While Sophie Zehender is listed as a freshman on the Cowgirl tennis roster, to watch her play you'd swear she was much older.

She doesn't play like a freshman, nor does she think the game like one.

"Her tennis IQ is off the chart," says Head Coach Dean Clower of his prized freshman from Stuttgart, Germany. "With most kids, a coach coaches.  With Sophie we have conversations.  Her dad (Michael) is a tennis coach and it's very clear that she grew up talking tennis with him."

Sophie and the Cowgirls have a huge weekend coming up at the UW Tennis Center, playing their first conference matches at home since 2019.  Saturday (April 10), they host Nevada for a 9 a.m. match, and Sunday (April 11) Fresno State is in town for a 1 p.m. date. 

Sophie is currently the #2 for the Cowgirls in both singles and in doubles with her partner Ana Fernandez.  She leads the team in singles wins with nine.  She is 7-3 in her last 10 matches.  She and Ana also lead the team in doubles with a 9-3 record.

Already Zehender has been named the Mountain West's Tennis Athlete of the Week twice (Feb. 24, and March 10). 

From where did this maturity at such a young age come.

"Tennis has been in my life since I was old enough to walk," Sophie says.  "When I started walking, I was walking on a tennis court.  Both of my parents have played their whole life, and my dad is a tennis coach. My brother (Phillip) is a playing college tennis in Alabama."

She also competed in track, swimming and soccer, and says she had fun in those sports.  "But my best sport was always tennis."

There's no doubt about that. Sophie was heavily recruited by universities throughout the United States.  But she fell in love with UW.  One of Clower's contacts first got him interested in her.  His assistant, Erica Medlin, watched her play while in Germany.  She informed the head coach that she was the real deal.

"It's very different in Germany in that we do not compete in sports in high school.  We have to belong to club teams in order to compete.  So there is a lot of interest from schools in the U.S., watching our club tournaments.  I talked to a lot of schools, but Erica was amazing.  What I saw of Wyoming, the program and the team was all I needed.  I had never heard of Wyoming until I met Erica.  The more I found out about it, the more I knew it was the place I wanted to come."

The United States was nothing foreign to Sophie.  She had been a foreign exchange student in Texas, in high school, near Austin, so she was very familiar with this country.  After that experience, she and her family traveled and got to see a lot of the country.  She knew what she was getting herself into.

"There really wasn't a whole lot of adjustment for me," she says.  "I love it here, and I could see myself staying in the U.S.  Where you end up depends a lot on the jobs available, and if there's a boyfriend involved," she smiles.  

She is an excellent student in economics with a minor in psychology.  "There was a big focus on economics in my high school, so I decided to stay with that.  But I'm finding that psychology is super interesting.  I would imagine that once tennis is over I will either get into something in business management, or maybe psychology." 

She says she does not rule out coaching at some point in her career either. "I've thought about it as an option, I think it would be very rewarding."

Clower believes that Sophie may have an opportunity to continue tennis on the professional level. Once her collegiate career is finished.  "I believe she will receive an opportunity to play professionally," he says.  "She has everything she needs to do that.   Her control and her power are special, as is her hand-eye. But the biggest thing is that tennis IQ.   She does a great job of thinking the game and adjusting.  She is so even keel, never too high, never too low. Honestly she doesn't have many weaknesses.

"Of course she has a lot of room for improvement," Clower continues.  "She is working on her footwork, speed and balance. She is improving in those areas. I believe she has an excellent chance to be the league's Freshman of the Year. As she matures her game will get better and better." 

Is Sophie surprised by the success she has had so early in her career. "Maybe a little, but there's so much more emphasis here than there was in Germany.  I practiced maybe three times a week at home.  I'm practicing six times a week here with outstanding coaching.  I love the coaches and my teammates and that makes it a lot easier to concentrate on improving.

"I think I'm becoming more consistent because I'm more confident in myself.  I can always get better because you're never good enough.  But I'm pleased with my progress."

While she's been outstanding in singles and doubles, Sophie says she really doesn't favor one over the other.  "Singles is a lot of fun, but I really like doubles too.  I like having a partner who has your back.  Ana and I really enjoy being partners. She is such a great doubles partner.  I think we work very well together because we both have a lot of energy and we're super positive.  There are days when we don't play our best, that's going to happen.  But I can tell you we really trust one another.  That's really a great feeling." 

While she heard about the fan support that Wyoming is noted for, she was blown away experiencing it while competing.  "Our fans are amazing.  I don't know if they realize how much they help us, how much it means to us.  They are so supportive, so positive.  They're always ask us how we are doing outside of tennis.  That's very special to me."

Sophie is very special too. While she has been impressive in her first season as a Cowgirl, her ceiling remains extremely high.  Don't be surprised if you see her on the tennis channel one of these years.