Texas women’s tennis started the outdoor season with a bang as freshmen Eszter Meri and Carmen Herea earned Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Week honors back-to-back.
“All our freshmen are very, very accomplished tennis players,” head coach Howard Joffe said. “It’s a little bit of a misnomer because they are very experienced. They’re very hungry. It’s not the least bit surprising that early on, we’ve already got two accolades for freshman of the week.”
Meri earned the SEC Freshman of the Week title on Jan. 29, following a standout week with a combined 3-1 wins over Maryland and Baylor. She supplied the clinch in a 4-3 victory over the Bears that made the team ITA Kickoff Austin Regional champions and sent Texas on its way to the ITA National Indoor Championships.
Before joining Texas, the Slovakia local held a juniors career high of No. 108 and won the singles championship of the 2024 W15 Krsko in Slovenia, defeating her now teammate, fellow freshman Salma Drugdova, in the semifinals. Meri holds a trio of singles titles in juniors and one doubles title, though she said American college tennis is another beast.
“The rules are a bit different than on Pro Tour,” Meri said. “I didn’t know as a European that American college tennis is that competitive. Every match is a big battle.”
Just on the other side of Slovakia’s neighbor, Hungary, in the Romanian capital Bucharest, Herea was also playing in the European circuit. She held a career-high juniors ranking of No. 82. A two-time juniors single title holder and a six-time junior doubles title holder, Herea was less apprehensive about coming to play college tennis at Texas.
“I feel like I was kind of ready for college tennis,” Herea said. “I played pro before that, and I don’t feel like it surprised me in any way. I knew what I was getting into. It’s just a bigger feeling once you get to actually play and actually be a part of it. The feeling of winning or losing is much bigger than what I expected.”
Herea got to know the feeling of winning when she secured both singles and doubles wins to help Texas post a 4-3 win over NC State on Jan. 31. She came back from a 2-0 deficit in a tiebreaker, showcasing her determination to take the first set in her singles match.
Herea’s singles and doubles performances against NC State were enough to secure her conference honors on Feb. 5, even without playing the team’s next match against Abilene Christian University.
“I didn’t really expect it,” Herea said. “I knew I had a very good match, and I felt very good on the court, and I knew it was a very good win, but I didn’t really expect it. It felt good.”
As the freshmen find their footing in the world of intercollegiate tennis, the pair have similar goals for their time on the Forty Acres.
“Back home, you need to choose whether it’s education or it’s for professional sport,” Meri said. “Here, I feel like I can do both, and I get the support to do both at the same time.”
For Herea, the hope to win a national championship sits right under her goal to go pro after Texas.
“As an individual at UT, I’m looking for an individual title as well,” Herea said. “After that, I’m looking forward to playing pro tennis.”
