Ana Royo wanted to stay here longer.

Her head coach wanted her to stay here longer.

Professors wanted her to stay here longer.

Unfortunately for everyone involved, Ana was only a Cowgirl for two years after transferring to Wyoming in 2017.  Due to the COVID-19 shutdown not only was she here just two years, but she only competed with the Cowgirl tennis team for a year-and-a-half.

She is actually the first Wyoming student-athlete whom I've talked with affected by what all college seniors experienced when their sports were discontinued in March. Since she has a plan for extending her education, she is not going to be one of the seniors returning to compete for Wyoming next year.

Ana is a native of Vall De Uxo, Spain.  She began her collegiate tennis career at the University of Nebraska-Kearney where she was the conference's Freshman of the Year.  During her second year at Kearney. Cowgirl Head Coach Dean Clower actually saw her play a match against UTEP, while he was scouting the Miners whom the Cowgirls were scheduled to play later in the day.

"I said 'who is that little player?'", Clower says. "I just loved the way she competed."

Ana transferred following her sophomore year at Kearney, and Clower remembered. Everyone planned on her playing her junior and senior seasons for the Cowgirls. She did compete her junior year and made a big difference. She also competed during this last fall.  In that short period of time she produced 27 career singles wins and 30 doubles victories.  She was primed to have an excellent senior Spring season when everything came to a stop.

"It was a disappointing way to end my career here," says Ana.  "It was terribly difficult.  We were going to have a very good year.  We were having fun.  One day (early this spring) we're playing a match, and the next day we're done, the season is over.  No more tennis for me, and no graduation.  My parents, who had not been to Wyoming, had their plane tickets and were coming for graduation in May. I know so many are going through hardships much worse than mine, but it has been really difficult for me.

"There is no more Cowgirl tennis for me, and educationally we are learning on-line right now. That's difficult for everyone, especially in my major because it requires a lot of labs. It's just not the same."

Oh, by the way, did I mention that Ana is a 4.0 student in molecular biology?  She has never gotten a 'B' during her undergraduate career, and odds are excellent, that she will finish at Wyoming without one.

She is as competitive in the classroom as she is on a tennis court.  She told me she was actually in danger of getting a B in one of her classes recently, but raised it to an 'A' at the eleventh hour.  "I pulled it out, but it was close," she says.  Would that have been a disaster? "No, but I would have been disappointed because I'm so competitive at everything".

She is a young woman with a definite plan. When she finishes this, her final semester at UW, she's going on to the University of Virginia to earn a PhD in molecular biology.  She loves research and that's what she hopes to do once she's finished with school. She would love to teach at some point too.  "If there are opportunities in this country—I would love to work at Harvard—I will stay.  If not, I will go back home to Spain.  "I've been to a lot of amazing places thanks to tennis," she says.  "But it really comes down to, 'there's no place like home'."

Her competitiveness certainly was not lost on her coach. "Ana is the very best competitor," Clower says. "She never once failed to give us 110 percent.  She has been blessed with great hands which you can't teach. But the key to her game is her ability to fight.  She's an all-court player, who comes at you in so many different ways to win matches.

"When she got here, not only did she help our competitive edge, but she helped me change the culture of our team.  In my experience, Spaniards are really competitive and fighters on the court. Both she and Fernandez (teammate and best friend, Ana) have been great competitors for us.  They have different styles, Fernandez has power from both sides, and Ana is a finesse player who grinds you down. Both will fight you, and both have been successful.  

"I loved the way Ana played, and would love to recruit more student-athletes like her.  I just wish she could have been here for four years."

Ana began playing tennis when she was five years old, and loved it from the very start. Her Dad, Jose Miguel, belonged to a tennis club called Club Tenis Uxo, and encouraged her to play the sport.

"While I was growing up, I loved tennis because there was just one winner. College tennis is a different experience.  It always felt better to win as a team, rather than to win as an individual.  I grew from an individual to a team player in college."

Once she was finished with high school, Ana was forced to make a choice, play tennis professionally in Spain, or go to the United States and play while going to college. It really wasn't difficult.  She knew what she wanted to do. 

"Unfortunately in Europe you have to make a choice, do you want to become a professional, or do you want to concentrate on school.  Universities there do not offer sports.  Getting a degree was very important to me, but so was playing tennis.  For me to do both, I had to come to the United States. I had friends who did it, I understood I'd have to do it, and I knew that's what I wanted to do."

There's no question it was very difficult leaving her family.  "I'm very close to my family.  At the same time, I'm pretty independent so I was ready to sacrifice in order to come to this country, and play while going to school."

When she first arrived, she had difficulty with the language and the food.  "I thought I was pretty good at English in high school, but when I got here, it wasn't good enough. Everyone talked too fast for me to keep up.

"I had trouble with the food too.  So many things were fried, and we are used to boiling our food at home.  Cooking is very important in Spain.  We will take an hour and a half just to cook lunch.  Most things are homemade, like we make a lot of soups.  I think it's healthier.  I really miss the cooking of my mom and grandmother."

Ana began her collegiate career at Nebraska-Kearney and went there through a recruiting agency. She enjoyed the community and the school. "But after two years there, I felt like I needed a change.  Dean recruited me because he had seen me play. After I made my recruiting visit to Wyoming, I was sold.  I really liked the team and the facilities, and I knew the support was terrific.

"I love my teammates, and I will always remain connected with them.  But Ana (Fernandez, from Madrid) has been a big help to me.  Also being from Spain, she and I have a lot in common.  She is like a sister to me. But the rest of my teammates are very special to me too, and I will continue to stay in touch with them."

In addition to those teammates, Ana's most unforgettable memory of Wyoming is playing home matches in the UW Tennis Center. "Of all the places we played, nobody had a home crowd like we did.  They intimidated the other team, and got us going.  I'm already a little crazy when I take the court, but our crowds made me even crazier. It was unbelievable knowing they were rooting for me and my teammates. I'm going to really miss that, and I wished I could have experienced it one more season.

"I'm so glad I chose Wyoming.  I don't think there's a program like it anywhere.  I have friends who are playing at other schools, and they are jealous of what we have here.  Everyone should have a relationship with their crowds like we do here."

Ana says she will come back Laramie, in December to "walk" during winter graduation. "I'm hopeful that my family can come for that too.  They have never been to Laramie. I will be here for graduation, but I plan to come back to Wyoming as often as I can."