Fresh off of competing against Venus Williams, Jade Lewis is show casing her talents on the collegiate level.
Lewis, a freshman for LSU’s women’s tennis team, Lewis won the New Zealand Tennis Championships, which earned her a wildcard berth in the ASB Classic, where she competed against Williams.
Lewis, who was born in Germany and moved to New Zealand, has competed all over the world.
Although Lewis lost in straight sets, 6-7 and 2-6, she competed extremely well against someone as renowned as Williams.
“It was a pretty cool experience,” Lewis said. “I did really well the year before against Lauren Davis, who is ranked in the top 100, so I brought that confidence into the Venus match.”
Co-head coach Julia Sell was encouraged by her performance against Williams.
“When someone is doing that well against Venus, you know that they are going to be able to come into your program, play high and contribute immediately,” Sell said.
Through six matches this season, Lewis is 5-0 in singles play and 4-1 in doubles play. The Lady Tigers’ freshman has helped the team get off to a 5-1 start.
Her talent is no surprise considering that her uncle, Chris Lewis, competed in the men’s finals at Wimbledon, and her father David Lewis is a well-regarded tennis coach.
Sell was more impressed with Lewis’ ability to play consistent against all of her opponents.
“What was also impressive was the warm-up tournament she played before that event,” Sell said. “She won the wildcard tournament, where she beat two top 20 college players, and beat them pretty handily.”
“I thought that, that was more impressive because anyone can play well against someone that they’re not supposed to beat, it is playing well against players that you should beat that is more impressive.”
Lewis believes competing against players of Davis and Williams’s caliber is part of the reason for her great start at LSU.
“After the match against Venus and winning the New Zealand Championships, I definitely brought that confidence here,” Lewis said.
Sell was not surprised either by Lewis’ ability to dominate her opponents.
“Even though she was not here in the fall, she was playing that entire time,” Sell said. “So she came into the spring as prepared as anybody.”
Lewis was a part of the No. 1-ranked recruiting class in the country, and her decision to sign with Sell and the Lady Tigers was a huge asset to the program.
“It was definitely the coaches helping me a lot,” Lewis said regarding her recruitment, “They are both really experienced, and I think the facilities are unbelievable.”
After her start to the season, Lewis cracked the top 100 collegiate player rankings, coming in at No. 35.
Her ranking is the highest for a freshman at LSU since 2007.
Even though Lewis is having early success, she is still focused on the team.
“I think we all just want to do as best as we can as a team together,” Lewis said. “As long as we stay really close and support each other I think we will do really well in NCAA and other competitions.”