Air conditioners provide relief and support to those trapped in heat and humidity.

They transform warm, stress-inducing air into cool drafts that ease nerves.

And for the last four seasons, UCLA women’s tennis has relied on an “AC” of its own to exude calm in the face of heat.

Senior Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer concluded her collegiate career in May as a two-time All-Big Ten first teamer with a 163-65 record. This past season, she was named a Hurd Award finalist, receiving a $40,000 grant from the Universal Tennis Foundation to support her transition to international competition.

“That’s AC to the T,” said senior swimmer Fiona Schere, who is also Lutkemeyer’s roommate. “People make puns with her name, because she’s pretty chill like AC – the air conditioning.”

Lutkemeyer said her love for the game has fueled her rise.

“Having too many expectations puts too much pressure,” the senior said. “I don’t like doing that. For me, it’s about the process, like, ‘How can I be a little bit better than the day before?’ and not expecting anything.”

But Lutkemeyer was not always that way.

The Irvine local began playing tennis in her hometown at the age of five. By 12, she viewed professional tennis as a long-term possibility – with dreams of becoming the next Maria Sharapova. Lutkemeyer said her career’s early years were marked by pressure to attain certain results.

As Lutkemeyer progressed through high school, the pressure appeared to pay off. She was ranked No. 1 in her recruiting class in 2020 and 2021, per Tennis Recruiting Network.

When Lutkemeyer committed to UCLA in November 2021, the then-high school senior reached out to Scott Bailey, a local tennis coach who had privately trained former No. 1-ranked UCLA men’s tennis player Clay Thompson.

Bailey first met Lutkemeyer when she was eight years old, competing against one of his students in a junior tournament final. Bailey said he knew he wanted to coach her after seeing Lutkemeyer’s attitude and scrappiness on court – though it was delayed by a decade due to Lutkemeyer living in Orange County and Bailey being based out of Los Angeles.

Bailey, who now refers to Lutkemeyer as his third kid, said the pair began implementing unconventional approaches to prime her tennis performance, prioritizing point play rather than drilling.

Bailey added that he aimed to make Lutkemeyer a more aggressive player by adding slice backhands, volleys and forehand shots to her repertoire, while enhancing her fitness routine with a private trainer.

But Bailey’s tutelage has provided more than technical additions to her craft, Lutkemeyer said. Bailey has helped remind her of her love for tennis amid heightened expectations, she added.

They work every day to further Lutkemeyer’s tennis IQ and understanding – whether through phone calls, watching film of her playing or even sending each other Instagram reels from the pro tour – Bailey said.

“It’s 10 o’clock at night, and we’re texting each other, saying, ‘Oh yeah, that makes sense, look at this, look at this,’ so it’s really a 24/7 type relationship that her and I have,” Bailey said. “Her knowledge and understanding of how to play the game – as opposed to just hitting tennis balls back and forth in practice – but how to apply that into competition is what has made the difference in her results over the last couple of years.”

Their cool but calculated approach was tested during Lutkemeyer’s first year at UCLA.

The then-freshman posted an 8-9 dual match record in her opening campaign, playing 10 of her 17 dual matches on court six, at the bottom of coach Stella Sampras Webster’s lineup.

Sampras Webster said Lutkemeyer initially struggled with serving and her self-confidence.

Senior swimmer Fay Lustria, another one of Lutkemeyer’s roommates, said she and Lutkemeyer bonded at the end of their freshman year over their shared struggles in their respective sports. Lutkemeyer did not understand what she was capable of, Lustria said, but the two shared dreams of what they could accomplish.

So Lutkemeyer did what any AC would do under heat.

She flipped the switch.

The then-sophomore notched the team’s second-best dual-match singles record at 13-4 and added a team-best 21-2 doubles record. Starting her sophomore year on court six, Lutkemeyer rose in the lineup until she was playing line one in her junior year. By her senior season, she led singles play in every match but one, which she sat out due to illness.

Schere, Lustria and Sampras Webster said the impact of that switch was seen not only in Lutkemeyer’s quality of play, but also in her newfound self-confidence.

“When she returned after that summer, I saw a new person,” Lustria said. “She knew what she had to do and what it would take to get there, and she’s done exactly that for the past three years.”

Lutkemeyer keyed in on that moment as well.

“I would definitely agree with the switch, flip type of progression,” Lutkemeyer said. “When I was in that position, (I) didn’t think that I would have gotten to where I am now. It was just a culmination of my hard work and the work that I was doing with Scott and trusting the process.”

Sampras Webster said watching Lutkemeyer’s growth from a shy freshman to a poised senior captain brought her joy as a coach.

“We’ll always look back and say, ‘This is what a champion does. This is how a champion trains,'” she said. “She’s given it her all to this team, and to me, that’s the quality of a champion.”

Bailey said though Lutkemeyer’s tennis game, mentality and confidence grew immensely across the last four years, it was her innate fighting spirit and grit that enabled her to persevere through challenges.

“She wakes up at the same time every day, and she is really disciplined when it comes to what she’s eating, who she’s surrounding herself with, the activities she’s doing, on top of being driven when it comes to tennis,” Lustria said. “She’s very conscientious of making sure that her life is very balanced.”

Lutkemeyer began her professional career last week, losing in the finals of a $15,000 International Tennis Federation tournament in Lakewood, California.

She has an abundance of tennis accolades from her time at UCLA. But her Bruin community said they will not miss her tennis capabilities most – instead, they will miss fueling Lutkemeyer’s coffee addiction with morning cafe runs, her care for sick friends and younger teammates and her on-court displays of energy and passion, Schere, Lustria and teammate junior Ahmani Guichard said.

AC may be calm and collected on court, but those who know her say her heart is warm.

“You can tell with AC that she’s a great Bruin and will be for life,” Bailey said.