Even though tennis player Alexandra Johansson was born in Sweden, she considers herself Australian, because she has lived there since she was 4 years old. She did not start playing tennis until she was 9 years old. The sophomore finance major decided that she wanted to try a new sport and has stuck to it ever since. Along with playing at Menai High School in Illawong, Australia for four years, she also played in several Australian leagues.
Johansson said that one of her biggest struggles when entering NSU was going through the NCAA eligibility portion of recruitment. Although she had won many tournaments in Australia, that did not count for much in the U.S. Once she was cleared, Johansson chose NSU because of the reputation of Head Coach Michael Coleman.
The Sunshine State Conference is said to be one of the most competitive conferences in NCAA Division II play, with seven out of the nine conference schools ranked in the national top 25. Johansson had a very successful freshman year, going 13-8 in her singles matches. On Feb. 24 and 25, 2012, she was victorious over number 5 Florida Southern College and number 4 Rollins College. About a month later, on March 17, she defeated Barbara Oliviera from number 3, The University of West Florida, 7-5,7-6. Her marquee win came when she beat the Cristina Valladares in three sets. Valladares was the 14th ranked player in the nation and played for the number two team in the nation, Barry University.
At the end of the season, Johansson had racked up several impressive wins and gained recognition from both the SSC and the NCAA. She earned First-Team All-SSC honors, along with the recognition of being an All-American singles player.
While the team may be struggling overall this season, Johansson has been able to gain some key victories. During the Sharks’ meet against Georgetown University, she stepped in for injured Shark Sabrina Kierberg. Johansson beat Vicky Sekely, 4-6, 6-4, 2-2 after Sekely retired from the match.
On March 30, Johansson beat Pauline Helgesson from number seven Saint Leo University in straight sets, 6-3, 6-0. However, Johansson’s biggest win came against Lucie Sipkova from California University of Pennsylvania. Sipkova was ranked 31 in NCAA Division II when she fell to Johansson, 3-6, 6-3, 14-12.
I sat down with Johansson to ask her a few questions:
What is your biggest accomplishment in your tennis career so far?
Just being able to be here. Getting to play for my school and for a team is great.
What is your goal for the rest of the season?
My goal is to be as steady as I can. I want to be a reliable player and someone that my team can trust. We are a young team so I want the freshmen to be able to learn.
What has been the hardest part of having a team made of mostly freshmen?
The lack of experience. A lot of them are still getting used to playing at the college level but they are starting to get there.
What do you like the most about Head Coach Michael Coleman?
I really like that he’s a character. He’s also really respectable compared to most of the other school’s coaches. He genuinely cares about how his players are doing.
Who is your favorite athlete?
I like Robin Soderling and Novak Djokovic. I didn’t like Djokovic to begin with but he has gotten a lot better.
If they were to make a movie about your life, who would you want to play you?
The girl that plays Fat Amy [Rebel Wilson] in “Pitch Perfect”. She would make it an interesting story and would make my life seem so much funnier.
If you had an all-expenses paid trip, where would you go and why?
I would want to backpack around Europe; that would be the coolest thing. I was born in Sweden so I’ve been to Scandinavia but I would want to go through the other parts of Europe.
