SAN DIEGO — Katherine Hui , a graduate of Santa Fe Christian High School, was recently named 2023 San Diego Junior Tennis Player of the Year. Among other accomplishments when won the U.S. Open for girls this past Summer. She is currently a freshman at Stanford who plans to turn pro in a couple of years.
Katherine stopped by the CBS 8 studios, here is part of a recent interview I had with her.
John: Catherine, 2023 has been quite a year for you. How do you describe it?
Katherine: I think it's really, really surreal. I mean, being my last year of juniors, I definitely had a goal to play Junior US Open and hopefully win. And having that come true is kind of just like a childhood dream.
John: What was the feeling like when you get the winning point? At the US Open?
Katherine: I was mostly in shock, to be honest. I mean, I had I think it was my seventh match point that I won. So it was a little bit of relief for me. So much joy and like, just so shocked to win.
John: Seven match points. Were you thinking, oh my gosh, is this thing ever gonna happen?
Katherine: I think it was really stressful for my family. My sister was watching at home and she was like, freaking out.
John: Tell me your collegiate goals for your freshman year. And what's realistic? What do you hope to accomplish at Stanford.
Katherine: Individually speaking, I really just want to develop myself as a player, I think just work on my game, because I know like coming off the US Open victory, I definitely have a lot more confidence. And then team wise, I think we would really like to win the NCAA this year. So hopefully we can do it.
John: When you play a sport at the level at which you play it. I'm sure it's fun, but it's a lot of work. What do you enjoy about it? What brings you back, day after day, week after week to practice?
Katherine: I just really love the competition and being able to be there on my own. Obviously, its an individual sport, so different than a lot of them and being forced to problem solve yourself that I just love. I like the competition and everybody like fighting so hard.
John: What encouragement would you give to a junior player who's maybe eight or 10 or 12 years old? And they're kind of wondering, do I want to continue in this?
Katherine: I would just say to focus more on the development and the process. And I know that's really hard because even when I was like 10 or 12 years old, I think every match was like the end of the world. But I think just focusing on getting better as a player and growing as a person is more important than results when you're that young. So just learn to enjoy the sport.
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