Tennis players Marissa Lazar ’14 and Alexa Katz ’14 earned the titles of United Athletes Association’s Athletes of the Week on September 19 after their recent wins at Simmons College. This new sophomore duo is looking forward to a successful tennis season as a doubles team. Not only are these girls teammates, but they are also best friends and roommates! For them it’s about the LOVE of the sport (get it?) on and off the court.
Name:Alexa Katz
Year:2014
Hometown:Philadelphia, PA
Major/Minor:Biology and Studio Art major; Health: Science, Society and Policy minor.
Name:Marissa Lazar
Year:2014
Hometown:Hewlett, NY
Major/ Minor:Art and Anthropology majors; potential Art History minor.
Her Campus: When did you start playing tennis?
Alexa Katz: I started to play tennis when I was about four years old. I remember that the coach would help us by holding the racket and hitting the balls whenever they were thrown at us. But my parents chose the sport for me, and I have been playing tennis now throughout my whole life.
Marissa Lazar: I started to play tennis a little later, when I was around seven years old. I don’t know the exact age. However, tennis was my first choice in sports. When I was around that age, my parents signed me up for all these different sports, so I tried them all out, but tennis was the one that I stuck with.
HC: Wow, you both started out really young. Because of your early start, do you think that tennis will play a big part in your futures?
AK:For now, I am planning on competing until the end of my college career. Then I would like to take a break until I finish medical school so I could focus on my studies. After I finish with all my degrees, I would love to join a women’s league until I basically can’t walk anymore.
ML:I’m going to continue playing all throughout my college career. Tennis has been a huge part of my life. So, I will continue to be playing it for the rest of my life.
HC: If you could tell readers a few things about tennis, what would they be?
AK:It’s A LOT of pressure! Even with the large amount of pressure, it’s great being on a team, because tennis is an exhilarating sport. If there is one thing that I would say, [it] would be about how a lot of people misjudge the sport and think it is so easy when in reality, it’s not. When they pick up that racket and try to play the sport, they’re faced with the truth.
HC: Both of you primarily play singles and just started to play doubles. How is competing in single matches versus competing in double matches?
AK: I always was a singles player in high school but recently became a doubles player when [I] came up here to go to college [at] Brandeis. I love playing doubles a lot because you have a teammate and it’s not all you. It’s great to have someone to be able to catch all your mistakes and make all of the crazy shots. Also, I love the fact that I get to rotate between both positions at the baseline and at the net.
ML:I love doubles. It keeps my spirits up. I enjoy playing singles, but playing doubles is my definitely my favorite.
HC: Marissa, this recent match against Simmons College was your third varsity dual match. How was it?
ML:Fun! I have been waiting for this match for a very long time. In fact, I have wanted to play this match for a long time too. I just loved it.
HC: What do you want Her Campus readers to know about you besides your tennis life?
AK:I have always secretly wanted to be a food critic. This way I could just travel all around the world and eat all the different foods that I want. Also, I have this passion of traveling to places that people never really visit or know of.
ML:Ditto to everything Alexa just said! That is why we get along so well. When we are not in tennis or in class, we just sit here and talk about cool adventures that we want to embark on in the world and all of the food that we would eat! What I would say is that I am secretly, but not really [secretly], a history buff. I just love the history [of] literally everything.
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Brandeis chapter.