While juniors playing at the US Open could accurately be referred to as tennis phenoms, American Ashley Lahey can additionally be described as an all-around prodigy.
The 16-year-old, who as a qualifier moved into the junior girls’ third round by scoring a 6-2, 6-3 win over fellow American Natasha Subhash on Tuesday, is ahead of the curve when it comes to education. Last week, she started her freshman year at Pepperdine University, the Southern California school nestled in the Malibu Hills overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
One of the reasons that Lahey has advanced past the normal grade level for her age is she was off the court for a year nursing broken ankles, which made for a lot of available study time.
Lahey has clearly missed the memo that college student-athletes tend to take a reduced course load, not to mention select easier “gut” classes. Instead, she’s a pre-med/sports-med major, which requires a strong work ethic and finds her juggling five classes this semester.
“I went to a couple of classes, and then I pretty much emailed all my teachers saying I’d be gone for the next week,” said Lahey, laughing. “My chemistry teacher asked, 'Where are you? You’ve already had three unexcused absences.'"
Lahey hails from Boulder, Colo., where she satisfied her interest in competing by pursuing many sports, such as basketball, soccer, water and snow skiing, track and even tennis. Eventually, and for no particular reason, she narrowed her participation to tennis and was invited at age 12 to train at the USTA’s Carson, Calif., facility for three months.
“I fell in love with the game there,” she said. “I love working hard, and they really pushed me hard, and that environment was really amazing. After three months, they told me I could stay if I want.”
That’s when Lahey’s mom moved full-time to California and her dad, a Yalie, went back and forth to his job as a computer scientist in Boulder.
As a youngster will often do, Lahey ignored her injury and kept playing until she could no longer perform. That’s when she found out her left ankle was broken. She spent six months healing, only to break her right ankle and need another six months away from the game.
Initially, her comeback was as painful as her injury. She struggled mentally to rekindle her interest in playing.
“Coming back, I was just kind of going through the motions,” Lahey admitted. “I don’t know how to describe it, but I was kind of apathetic and was just there because I needed to be there. I missed an important year trying to get better and my confidence back before I started to play for myself.”
Now back to believing tennis is where her heart is, she is thrilled to be on the courts in New York this week. To be playing at the US Open is a thrill for Lahey, who earned her first berth into a Grand Slam junior tournament the old-fashioned way – via the qualifying rounds.
“It was so emotional because I worked so hard to get here and coming back from my injuries,” Lahey said of qualifying to play at Flushing Meadows. “This year, I finally feel I hit my stride, and then to come here and be around these pros, and in this facility, it’s overwhelming and amazing in every possible way.”
Part of the US Open experience has been encountering those who already have made it as world-class players.
“I can’t believe I walked by (Rafael) Nadal and (Caroline) Wozniacki, and I just went, ‘Oh, my gosh,’ she said. “And they were all nice to me, and it made me feel like I belong. Like, Nadal acknowledged me (at the cafeteria) and said hello, and I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh. I’m not invisible. This is real.’”
During practice on Tuesday morning, Lahey was struggling to deal with the residual winds from Hurricane Hermine and was near tears. But her Pepperdine coach, Per Nilsson, offered a needed pep talk.
“I was about to cry, and my coach was like, ‘Seriously, calm down,’” she reported. “If you were playing well now, you’re not human because the wind is blowing 40 mph in both directions. He pumped me up, and when I went out (for my match) I was just in the zone and ready to deal with whatever came my way.
“His comment is always FIO – figure it out,” she added.
While Lahey, clearly a perfectionist, understands there could be a glitch in her grand scheme, she’s hoping she has the future all mapped out.
“My dream scenario is going pro after two years at school because then I’ll have developed my game, developed mentally, and I’ll be old enough to figure things out,” she said. “Then I’m going to give the pro tour my best shot. Then no matter what happens, whether I become No. 1 in the world or totally fail, I’ll go back to school, focus harder because I won’t be doing tennis, then go to med school and then do Doctors Without Borders third-world medical missions.”
But, of course, before the distant future happens, she has to concentrate on a third-round match against fellow American and eighth seed Sofia Kenin on Thursday.
