Foreign players bring new outlook to American game

Sports like basketball, baseball and football in the U.S. were once dominated by white American-born players. Today, the sports world is more diverse with people of different races and ethnic backgrounds, and the IU women's tennis team is no exception. Five out of nine women on the team are European.\nFreshman singles and doubles player Sarah Batty, a native of Chesterfield, England, has had an easy time adjusting to life in the United States.\n"It wasn't that difficult because I had been in Florida for two years," Batty said. "The players have made me feel comfortable."\nPlaying doubles, Batty isn't alone on the international front, as her doubles partner, sophomore Dominika Walterova, is from Zlin, Czech Republic. Walterova plays both singles and doubles for IU. She agreed with Batty that the team is what has made the transition to America easier.\n"The team made me feel comfortable," Walterova said. "I've adjusted really well."\nJunior Martina Grimm, born in Ellwangen, Germany, also does double duty as a singles and doubles player for the Hoosiers. Grimm said the biggest difference between European and U.S. tennis are the courts.\n"The main difference here is the surface," Grimm said. "It is faster here, but the players' level of play is the same."\nFreshman singles and doubles player Sophie Rychlik, a native of Lund, Sweden, said Europe's tennis doesn't offer the same advantages as the United States. \n"In Europe, we don't have the system of university tennis," Rychlik said. "I wanted to keep playing and study."\nChoosing to play in the United States was a tough choice for many of the women to make because of their success overseas before entering the U.S. playing circuit. \nBatty represented England in the Teen Tennis European Championships, and Walterova was a doubles semi-finalist in Sri Lanka and India and a singles semi-finalist in Cyprus in 1997.\nGrimm won the women's state championship of Baden-Wuerttembeg in Germany, and Rychlik won team championships in 1999 and 2001 in Sweden.\nNorway product, sophomore Christina Solli, was a three-time singles junior Norwegian champion, but has been sidelined this season due to a back injury. \nThey say it is frustrating at times when they are not as successful in the U.S.\n"Losing makes it harder because you want to do well," Grimm said. "You have to keep going and do well"