Athlete of the Week: Lauren Muehl

It might be frustrating for a seven-year-old-girl to start off learning tennis from an 80-year-old man, but it also could be the start of a remarkable career. Lauren Muehl, TC '01, began playing tennis with an elderly teacher when her mother introduced her to the game. Half a year passed before she needed more intense lessons and progressed to learn from professionals at a club.

When asked about her life as a student, an athlete, and an incoming freshman, Muehl responded very positively. "Tennis actually made the transition easier,"Muehl commented. "You already have nine close friends." It is obvious that Muehl is a very tough competitor as well as a strong person. "Lauren is unbelievably strong," teammate Sarah Naison-Phillips, BK '99, observed. "She's been through so much adversity this year but she's stuck it through. She's a real fighter."

Muehl always puts the team first. It is rare to find a freshman so apt to support the team, since people grow up playing tennis as an individual sport. Muehl, however, was able to play for the team as well as perform well as an individual. During the ITA Individual Championships this past weekend, the top two players from each school were chosen to go, and Muehl and Naison-Phillips traveled to the tournament together. Despite the fact that Muehl was not drawn for the singles competition after arriving, she supported her partner in all her games and handled the whole situation positively. Naison-Phillips was impressed with Muehl's reaction. "I don't know anyone who would be able to do that," she said.

Throughout her career, Muehl has continually found success. Since she was 12, she has been in the top 15 in her home state of Florida. Muehl came to Yale as the state's ninth-ranked player, and was a state semi-finalist her senior year at The Bolles School. She was the number-one player on a team that placed in the top three in the state each of her four years there, and she now ranks as the number two player on the Yale squad behind Nai-son-Phillips.

Meuhl comes from a family of tennis players, and credits her mother and father for the consistent support they steadfastly provided. Her mother coached tennis at a local high school and was always Muehl's coach and manager. Her mother may have even predicted Muehl's success before Muehl was born: she named her daughter Lauren Krista Muehl, the "Krista" chosen after the professional tennis player Chris Everett. Muehl hopes that she can live up to that billing as her career at Yale progresses.

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