2008 Woodie Awards
Women's tennis doubles team uses common background to advantage on court
John Schreier
Issue date: 1/29/08 Section: Sports
Doubles partners in tennis have to be very close.
They have to be able to communicate with each other without letting their opponents know what's going on. Good partners know each other's strengths and weaknesses and how to balance the other's attributes to ensure the best possible outcome. Nebraska's top women's doubles team is no exception, and the bond actually goes much further than that.
Senior Imke Reimers and freshman Jana Albers are the Cornhuskers' top two singles players and comprise the No. 1 doubles team. Both grew up in Papenburg, Germany, a town of roughly 35,000 people on the northwestern coast of Germany. Since high schools don't offer tennis in Germany, interested girls have to join a club. Reimers and Albers actually played for the same club one season, but it was a drive of over an hour to the club's facilities.
"Our club was far away so it was so convenient to meet up and hit (in Papenburg)," Reimers said.
Reimers left Germany for Nebraska in 2004 while Albers had three years remaining in high school. The two kept in touch over those years, and when it came time for Albers to choose a college, Reimers told her about Nebraska. When Albers chose to play her collegiate tennis in Lincoln, she had someone to make the transition much easier.
"Imke told me how good of a program it was," Albers said. "Having her here made a big difference and of course she gave me plenty of advice."
International recruiting ties, especially like the ones that brought Albers and Reimers (two of her former club teammates played for the Huskers) to Lincoln, are unbelievably vital in women's tennis today. Nebraska and many other cold-weather states are at a huge disadvantage in recruiting. Top European players look to play collegiate tennis at the highest level in the warmest weather possible, putting schools like NU in a hole.
"The challenge of drawing a top-30 recruit to a cold-weather school is hard," Coach Scott Jacobson said. "We're really fortunate that Germany has been such a great connection."
There is one additional bond that connects Albers and Reimers that very few, if any, doubles teams have. The two are roommates in an apartment near East Campus. Since Albers was 19 before she arrived in Lincoln, she could live off-campus and chose to live with Reimers.
The pair shares a very important advantage on the court that few teams have-they communicate in German during matches. There aren't a lot of teams that field a doubles pair that both are native German speakers, and Reimers and Albers can understand English-speaking opponents' conversations. Having such a close pair helps, but having one that can communicate without many teams being able to understand is a huge plus for any team.
"We do get the advantages once in a while," Reimers laughed. "Opponents don't know what's going on."
JOHNSCREIER@DAILYNEBRASKAN.COM
They have to be able to communicate with each other without letting their opponents know what's going on. Good partners know each other's strengths and weaknesses and how to balance the other's attributes to ensure the best possible outcome. Nebraska's top women's doubles team is no exception, and the bond actually goes much further than that.
Senior Imke Reimers and freshman Jana Albers are the Cornhuskers' top two singles players and comprise the No. 1 doubles team. Both grew up in Papenburg, Germany, a town of roughly 35,000 people on the northwestern coast of Germany. Since high schools don't offer tennis in Germany, interested girls have to join a club. Reimers and Albers actually played for the same club one season, but it was a drive of over an hour to the club's facilities.
"Our club was far away so it was so convenient to meet up and hit (in Papenburg)," Reimers said.
Reimers left Germany for Nebraska in 2004 while Albers had three years remaining in high school. The two kept in touch over those years, and when it came time for Albers to choose a college, Reimers told her about Nebraska. When Albers chose to play her collegiate tennis in Lincoln, she had someone to make the transition much easier.
"Imke told me how good of a program it was," Albers said. "Having her here made a big difference and of course she gave me plenty of advice."
International recruiting ties, especially like the ones that brought Albers and Reimers (two of her former club teammates played for the Huskers) to Lincoln, are unbelievably vital in women's tennis today. Nebraska and many other cold-weather states are at a huge disadvantage in recruiting. Top European players look to play collegiate tennis at the highest level in the warmest weather possible, putting schools like NU in a hole.
"The challenge of drawing a top-30 recruit to a cold-weather school is hard," Coach Scott Jacobson said. "We're really fortunate that Germany has been such a great connection."
There is one additional bond that connects Albers and Reimers that very few, if any, doubles teams have. The two are roommates in an apartment near East Campus. Since Albers was 19 before she arrived in Lincoln, she could live off-campus and chose to live with Reimers.
The pair shares a very important advantage on the court that few teams have-they communicate in German during matches. There aren't a lot of teams that field a doubles pair that both are native German speakers, and Reimers and Albers can understand English-speaking opponents' conversations. Having such a close pair helps, but having one that can communicate without many teams being able to understand is a huge plus for any team.
"We do get the advantages once in a while," Reimers laughed. "Opponents don't know what's going on."
JOHNSCREIER@DAILYNEBRASKAN.COM
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