8B
Wednesday, July 19, 1995
SPORTS UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Former Jayhawk explores Team Tennis world
By Dan Gelston
Kansan staff writer
Luke Jensen sends another shot to the baseline with the sole intent of seeing a return better than the one before.
Move those feet!" he shouts
"C'mon Rebecca, push it! push it!
The grunts coming from the lunging Rebecca Jensen and the sweat pouring down her flustered face indicate that Rebecca has been mushing
Rebecca Jensen
it for quite some time.
"Thirty seconds left. Stay up. Stay focused." Luke commands.
Luke moves back, but Rebecca perfectly places a drop shot over the net to win this point. The drill is over, and Rebecca collapses. Luke
nods and smiles in approval. His sister, teammate and trainee is getting better every day.
Three-hour practices have become the daily routine for former Kansas tennis player Rebecca Jensen. Jensen is in her first year as a member of the Kansas City Explorers of World Team Tennis.
Jensen is no stranger to the team tennis concept. She was 89-30 in singles and 79-17 in doubles in three years at Kansas, and won an NCAA Division I doubles title with Nora Koves in 1994. The title was the first NCAA tennis championship for Kansas.
The championship was one of many reasons Jensen decided to forge her final year and turn professional.
"It wasn't really a tough decision for me," the 22-year-old Atlanta native said. "I felt like it was time for me to move on to the next level. I felt I accomplished just about all I could at Kansas."
Rebecca Jensen
Last July, Jensen made her pro debut at the U.S. Open after playing
in several minor tournaments. She since has played in all four Grand Slams: the Australian, French and U.S. Opens and Wimbledon. She won first-round doubles matches at the U.S. Open and French Open.
"It is such a thrill to play in these events," Jensen said. "The crowd, the atmosphere, the experience — it's certainly the big time."
Playing on the tour and being in the limelight have their drawbacks, though. The hardest thing is traveling, Jensen said, because the tour has no off-season. Most players on the tour have to pay their own way to events and arrange for accommodation.
Jensen said the top players were, much to her surprise, the nicest and most helpful.
She mentioned Steffi Graf and Mary Pierce as two who had been especially supportive.
"The players who aren't ranked are the ones who won't talk to you
or are cold," Jensen said.
She also has dealt with having two successful, famous older brothers.
Luke and Murphy Jensen, 1993 French Open doubles champions, have been the emotional crutch that Rebecca needs in a sport that stresses individualism and time on the road.
Her brothers also have been a constant source of comparing and questioning for Rebecca, but she doesn't seem to mind.
"My brothers have been there for me and helped my game out a lot," Jensen said. "It's awesome all the attention they get. It's cool for me, too, because whenever we go somewhere people are like, 'Wow, there's another Jensen.'"
Rebecca started traveling with her brothers in April, and the three are now teammates with the Explorers.
"What playing in this league does for Rebecca is help to get her ready to play out on the tour," Luke said. "The physical and mental part of the game is just as important as skills. We want to work on her fundamentals and make her fundamentally sound."
Luke said that he's never seen a woman practice as hard as Rebecca and that practicing with men, who hit the ball harder and play a faster-paced game, could only help her.
Brebcca said that she had improved a great deal in the last year, especially with her serve and baseline play.
Explorer coach Paul Smith said he liked Rebecca's future.
"Her footwork around the net needs a little work and her volley needs more consistency," Smith said. "But I like what I see. She knows what she's doing, and she has tremendous skill and great knowledge of the game, which is a big benefit."
Jensen said she was giving herself three years to see if she could become a consistent winner on the tour.
Soccer, rowing prepare for first seasons
"At least I can say I went for it," she said. "I had an opportunity to turn pro, and I took it and tried the best I could."
By Dan Gelston
Kansan staff writer
Kansas women athletes now will have a greater chance of playing varsity sports with the addition of rowing and soccer for the fall semester.
These former club sports come to Kansas largely as a result of Title IX, which promotes gender equity in intercollegiate athletics.
The federal statute mandates that there must be equal opportunity for women to play varsity sports as there is for men in proportion to the undergraduate population.
The title affects women's sports and football. Because there are so many men playing football in the fall, an equal number of opportunities must be made available to women.
Soccer already is benefiting from its varsity status, getting a new field behind Oliver Residence Hall. The team will be coached by Lori Walker, who came to
Kansas after three-years as an assistant coach at the University of Maryland.
"This is going to be a new and exciting challenge for me," Walker said. "Being able to come in and help develop a building team is going to be a great learning experience for both me and the players."
Right now the team has 21 players, but only two are from the Kansas club team. The others have been recruited nationally by Walker. The team also is holding open tryouts on the first day of fall classes. Walker said she hoped to attract athletes who played other sports and who might be interested in soccer now that it is a varsity sport.
One such player is Heather Heidel, Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich., junior, who joined the team after playing tennis for two years.
"Now that soccer is going to be a varsity sport, it will be a lot more organized and more serious," Heidel said. "I think the dedication will be greater and the talent should be greatly improved than that of a club sport."
As for future expectations, Walker isn't sure what to expect.
"I'm holding off on my preseason picks," she said. "I really want to wait until we get practice under way to see how we'll fare."
Women's rowing will sail into Kansas this year as well. Rob Catloth brings 14 years of rowing experience to Kansas — as both rower and coach — and leads Kansas in its first year of varsity competition. The team has almost 50 rowers, many of which are holdovers from the club team.
"In the next three years I hope to evolve into a full squad, which would be 70," Catloth said. "There were things we couldn't expect from people in a club that I can from a varsity team."
Catloth said there would be three regattas in the fall and five or six in the spring.
The first day of practice is Sept. 5. The team hopes to have their regattas on Clinton Lake or the Kansas River.
Women's Soccer Schedule
**September 3**
Evansville, 1:30 p.m.
Evansville, Ind.
**September 8**
Oral Roberts, 4 p.m.
Lawrence
**September 10**
U. of Toledo, 1 p.m.
Lawrence
**September 15**
Iowa State, 4 p.m.
Lawrence
**September 17**
Mississippi, 1 p.m.
Lawrence
**September 22**
Nebraska, 7 p.m.
Lincoln, Neb.
**September 24**
Creighton, 7 p.m.
Omaha, Neb.
**September 29**
So. Oklahoma, 7 p.m.
Mobile, Ala.
**October 1**
LSU, 5 p.m.
Mobile, Ala.
864-4358
Use the Kansan Classifieds
**October 6**
Minnesota-Duluth, 4 p.m.
Minneapolis
**October 7**
Minnesota, 1 p.m.
Minneapolis
**October 8**
Cent, Missouri St., 4 p.m.
Lawrence
**October 15**
Tusa, 1 p.m.
Lawrence
**October 21**
Dryu College, 3 p.m.
Congrellado.
**October 27**
Eastern Illinois, 3 p.m.
Lawrence
**October 29**
North Texas, 1 p.m.
Lawrence
**November 3**
Cincinnati Rockford, 3 p.m.
Tusa, Okla.
**November 8**
Arkansas-Little Rock, 1 p.m.
Tusa, Okla.
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