[ColoradoTree]

I guess I just worry that in many of the high-profile sports, if you don't play your freshman year, you transfer.

One way tennis might be somewhat different from other sports in college is that your improvement depends to a greater extent on the quality of your teammates who you are hitting against every day in practice--which is an incentive to stay, get better, and replace the graduating seniors.

I think that's right, and Stanford is a pretty special program in this sport, so a lot of the normal rules for dissatisfied freshmen transferring out don't really apply to this particular program. 

For Yu, she knows that she's going to have every opportunity to climb the lineup, and she may end up vaulting Xu as the season goes on. And she knows that one of the six ahead of her will be gone next year and three others will be gone season after next. So, the opportunities are there. 

Of course, most of our incoming freshmen have it in the back of their heads that they might be able to make it on the pro tour, and the internal competition here is a great gut check. If you can't crack this lineup as a freshman, then that's a pretty good sign that you're not ready yet. 

So then the question is, what's going to get you ready? The internal competition, and eventually match play here? Or going to a lesser program, getting lesser coaching, and playing higher in the lineup? 

And that's purely from an athletic standpoint. Our women's tennis players seem to have the 40-year decision pretty firmly in mind, and they're usually a pretty academically accomplished group, so they're unlikely to want to make a move.

[ColoradoTree]

I guess I just worry that in many of the high-profile sports, if you don't play your freshman year, you transfer.

One way tennis might be somewhat different from other sports in college is that your improvement depends to a greater extent on the quality of your teammates who you are hitting against every day in practice--which is an incentive to stay, get better, and replace the graduating seniors.

I think that's right, and Stanford is a pretty special program in this sport, so a lot of the normal rules for dissatisfied freshmen transferring out don't really apply to this particular program. 

For Yu, she knows that she's going to have every opportunity to climb the lineup, and she may end up vaulting Xu as the season goes on. And she knows that one of the six ahead of her will be gone next year and three others will be gone season after next. So, the opportunities are there. 

Of course, most of our incoming freshmen have it in the back of their heads that they might be able to make it on the pro tour, and the internal competition here is a great gut check. If you can't crack this lineup as a freshman, then that's a pretty good sign that you're not ready yet. 

So then the question is, what's going to get you ready? The internal competition, and eventually match play here? Or going to a lesser program, getting lesser coaching, and playing higher in the lineup? 

And that's purely from an athletic standpoint. Our women's tennis players seem to have the 40-year decision pretty firmly in mind, and they're usually a pretty academically accomplished group, so they're unlikely to want to make a move.