Northwestern University Athletics
Meet Women's Tennis Sophomore Shannon Duffy
6/21/1999 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
April 26, 1999
Shannon Duffy brushes her teeth before every tennis match she plays and sometimes even brushes them in between singles and doubles competitions. She taps her racquet on top of the net when she's switching sides in between points and she only allows herself to walk down certain hallways on her way to home matches. Your typical superstitious athlete?
"The tapping of the net I have done ever since I began playing tennis," Duffy explains. "Same with the brushing of my teeth. It's just part of my routine. But this season I've started doing things on certain days of the week to organize and make sure I'm prepared for a match."
Already, the sophomore from Northwestern has emerged as one of the team's leaders. Duffy played a big role in helping this year's team capture the Big Ten regular season title with a 9-1 record. She has won all but two Big Ten singles matches since her arrival in Evanston in the fall of 1997. She is 51-20 in her brief collegiate career and this season went undefeated against Big Ten foes in doubles (10-0) and nearly accomplished the same in singles (9-1).
"Mentally, she is the toughest kid I've ever coached," proclaims head coach Claire Pollard. "She just finds a way on game day. She wins the right points at the right moments. She typifies what you want to see in a player. She fights. She's gutsy. What separates Shannon Duffy from other players is her sheer will and determination, particularly when it counts."
As a freshman, Duffy worked her way to the No. 2 spot in the Wildcat singles lineup. She posted a 31-11 overall record and, in the process, set the school's single season record for wins.
"I wanted to make an immediate impact as a singles and doubles player," Duffy said. "I think I played a little higher than expected, but I played a lot of great players and was able to get a lot of experience under my belt."
This year, Duffy has split her time at singles between the No. 2 and No. 3 positions. In doubles, she plays at the No. 3 spot with partner Leigh Weinraub.
"Shannon has an ability to be serious, yet humorous at the same time," says Weinraub. "She's very vocal and very clutch on the court. She fires it up on big points and comes up with big returns when we need them."
"I think Shannon has grown as a team member," said Coach Pollard. "She came off an excellent rookie season and then was asked to share the No. 2 singles position. She took that with a lot of class and said, 'OK, Im going to do my job for the team.'"
Duffy's love for team tennis originated when she went back to Plano High School in Texas for her senior year. She spent the previous three years attending the Palmer Tennis Academy in Tampa, Florida.
"In the morning, we'd take a couple of classes and then it was all tennis. We'd lift weights, do our conditioning and then go back for a couple more classes. There were two or three students in each classroom. It was very specialized."
Back at Plano, Duffy got her first real taste of team tennis and she quickly found out it was something she enjoyed.
"I had never experienced tennis as a team sport," Duffy explained. "Girls and guys traveled together and everyone was always out supporting us. I had always done tennis for myself, usually just traveling with my family and a coach. It was so nice to have teammates out there supporting each other."
One of her most memorable tennis moments occurred during team competition. Plano advanced to the regional finals and the team's bid for a berth into the state championships rested in Duffy's hands.
"It came down to my match," Duffy recounted. "There were 100 people around the court. It went to three sets and I ended up pulling it out. To come off the court and see the looks on my teammates' faces, to see how much it meant to them; it was just a special moment."
Riding the high of that win, Duffy declared she would attend Northwestern later that night. She had narrowed her choices down to NU or Duke, and that day the decision just came to her. Another reason Duffy chose to attend Northwestern was the close proximity to her paternal grandparents. Unfortunately her grandfather, John Duffy, a Northwestern business school alum, passed away in early April and never got to see her play.
"That's OK. He can see me play every match now," Duffy said. "I am playing the season for him."
Duffy will take that dedication with her into this weekend's Big Ten Championships at Michigan State. Along with her toothbrush and toothpaste.
