Dedication to tennis takes walk-on player to starting lineup

Laura Luca sat in a classroom at UCLA waiting for a sign of hope. The third-year senior couldn’t focus on the class lecture because her mind was completely occupied by something else.

When was he going to call back?

A few weeks earlier in the fall quarter, Luca talked to Rance Brown, associate head coach of the women’s tennis team, about a chance to practice with the collegiate squad. This was the opportunity she had been working toward since she first arrived in Westwood in 2013. But her dream was slowly slipping away with every passing moment.

“I was devastated, I messaged him and he never got back to me,” Luca said. “I had given up completely.”

She felt her phone vibrate and quickly reached in her pocket. The message she received was not an ordinary emoji-filled text. It was from head coach Stella Sampras Webster asking to meet with her the next day. It felt too good to be true.

“I was shaking. I left in the middle of class and screamed,” Luca said. “That night I didn’t sleep because I was so nervous for the next day.”

Less than 24 hours later it was official. Luca was a member of UCLA women’s tennis – the first ever walk-on player during Sampras Webster’s 20-year tenure in Westwood.

The Romanian native was hooked on tennis the moment she first picked up a racket 15 years ago. She spent Friday afternoons in Bucharest on the court with her parents and sister, casually rallying with one another. But then it became more than just a hobby.

By the time she was 10 years old, she had a coach, attended practices regularly and was set on competing in tournaments. Her coach said she wasn’t ready, but that didn’t stop her.

“For a year I kept saying, ‘let me go, let me go,’ but they wouldn’t,” Luca said. “So I went anyways. I made (my parents) sign me up without telling my coach.”

After a few discouraging losses in her first tournaments, she realized her opponents had been much more prepared than her, so she was determined to get better.

“I was really furious and I cried, but I wanted to keep doing it,” Luca said. “So I switched coaches and started practicing six days a week.”

With a new practice regimen and a renewed dedication, she surpassed her previous opponents’ level of play. Once she turned 16, she claimed a spot in the top-40 rankings while competing with the top players in Tennis Europe – the equivalent to the United States Tennis Association.

Despite committing more than a quarter of her life to playing tennis, at 18 she had to face a harsh reality. She wasn’t prepared for the professional world tour. But she didn’t want to stop playing tennis.

“I knew at that point that I wouldn’t choose tennis as a career but I started hearing that people play college tennis so that’s what I decided to do,” Luca said.

Luca couldn’t get recognition from American colleges, however, because of an average International Tennis Federation ranking and because she was too far to hold showcases and flaunt her skills to recruiters.

UCLA’s reputation as a prestigious university and its location attracted Luca during the college application process. She didn’t receive a scholarship for tennis, but it didn’t mean she would stop playing the sport she loved.

More than 6,000 miles separated Luca from her home country when she first stepped foot onto UCLA’s campus. During her first week of summer in Los Angeles, she knew exactly what to do to continue playing tennis. She marched right to the office of the women’s tennis team, where she first met Brown.

Luca mentioned her previous experience and European ranking to Brown. He responded by letting her try out for the team.

There was one minor problem for the Romanian: she hadn’t played tennis in six weeks. To get some extra practice in before the big tryout, Luca looked to the club tennis team.

The timing of the tryout was not in Luca’s favor. Even after a successful set of rallies with alumna Kaitlin Ray, Sampras Webster denied her a spot on the team because the roster was filled with a stack of veteran players.

Still, Luca continued to find other opportunities to keep playing tennis on campus.

She found her way back to UCLA club tennis. The years of experience under her belt showed every time she took the court.

“Clearly she was one of the better players and we relied on her game a lot on the court,” said freshman Johnson Chen, one of Luca’s mixed double partners. “She hits very flat, but has a lot of power and she can really do damage from the back court.”

The most memorable match for Luca came during her second year on the team at the USTA Tennis On Campus Spring Invitational in Tucson, Arizona.

The scorching desert heat caused trouble for Luca and her teammates. Dehydration kicked in after multiple matches each day. With her hands covered with blisters and her upper body red from sunburn, Luca managed to push through each game, leading the Bruins into the finals.

A matchup with crosstown contender USC loomed. She prepared for her first taste of the storied rivalry, but she pushed her body to the limit.

“I had something wrapped around my hand (for the blisters) and I couldn’t even feel the racket,” Luca said. “I was also cramping up. I kept thinking ‘what’s happening to me.'”

The minor injuries affected her play in doubles, but by singles, the adrenaline rush took control.

“I had (other players) fix me up really quick because I needed to get back (on the court),” Luca said. “I told them I’d promised them we were going to win this.”

The match wasn’t even close, with Luca securing a 6-1 victory against her opponent and the tournament title for UCLA.

But even with her impressive resume in club tennis, Luca always had a certain aspiration in the back of her mind – playing for the collegiate team.

She became very persistent, spending a majority of her time practicing at the Los Angeles Tennis Center to make sure the coaches noticed her – and they did.

Sampras Webster sought out Luca last fall when the women’s tennis team needed an extra player due to injuries.

“I wouldn’t add anyone unless I thought they could really help us and I knew that she could play and practice and knew she was doing really well on the club team,” Sampras Webster said. “We just didn’t have a lot of depth this year so we needed her to come in.”

Luca knew she couldn’t let the opportunity slip away.

“I knew I wasn’t at that level and I was really behind so I kept asking Rance and Stella to have some separate workouts so we could work on some stuff,” Luca said. “It was so physically demanding.”

Luca was supposed to be a backup but in UCLA’s first dual match against UC Irvine, she was an unexpected addition to the starting lineup. That’s when the senior’s nerves started to get to her.

“There was a lot going on in my mind,” Luca said. “For the first two or three weeks, I was so nervous about joining the team, I couldn’t toss my ball for a serve. It was rough.”

The length of the season tested the walk-on, with each week generating a much tougher opponent. It was difficult for Luca to keep up.

“Losing match after match took its toll on my confidence,” Luca said. “These girls had been playing for so many years and they knew how to approach matches. There was too much going on in my head and more and more every match I kind of had this grim outlook.”

The senior regained her confidence toward the season’s conclusion, specifically after her final win of the year on the road in Colorado – a 6-3, 6-3 victory. A shoulder injury forced her to miss the final few weeks of the year, but by then, she had already made her mark on the tennis program.

“You have to have respect for her for what she has been able to do,” Sampras Webster said. “I think it was just really neat for our players to get to know her, someone from a different country who had similar and different experiences playing in the juniors.”

Persistence and commitment to tennis is what led Luca to accomplish her aspirations on and off the court. Although she said she will not pursue a professional career following graduation, she will find a way to get back onto the court in the future, just like she always has.