By Jackson Posey | Sports Writer
Na Dong sat alone in an Egyptian hotel room, her head bowed.
It was her first professional tournament — and nearly her last. Amid heightened COVID-19 quarantine protocols in late 2021, Dong’s tennis academy took a tour of Egypt. Faced with intense scrutiny and a global schedule, the Chinese sensation lost eight of her 11 matches. She nearly quit the sport.
“It was so stressful and so much pressure,” said Dong, who had to quarantine for a month after her return to China. “After I came back, I was like, ‘Maybe I should quit tennis.’ Because I didn’t know if I could keep moving on, and there’s comparison between me and my other teammates and they’re doing really well. So I’m feeling really disappointed in myself.”
Today, Dong is a freshman sensation at Baylor, 3-0 in singles and half of the Bears’ No. 2 doubles pairing alongside Purdue transfer Kennedy Gibbs. At No. 85 in the national ITA singles rankings and No. 18 among newcomers, she’s been a revelation. But it took the counsel of a longtime friend to bring her back.
“She [asked] me, if I quit tennis now, am I going to regret it in the future?” Dong said. “That made me think, ‘Oh, maybe I should give myself another try, to keep playing until I’m not going to regret it.’”
When Baylor head coach Joey Scrivano first went to China, he was flying blind. He didn’t have any connections; he just had a list of players and the will to find them. Dong topped the list.
“I didn’t know anybody,” Scrivano said. “I just had a random contact with a coach over there in China, and that’s kind of how it started. But I went over there with a really short list, and that’s it. … She was the top of the list.”
The recruiting visit, the first of many, was a long time coming. The list of potential players is naturally shortened by a hundred factors. Scrivano knew what he was looking for: strong tennis players that would buy into the team’s environment and culture. Dong checked every box.
“What an amazing journey,” Scrivano said. “It was really fun in the process to get to know her and just see what a quality person she is, as well as a great tennis player.”
Scrivano ticked off the selling points about her game — tall, athletic, naturally gifted. But he said it was the “non-obvious” things that really sold it.
“I knew that I was recruiting someone who was a heck of a tennis player, but would be a great teammate,” Scrivano said. “Those are hard to find.”
Dong says the encouragement of her teammates and coaches has played an instrumental role in her development. She’s bought in.
“Joey always tells us, ‘We over me,’” Dong said. “I always put that in my heart as a reminder because I feel really grateful and blessed to be able to play for Baylor. And on the court, I feel like I’m not fighting alone.”
No. 25 Baylor women’s tennis will be back in action against San Diego State at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Aztec Tennis Center in San Diego.
