For most of the LSU women’s tennis team, Monday meant going back to school for the first time since Sept. 20 and taking a day off practice.
But for one LSU sophomore, Monday meant a couple more hours of preparation for one of women’s tennis biggest collegiate tournaments.
Megan Falcon spent Monday afternoon fine tuning her game and putting finishing touches on a swing that has gotten her into this weekend’s Intercollegiate Tennis Association All-American Championships in Pacific Palisades, Calif.
Falcon, who has yet to play in a college match, will begin her LSU career by playing in a tournament featuring some of the best college tennis athletes in the nation.
LSU women’s tennis coach Tony Minnis said the tournament will be a good test for Falcon because of the level of competition she will face.
“This tournament is an All-American tournament,” Minnis said. “It’s all the top players in the country, and it’s hard to get into, but she got in, and hopefully she’ll get up there and do pretty well.”
The stiff competition and quality players are nothing new to Falcon, who sat out the past few years to travel and play in the junior world tennis circuit.
“Traveling internationally was a really good experience,” Falcon said. “It gave me a chance to experience a lot of other cultures and meet a lot of different people. It also helped because the level of competition is a lot higher than what we are going to see in the United States because it’s all the best juniors in the world.”
Falcon achieved a world ranking of No. 331 and International Tennis Federation rankings of No. 54 in singles play and No. 28 in doubles while traveling the world circuit.
During that time she played in all the junior Grand Slams including the junior French Open, the junior U.S. Open and junior Wimbledon. She also achieved a No. 1 Under-16 ranking and and a No. 5 Under-18 ranking as a junior player.
Although she had great success as a junior, the achievements she made before college did not come without a cost.
When Minnis recruited Falcon, he knew that since she did not enroll at a university after graduating from high school, she would lose a year of eligibility and play her first year at LSU as a sophomore, something Minnis said is unfair to Falcon.
“It’s a long, complicated process,” Minnis said. “The bottom line was she had to sit out, and they took a year of eligibility away from her. It’s just a complicated situation, and we’re just fortunate to have her now.”
Falcon said she would not trade the experiences and the memories she gained, but she does not believe she should have missed out on a year of eligibility.
“It’s a little bit disappointing, but it gave me a chance to get acclimated to school,” Falcon said. “I think I needed that time just to get used to just doing school because I hadn’t been in a regular school setting for so long.”
Although she will technically miss out on being a true freshman, Falcon said she will put that aside and look forward to playing in this tournament and getting back into a tennis routine.
“It’s going to be the best college players, and I’m excited to have a chance to get to play in the tournament,” Falcon said. “I think it’s an honor to represent this school and have a chance to play in this tournament.”
—–Contact Jay St. Pierre at [email protected]