Inside the Locker Room Amanda Berck '08 steps off the court to talk

Author: Zamir Ahmed

Berck plays second singles on the women's tennis team and was last year's NESCAC Rookie of the Year.



The Campus: Why did you choose tennis?

Amanda Berck: I chose tennis because it's a sport where you can, um, you create the results, no one else chooses your destination for you. Um, for instance, you know, like when I was younger, all the team sports. I was this sorry little girl and people didn't really pick me for teams 'cause I didn't look very athletic, and my dad always told me to do tennis because that's something you could totally prove to people.

TC: What's your best shot?

AB: My best shot is my forehand cross-court dipper.

TC: How'd you come up with that?

AB: Um, in doubles, my dad taught me to do this because I love to just smash shots at the volleyer, at the people who are at net. But then, what would happen is, the people at net, it's actually easier to hit just hit shots hard, while if you hit shots at their feet, they have to bend down and they can hit just a light shot for you to put away afterwards.

TC: What do you love most about tennis?

AB: What I love most about tennis is, um, it's therapeutic for me. It's just me and ball pretty much out there when I play. I let all my anger, all my frustration - I just express myself through tennis. I like how you use your intelligence while playing.

TC: What's your best tennis moment?

AB: My best tennis moment was, I have to say, when I went to the SuperNational Clay Courts, um, junior year, the summer of junior year. I played this girl, Anna Jackson. She had a much higher ranking than me in the nation and I had glasses at the time, I was a little dorky girl with glasses, and it was raining out. And they didn't stop it because it was raining because the courts absorb the rain. So, every point - people would, like, make fun, say I would need windshield wipers on my glasses. I had to get paper towels, like, every second to wipe them off, I could not see. And I was destroyed in the first set, like 6-0. And I just said to myself, "Just play point-by-point, forget about the score. Just say, 'get the shot, the shot that comes just get it back over and just try.' " All you can control is your effort and attitude so never think that you're losing, never think that you're gonna lose, obviously, or you've already lost. And I just played point-by-point and without even realizing - I wasn't even switching the scores over, my opponent was - I won the second set and we were in the third set. I won that third set 6-2 and I just remember that that was the best win I ever had and it was truly just - I had a great attitude, I never got down on myself. It was a turning point in my tennis and I had many more victories after that. That was my first great win.

TC: Do you have a pre-match ritual?

AB: Definitely. Tennis players are known to be the most superstitious people. I remember even in high school I had a lucky outfit. I would always wear this outfit for - I remember it exactly - but I would wear it every first match and I wouldn't think, "Oh, well, maybe I just always win first matches because first matches are the easiest." I would think it was because of my outfit. I had certain outfits I would wear for first match, second match, third match, um… I would always mix half water and half Gatorade before I played. Definitely took a lot of Advil before I played. [Laughs] Always felt that there was going to be some injury that I'm going to have to get during the match. And I also do this thing before I served. I, I used to bounce the ball - I don't do this anymore - but I used to bounce the ball seven times before I served because seven was my lucky number.

TC: Do you have a favorite sports movie?

AB: "Legend of Bagger Vance." The golf movie with Will Smith, because my favorite quote is "See the field." I took it in the terms of, like, see there's, put things in perspective, see out of the box. I feel like I could connect a lot of that to tennis, um, how, you know, when you play tennis… [pause]. I guess it was really hard putting things in perspective, um, with tennis. It definitely felt like, you know, winning and losing would control my self-worth and I just felt like tennis was everything, tennis was determining if I was going to be a success or a failure. You know, being an adolescent everything is out of perspective. And that quote, like, "see the field," it was really about look at it as the whole picture. You're playing tennis because you enjoy it, it's a sport. It's nothing that determines anything about you but how…but your strength and character and how much you enjoy doesn't depend on winning and losing a match.

TC: How different is it playing tennis individually and then on a team?

AB: The difference is that it's a lot more comforting playing on the team. In high school - you know, tennis can be a very lonely sport, especially if you're just playing singles. You know, you definitely feel like you're all on your own. It's a gladiator match - it's like one-on-one and you don't have anyone to support you really, even if you have your fans watching you but it's so different when there's somebody right on your side. Um, even playing tennis in college, it's different. A tennis team is so different from a basketball team or a soccer team because you're playing together whereas tennis, it's hard to look at because everyone's playing - except for doubles, for the most part - their own individual game. Except in nationals. I love nationals because that is when I felt like we were closest as a team because it didn't matter our outcomes each individual match. It had to do with, um, how… once we won five matches, whoever won five matches, we'd stop. So even if people didn't even finish their match they would stop because our team already won. So we were truly, at that moment, playing as a team, the closest we came to truly playing as a team. And I like to say it's like all of us are holding on to a racquet, we're holding onto the same racquet and we're playing. I think team unity is an extremely important part of team success and although individual players, very talented, can go well, you definitely need team support. It's a huge bonus in helping you to win matches.

- Zamir Ahmed, Sports Editor