Born and raised in England, LSU women’s tennis senior Eden Richardson looks forward to returning to the NCAA tournament.
Richardson’s first time in America was during a week-long visit in 2017 to her top-three college options: LSU, Arizona State and South Carolina.
“I really like the campus and the people,” she said. “I love the atmosphere on campus and the amazing facilities.”
That is what brought Richardson from England to America.
“It actually went a lot smoother than I thought, everyone and that southern hospitality, everyone was welcoming and really good to me,” Richardson said.
While Eden’s mom would be at work as a receptionist, a young Eden would go and play tennis. “Many people would tell my mom that I had really good hand-eye coordination and that she should put me in classes,” Eden recalls. This would be the start of Richardson’s tennis career.
Prior to coming to LSU, Richardson was ranked as high as 130th in the ITF World junior rankings. Richardson also represented Team Great Britain at the Nike Under-16’s Youth Junior National Tennis Championships, where she won her first national title.
During her tenure at LSU, Richardson has reached tremendous success. 
“Winning the doubles in 2018 is by far my proudest moment of my LSU career,” she said. Along with her championship victory, Richardson has been named an All-American, Louisiana Player of the Year and to the All-SEC First Team.
“My favorite thing about tennis is competing,” Richardson said. “I love competing, and I am a very competitive person. As a leader on the team, Anna [Loughlan] and I are probably the loudest on the team. I am probably the loudest on the court.”
With the entire LSU women’s tennis team coming back, Richardson is hopeful that she and her teammates can pick up where they were from last season before it was cut short. 
“We were doing really well,” she said. “I think we can do really good this season. Personally, I want to get back into the NCAA tournament and be an All-American again.”
LSU women’s tennis kicks their season off against Rice Jan. 31 at 12 p.m. at the LSU Tennis Complex.