Today's Athlete: Zeynep Mafa

 Zeynep Mafa is Senior who was born in Istanbul, Turkey, but moved to the United States for high school to better her chances of earning a division 1 scholarship to play tennis. She attended a tennis academy in Southern California just outside of Los Angeles, where she trained, competed in tournaments, and  prepared her to play division 1 tennis. "I've been playing tennis since I was 10 years old. I actually chose tennis, because my older brother played tennis, and my mom wanted to make it easier on herself by dropping the two kids off at the same location for practice."

Mafa credits her inspiration to continue to play tennis to her love for the sport and how it challenged her mentally. "I really loved how tennis was a very mental sport. It was a thinkers game. It was for the mentally tough."

Being a basketball player I often learned more from the wins than the loses, because it was easier to pick out the flaws in your game in a loss. Tennis that's not that case,"I believe that I learn more from my loses because it makes me think "what I could have done better." I had my share of tough loses but I never let them get the best of me, I always tried to do better and exceed my potential."

Zeynep is a very accomplished collegiate tennis player. She earned a Division 1 scholarship that she longed for at Drexel University, but was also named a 1st team All CAA as a Junior, which was the first time in Drexel Women's Tennis history. "I always knew that if I believed in myself, and worked hard, I could make my dreams a reality of playing division 1 tennis." 

Just like every college athlete, Mafa set goals for herself because just getting here wasn't enough. "I played #1 singles and doubles this year, and that was one of my college goals was to compete at the highest level, and face the best opponents that the CAA conference had to offer. I think my greatest accomplishment as an athlete is achieving my goals and making my parents proud, which means the world to me."

I want to thank Zeynep Mafa for taking the out her busy day to chat with me.