Every weekend, Javiera Ferrer and her dad hit the Boars Head tennis courts to rally and improve on strokes. She remarks fondly about this tradition, appointing her father as a big inspiration in her tennis career. “My dad played college tennis and he started teaching me.” The film King Richard (2021) introduced us all to how Richard Williams’, Serena and Venus Williams’ father, coaching helped his daughters become the legendary tennis players they are today and Ferrer’s story is reminiscent of such. Starting tennis when she was four years old, Ferrer has continued to hone her skill through Boars Head’s elite tennis program and Western’s tennis team. After school her practices consist of playing doubles and matches held every Tuesday and Thursday.
Excelling in two countries, Ferrer moved to Virginia from Chile in the summer. She praises the culture of teamwork in the US because, “Over there the way they coached me was different like here it is more complete. In Chile we focused more on singles. I never played doubles when we were there and here it’s like everything.” In Chile, Ferrer did not play on a school team, rather a club, so the transition to Western was a unique experience, yet one she was excited for. She admits that, “Western is very different but it has been good and I love the school. The classrooms here are so nice as well as the students and teachers. I lived her before 5 years ago and I went to middle school which was not very good, so I was nervous for high school, but it turned out to be great.”
In her first match of the season, this camaraderie was evident as Ferrer played against Glen Allen’s number two player. Her match was the longest, garnering the attention of the rest of her team and prompting them to cheer her on. “That was really fun and something I’d never experienced before in tennis and I really liked it,” Ferrer remarked.
For the rest of the season, Ferrer wishes for the ability to be able to give back to her teammates and cheer them on like they cheered her on as well as just playing more matches.
