University of Tennessee Athletics
AGNES WISKI APPROACHES 100 WINS WITH EXCITEMENT
March 07, 2002 | Women's Tennis
March 7, 2002
by Josh Pate
Only four Lady Vols have ever done it. Senior tennis player Agnes Wiski is about to do it. And she can't wait.
"I'm pretty excited," Wiski said. "One hundred wins is a very big deal. It will help me with confidence because I want to leave the University of Tennessee with a big mark."
After the Tennessee's weekend matches with Kentucky and Vanderbilt, Wiski is only five wins away from the century mark with a career record of 95-61. Reaching the prestigious plateau would definitely ease the pain she has endured while at UT. For the past three years, Wiski has battled a nagging knee injury, patella tendinitis to be exact. It has caused swelling, pain and several other irritating problems. It's just an injury that lingers, especially when you play collegiate tennis.
Some of the primary causes of tendinitis are running and jumping on hard surfaces. And since the sport of tennis isn't likely to start playing its matches on marshmallows anytime soon, Wiski is forced to deal with her pain.
"She has managed it well," said UT co-head coach Mike Patrick. "She has to ice it down and it can be painful, especially after long matches."
Wiski has developed a relationship with the ice by now.
"It's obviously something I have to stick with through my years of playing tennis," Wiski said. "It's either play with the pain or stop, and there's no way I'm going to stop now."
And for good reason. Wiski currently stands at 12-2 on the spring season, 22-5 counting the fall tournament season. Not too shabby for the senior from Flushing, N.Y. In fact, this queen of the tennis court is ranked No. 62 in the latest International Tennis Association singles rankings, up 15 spots from her previous ranking of 77th.
She also pairs with junior Vilmarie Castellvi to form the 16th-ranked doubles tandem, currently standing with a mark of 10-3 in dual meets, 20-6 overall. Perhaps the duo's finest moment this season came March 1 when they upset the third-ranked doubles team, Kentucky's Carolina Mayorga and Sarah Witten, 8-6.
"My ranking is very important right now because I want to play NCAAs," Wiski said. "It's my senior year and I've moved up in singles and doubles. I'm pretty excited."
In singles, Wiski's only setbacks of the spring season were Feb. 16 and March 3. The first was a 6-4, 7-5 loss to Alicia Salas from Notre Dame. Although Wiski was defeated, the No. 9 Lady Vols went on the win the match 6-1. She was also ousted recently by Vanderbilt's Kelly Schmandt in the Lady Vols' 4-3 loss to No. 2 Vandy.
Still, Wiski has been as consistent as it gets for the Lady Vols. And she has filled in wherever she is needed. Her primary position in the lineup is at No. 4, where she has compiled an 8-2 record this season. However, she has also slid to No. 3, going 3-0 on the year. She even moved up to play the No. 2 position Feb. 3 in a 6-0 win against East Tennessee State. Wiski won 6-2, 6-1 over the Lady Bucs' Gemma Halim.
"It's really important to win," Wiski said of playing the middle positions in the lineup. "If you're playing 1, 2, 3 or 4, it's tough because if somebody at the top loses, you have a lot of pressure to win your match. It's just as competitive as playing 1 or 2. And I've experienced that because I played 1 and 2 my freshman and sophomore years."
As an underclassman, Wiski steadily held the top positions in the lineup for Tennessee. In fact, she was placed in the Lady Vols' No. 1 position for the majority of her rookie season. But after moving to the middle of the singles' lineup during her junior year, she has found her groove and settled in as one of the team's most productive players.
"Coming in as a rookie and playing No. 1 is a big deal," she said. "But now as a senior, I'm more comfortable knowing that I am going to win my match. When I go out there, I'm not nervous and I'm not putting pressure on myself like my freshman year. My attitude has been more positive going into a match now than it was my freshman year."
A lot has happened since Wiski was a freshman. She has changed positions in the Lady Vols' lineup. She's battled a pesky knee injury. And now she's approaching the 100-win mark. Overall, she has definitely spent some quality time on the court.
But Wiski has endured a steady schedule in the classroom as well. In May, the psychology major will accomplish a goal many college students find hard to reach - graduate with a degree in just four years. It will be one of her most prestigious accomplishments, a degree with "a good purpose," as she calls it. Still, these four years have flown by.
"It's kind of scary," Wiski admitted. "Four years have gone by in the snap of a finger. I'm nervous because I only have a couple more months here. It's sad, too, because it's like I'm leaving my second family.
"I feel very proud and honored to be on this team because they've helped me out a lot. Everybody on the Lady Vols' staff and at the university has helped me to improve as a person and as an athlete."
After graduation, Wiski plans to play professional tennis. In June, she will travel to South Carolina to get her feet wet in a pro tournament. Then it's on to Poland with her father for a short circuit during the summer before starting a full-time schedule in September. Wiski's father, Ludwik, knows a little about professional sports. He was a professional soccer player before instructing his two daughters in the game of tennis. Wiski says following her dad's footsteps in the professional sports will be a big task, but she has a backup plan as well.
"I'm really focused," she said. "But if tennis doesn't go my way right now, I'm going to try to pursue something in television or entertainment. I've been on television for commercials and things like that back in New York. I've also been in magazines, so hopefully I can do that."
Whether Wiski pursues a career in tennis or in front of a camera, she shouldn't have much to worry about. Everything is looking picture perfect.
