By Hannah Grady remembers Friday nights as a 10-year-old, sweeping chunks of snow off the outdoor courts of her hometown Coventry, England.
After she finished clearing the concrete playing surface, Grady set aside the shovel and picked up her tennis racquet. Draping a knitted cap upon her head and comfortably slipping her hands into a pair of leather gloves, she proceeded to play a few sets in the unforgiving winter evening.
“The courts were cold and the area I lived in didn’t have many people to play with,” Grady said.
She doesn’t have to sweep snow anymore.
The 5-foot-6 sophomore has moved from her home nation and taken residence at sun-drenched Long Beach State, where she is the No. 1 tennis player on the No. 44 team in the country.
Women’s tennis head coach Jenny Hilt-Costello, who is in her twelfth season at LBSU, was asked to list the sophomore’s greatest assets as a player.
“There’s so many,” she said. “Hannah is hard-working and she sets a good example for the rest of the team.”
Grady was born in Exeter, England. Her passion for tennis blossomed when her mother decided to enroll her in a mini tennis camp when she was eight.
“It was just something for me to do over the summer holidays,” Grady said.
The 19-year-old recalled how the camp used sponge balls instead of regulation tennis balls to hit around during the session, which was understandable considering many of the enrolled students were just getting acquainted with the sport.
Little did she know it, several of the coaches conducting the camp noticed Grady’s prodigal talents and encouraged her to continue developing her skills. She has kept their words in her mind since that day.
“One of the coaches obviously saw something,” Grady said. “When I was eight or nine, that’s when I really started to get into it.”
It did not take long for Grady to ditch the sponge balls and begin playing with the real thing. At ll, she was already playing in junior-level tournaments throughout England.
Grady nabbed the first major championship of her playing career when she won the British National Championships singles title in the Under-12 division. She also was the No. 1-ranked junior in Britain throughout 2001 and 2002, according to the Long Beach State athletics Web site.
Aside from her success at home, Grady has logged in tons of air mileage while playing in tournaments throughout the world. The 2006 Big West Player of the Year spent many of her childhood years on the international stage in junior competitions in Florida, Mexico and Thailand.
Through all the time spent away from home when she was 13 years old, it is safe to say Grady did not live a normal teenage life. She attended Bablake School in Coventry, but because of her grueling tennis schedule, she had to complete her high school education by taking distance learning courses through Oxford Open Learning.
The time away from her parents forced Grady to mature independently, and it turns out that the game that took them away from her is also responsible for helping her develop a fiery determination to accomplish tasks on her own.
“[Tennis] has allowed me to learn about myself,” Grady said.
“I’ve learned how to fight for things that I wanted.”
Grady speaks matter-of-factly with a distinct British accent, but does not cast herself into those old stereotypes about how British people are supposed to behave politely.
When playing tennis, she is a spitfire throughout the course of a match. She scowls at every unforced error and tosses her racquet into the air after smashing a potential winner into the net. Once it is game, set and match, however, Grady insists she is really calm and mild-mannered.
“I’m actually quiet and relaxed,” she said. “I’m not as fired up off the court.”
She might let loose a few emotionally fueled outbursts to herself to get pumped up during a match, but do not expect her to unleash profanity-laced tirades against opponents and umpires ala John McEnroe.
Instead, whatever inkling of rage she might possess is simply transferred from her racquet into the neon-yellow ball that she lofts past challengers with ease, as her four victories over ranked opponents this season will attest.
“She’s respectful and definitely a team-player,” Hilt-Costello said. “An open communication and mutual respect are the words to describe our relationship.”
Overall, Hilt-Costello said Grady is far from reaching her ceiling as a tennis player.
“She’s a very unique player with a lot of shots. The sky’s the limit for her.”
