Benney Koch, Staff Writer
For the VCU women’s tennis team, the road to Richmond begins thousands of miles away. Since the late 1990s, VCU women’s tennis has been prominently shaped by international recruits.
Beginning with tennis legends Martina Nedelkova and Andrea Ondrisova, VCU women’s tennis established a vision to elevate its level of tennis through international recruiting.
When Paul Kostin took over as head coach in 2001, international recruiting became an established part of the program.
The strategy has continued to this day. Under the current head coach, Rifanti Kahfiani, the women’s tennis roster is entirely international, with players representing Ecuador, Egypt, Slovakia, Venezuela, Australia, the Czech Republic and Indonesia.
“My philosophy is very simple,” Kahfiani said. “We recruit the best player that will fit our program, culture and our standard.”
Kahfiani said she has tried to recruit American players, but many choose other programs. VCU has continued to find talented international players who fit the culture she wants to build – one that values the hunger to uplift one’s self and one another.
“I think first and foremost, work ethic is number one, wanting to compete and love tennis,” Kahfiani said. “The skills can be elevated, but something that is hard to teach is the work ethic.”
Still, Kahfiani says international identity has become part of the team’s culture.
Fourth-year Tania Isabel Andrade Sabando came to VCU from Ecuador and initially struggled with the transition. Adapting to a new culture while being away from her family presented a huge challenge for Andrade Sabando, but she said her teammates helped make the transition easier.
“When I just arrived I didn’t speak the language so that was the main problem,” Andrade Sabando said. “Then all the team received me very well and everyone was really nice.”
Now, Andrade Sabando said she considers VCU a second home.
That same sense of community is something first-year Anjali Junarto said she experienced when she arrived from Indonesia. Junarto chose VCU due to its kinesiology program and the opportunities it offered her tennis career, but the team’s diversity also stood out to her.
“Usually, most likely, you will have Americans on the team, but here we have none,” Junarto said.
Instead, she practices alongside players from different countries and backgrounds, something she believes will help prepare her for tennis beyond college.
Andrade Sabando and Junarto said the team’s international diversity was a large part of what drew them to VCU over other universities.
The players learn from each other both on and off the court, according to Andrade Sabando. The team hosts dinners where players bring food from their home countries, while conversations introduce teammates to different languages, traditions and worldviews.
As she enters her final year at VCU, Andrade Sabando is considering internships, working in fashion merchandising and potentially returning for a fifth year to pursue a master’s degree.
“Meeting people from other parts of the world makes you grow up and change your mindset… people come into your life to teach you something important and I continue to learn from [my teammates] every day,” Andrade Sabando said.
Whatever comes next, Andrade Sabando believes that her time at VCU has prepared her for it.
“As a coach I want to develop them as players, but more importantly as people and as leaders,” Kahfiani said. “I see [our internationality] as a strength. We are very diverse and we learn a lot from each other. We have a lot of different personalities and that is something that allows us to grow as people.”