great,\u201d Chavez said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think if they keep pushing and keep growing, it\u2019s just going to be insane what they accomplish. There\u2019s really hardworking people here and I think that\u2019s the reason why they go so far. I\u2019m super excited to see the growth in tennis is Saskatchewan and I think it\u2019s all because of the people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chavez will face off against China\u2019s Jia-Jing Lu in the women\u2019s singles semifinal on Saturday, which will follow the early semifinal matchup between Australia\u2019s Lizette Cabrera and Canada\u2019s Ariana Arseneault at noon.<\/p>\n
Read more:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"She ended her season ranked fifth in the NCAA, and took home some hardware with Ohio State as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":826433,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[49,48,82,593],"class_list":["post-826432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826432","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=826432"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826432\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/826433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=826432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=826432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=826432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}