By Meredith Aldis | Broadcast Intern
Baylor tennis player, Jessica Hinojosa, represented her home country of Mexico this summer at the University Games and nearly lost the back-draw championship.
“I don’t know the feeling of being at the Olympics, but I think it’s a pretty close feeling to that,” Hinojosa said. “Representing your country at such a big event. It’s amazing.”
She lost her first match against a player from Kazakhstan after battling for three and a half hours in the 113 degree heat. However, after playing in the back draw tournament, she made her way to the finals. She beat athletes from Slovenia, Uganda, Argentina and France before losing in finals to a competitor representing Italy.
“It was a really tough match because she made a lot of balls, so I had to work really hard every point,” Hinojosa said.
Although she was in Taipei, she felt right at home representing Mexico.
“More of my teammates were Mexican, so that was really fun. All the rest of the Mexican athletes from other sports, we had the chance to meet a lot of them, so it was really good,” Hinojosa said.
Hinojosa said she really enjoyed her time in Taipei and gained new friendships.
“My favorite thing was meeting all the athletes from around the world,” Hinojosa said.
