Miami Hurricanes’ NCAA tennis champion makes groundbreaking decision about her future
University of Miami’s reigning NCAA tennis champion Estela Perez-Somarriba has made a momentous decision, one that had her mind racing the past two weeks.
Now she’s at peace.
“Very much at peace,’’ Perez-Somarriba, 21, told the Miami Herald by phone Sunday. “I’m never going to have this opportunity again.’’
Perez-Somarriba, a senior from Madrid, Spain, will return to UM in 2020-21 for an extra year of eligibility in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic that has nearly paralyzed the world and forced the NCAA to cancel all spring sports and corresponding championships.
On March 13, the NCAA agreed it was appropriate that all student-athletes in those spring sports be eligible for another year to compete. The NCAA Division I Council voted Monday to grant that extra year of eligibility.
Now at the pinnacle of her sport, Perez-Somarriba will have a chance next year to defend her women’s singles national championship that she won last May. She said she made her decision after speaking with UM women’s tennis coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews on Friday afternoon.
At this point it’s not known if Perez-Somarriba is the only defending NCAA national champion, regardless of sport, to pledge to return for an extra year of eligibility.
“Throughout the two weeks after I found out the season was canceled, my mind was thinking many, many, many different things,’’ Perez-Somarriba told the Herald. “Sometimes in the morning I was like ‘I’m not coming back because maybe I need a different type of training or different type of experience or different type of environment.’ Then, in the afternoon I was like ‘No, I can’t leave. I still need to learn a lot here in Miami. I still have a lot to give to this program. I can use this next year as a transition year. I can gain a lot tennis-wise and personal-wise and being coached by such a high-character woman and having all my teammates supporting each other.’
“That’s priceless.
“I think over the years I’ve had a sixth sense following my gut, and I’ve always done a really good job of choosing what I thought was best for me. This time was no different.’’
UM athletic director Blake James told the Herald on March 20 that “obviously the scholarships are paid for by the institutions. Not knowing where that’s going to land, I wouldn’t want to make a statement other than if they’re a member of a program and they’re on scholarship, it’s going to be an institutional cost to cover the scholarship.’’
The NCAA Division I Council’s ruling Monday specifies that schools will have the ability to use the NCAA’s Student Assistance Fund to pay for scholarships for students who take advantage of the additional eligibility flexibility in 2020-21.
While college coaches and administrators don’t know what the landscape of NCAA sports will look like next year, Perez-Somarriba has the security of knowing she will be welcomed back on campus, where she can study toward her master’s degree while still training in her sport. She already has a 3.93 GPA and is finishing her final weeks of undergraduate courses online, like the rest of UM’s athletes, before she receives her degree in economics.
Perez-Somarriba, who had originally planned to turn pro before the pandemic changed everything, is 141-23 in UM singles matches, the most wins in program history. That includes a 100-11 mark in spring competition, a 75-7 mark in dual matches, a 42-5 record in Atlantic Coast Conference play and a 71-16 record against ranked players.
She said Yaroshuk-Tews was “very, very, very supportive, and I felt we were on the same page. We talked about what I was thinking. I said I didn’t want to overthink it anymore and that I couldn’t live like that anymore — going back and forth. I needed to know.
“I want next year to be a transition between college and professional. In the fall, when our season starts but when we have less matches, that’s when I plan to play in some pro tournaments.”
College athletes such as Perez-Somarriba are allowed to play in pro events, with specific NCAA guidelines regarding prize money and expenses.
Perez-Somarriba told her UM teammates the news in a group text because most of them are back home isolating with their families. Because Spain is one of the hardest hit countries by the pandemic, Perez-Somarriba is isolating in her campus apartment while her mom and dad and two of her three sisters are together isolating in Madrid. Her oldest sister, Enriqueta, is a concert pianist and teaches at Rutgers University in New Jersey.
“My family has always supported me every time I’ve made a tough decision,’’ Perez-Somarriba said. “And I have amazing teammates. They were super happy I’m returning. We’re all working to achieve great things in the future.’’
This story was originally published March 30, 2020 at 1:29 PM.
