Tennis has been at the forefront of Amaia Balaguer Brau’s mind since her playing days started at three years old. A former gymnast and soccer player as well, tennis was her focus.
“I just chose tennis over everything,” Balaguer Brau said.
The Benicarlo, Spain native started playing for The Rock in the 2023-24 season after
transferring in from St. Thomas Aquinas College. She was part of a Spartans team that made the NCAA DII round of 16 in 2022-23 following a 19-4 singles record and 8-2 doubles record.
“She came in as a transfer. She learned the lay of the ground her first semester and then started kicking butt in the second semester,” SRU tennis head coach Meredith said.
After coming to Slippery Rock University, she closed last season with a 19-9 singles record, a 15-10 doubles record, two-time All-PSAC West honors and the 2024 The Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) DII Atlantic Region Singles Championship. The strong first showing with The White and Green earned her 2024 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) West Athlete of the Year honors.
The junior was also chosen as the ITA Atlantic Region Player to Watch and PSAC Athlete of the Week on three separate occasions.
The awards though, while nice, are not Balaguer Brau’s drive to keep improving.
“As long as I’m proud of what I did on the court, I don’t care about the awards,” she said. “I just care about my team doing good…about giving my best, and if that gives me awards then that’s fine.”
After getting to the United States, she knew what she had to do to up her game, and made it happen.
“Before I came here, I stopped playing for like a year and a half before I came to the U.S.” Balaguer Brau said. “I just realized once I was here that if I wouldn’t be intense and move my legs, my game wouldn’t have any sense. I have to move or I have to move. If not, it doesn’t work out.”
Meredith said that ever-increasing intensity is the player’s most defining trait.
“When she’s out there, she puts a lot of intensity into her matches,” Meredith said. “[She’s] one of the most gifted athletes on this campus.”
Balaguer Brau proved her coach right by racking up 19 wins in her single matches and 15 in doubles play last season. Across six matches in the new season, Balaguer Brau has only lost one singles match.
“When she doesn’t think and she’s moving and hitting well, she’s almost damn near impossible to beat,” Meredith said.
Tennis is something that comes naturally to Balaguer Brau. She does not model her game after anyone. She does what feels right to her and runs with it.
“I just play. I enjoy what I was doing and just kept doing that,” Balaguer Brau said.
Along with being a stellar athlete, Balaguer Brau is also a stellar teammate. Even though tennis is not necessarily a team sport, they work together to make each other better.
Coach Meredith describes tennis as “an individual sport that we play as a team. It’s the most unique team atmosphere because they have to push each other. Every day they play against each other… They are trying to beat each other to make each other better to beat someone else.”
The teammates benefit from each other during practice. Balaguer Brau’s intensity helps her teammates strive to be their best selves. And Balaguer Brau feeds off of the atmosphere to make herself a better athlete.
“The team and the team atmosphere has helped her,” Meredith said. “And she doesn’t want to disappoint her teammates. That’s obvious in her passion when she plays.”
Playing a good game and having a good season is not only rewarding for the athlete, but for the coach.
“Watching a player develop, watching this team develop into where we’re at and what we’re striving for, that’s why I do what I do,” Meredith put it. “It’s a lot of fun to see the development of your players. Not just on the court but off the court as well.”
A team is more than just a group of people doing the same thing. What makes a team a team is the bond they share, their combined love of the sport. Balaguer Brau gives credit to her teammates.
“I wouldn’t be the player I am right now without my teammates. They push me, they teach me, and that’s not something that many people can do,” Balaguer Brau said.
