ETSU women's tennis team has an international flavor

So how do athletes all over the world come to the Tri-Cities to study and play tennis? Actually, there isn’t much travel in the recruiting process as coaches usually communicate with players through Facetime and Skype. For many foreign players, they don’t know much of a difference between a Southern Conference or Southeastern Conference school.

“A lot of it is word of mouth, then a lot of it is the relationship a player forms with a coach,” Rojas said. “Me being from Venezuela, I wasn’t very familiar with the traditional football schools like Tennessee when I was being recruited.

“There’s a lot of research involved. You go through the junior rankings and national rankings to see the best players in each country. You look at the video, talk to them and ask the questions to you see if they’re the right fit for your program.”

Rojas is fluent in Spanish and English, but communication can be challenging with certain players at first. It gets better the longer they’re in Johnson City. They use English as the official team language since that’s how players must communicate in class and their majority of time off campus.

Rojas’ own experience of being an international athlete helps him understand challenges the athletes face. He knows one can be homesick missing family and adapting to a different culture, but they also can look at it as an exciting new adventure.

Both Rojas and his No. 1 player, Laylo Bakhodirova from Uzbekistan, miss family and food most from their respective homelands. Rojas, who still craves Venezuelan arepas at times, pointed out he has been in Johnson City for two decades and has grown fond of Southern cuisine.

“I’ve been here 20 years, mostly at ETSU, so this is home too,” Rojas said. “I played here, graduated here and have three Masters (degrees) here, so there’s an emotional attachment to Johnson City.”

As for Bakhodirova, favorite dishes from her native land include kabobs, pilaf and baked breads. As for American food, she loves a good steak.

While many foreigners have visions of New York, Florida or California when they think of the United States, the Tennessee mountains have a certain appeal. However, Bakhodirova’s biggest reason coming to ETSU was her communication with Rojas.

“Our relationship was built over talking during the recruiting process,” she said. “He was very friendly and we had similar goals. That’s what attracted me to East Tennessee State.”

Bakhodirova and the coach see her maturity as the biggest improvement in her time with the Bucs. More specifically, she’s become a better leader, teammate and competitor. It is different in college as she’s learned what it’s meant to help achieve team goals instead of being individual trophies.

Tennis is one of those sports where individual victories count toward the team score. With that, Bakhodirova believes ground strokes are the best part of her game.

“I’m an aggressive baseliner so I really like high-speed tennis,” she said. “I like attacking the ball so ground strokes are my strength.”

Her coach added how she’s improved every year and all of her strokes have gotten better. She has an 8-2 singles record and has combined with Mariya Shumeika, a graduate student from Belarus, to post a 7-1 record as the No. 1 doubles team. For her coach, he sees a young lady much more confident than three seasons ago.

“Her mental toughness is so far advanced from when she was a freshman,” Rojas said. “She plays No. 1, so she plays everyone’s best player. That’s a challenging task you ask of her day- zin and day-out, but she’s embraced that role. Her record and resumé speak for themselves.”

Bakhodirova grew up a fan of Roger Federer with his smooth play and shot-making ability. On the female side, she sees her aggressive play more like that of two-time Grand Slam winner Victoria Azarenka.

She and her teammates occasionally have cultural differences, but they end up bonding as a family. They do a lot of things together like bowling, going out to eat or going to the movies. She also enjoys the experience of being on campus and how much different American schools are from those at home.

“It’s fun coming to a different country and learning everything in a different language,” she said. “You’re finding something that you like. I discovered the business field and became very interested in it. The culture of learning, you’re trying to excel in everything, plus the team projects are so different than what we have back home.”