The long, vigorous hours of hard work in practices and training sessions have paid off for a sophomore tennis player, as Chloe Sher was recently named the Big East tennis player of the week. She is the first Seton Hall tennis player to ever receive the honor. Sher, who has been playing tennis since she was a young girl, said while some families are involved in baseball, football or soccer, the sport she grew up around was tennis. "I started playing tennis when I was four because both my parents are tennis coaches," Sher said. "And my sister plays tennis too" Sher's sister, Jennifer, is a tennis player for the CSU Northridge Matadors and was named the Big West conference's tennis player of the week on Wednesday. The key inspiration behind Sher's decision to play tennis was, and still is, her older sister. Growing up, the two siblings always played the sport together. After many hours spent on the court with her sister, Sher simply fell in love with the sport. Sher added that she grew up next to tennis courts, so playing the sport was easy to do at a young age and the love for it never left her. Given the passion she had for the sport, she ultimately knew she wanted to follow in her sister's footsteps and compete at the college level. "I enjoy the game because it's not only physically challenging, but mentally challenging too," Sher said. Sher likes that you have to apply strategy while playing, and keep calm and focused on the court in order to perform well. "It takes mental toughness as well as physical toughness to be a good tennis player," Sher said. She said you cannot show mental weakness to your opponent, and she enjoys that challenge. Other than the strategy of the game, Sher also said that tennis simply "is exciting to watch and to play." Besides earning the first ever weekly Big East honor for Seton Hall, Sher has also accomplished other honors while playing tennis. The one that she is most proud of was traveling to Hong Kong to play in the International Tennis Federation Tournament. She also was ranked as high as No. 8 in Hong Kong's national rankings at the high school level. Sher said that she isn't exactly sure what she will do with tennis in her future, but that she might continue enjoying the sport by playing doubles with her sister. Sher's next match is slated for Sunday when the team takes on St. John's in Queens, N.Y. at 1 p.m. Courtney Hnasko can be reached at hnaskoco@shu.edu
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