Athlete of the Week: Dana Tung

Senior Dana Tung arches her back, twisting as she serves to spin the ball out wide. It’s match three of the day, and opposite her is the toughest opponent yet. When the point ends, she looks up, hands on her knees and remembers an old saying, her favorite aphorism by Laozi, the ancient Chinese philosopher: “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” She picks up her racket, straightens her back and tosses the ball up to serve again. Game on.

Tung took the “first step,” as Laozi would say, by coming to Phillips Exeter. She left home in Shanghai, China to attend the Academy. She started tennis when she was just seven years old and quickly discovered her natural talent. During elementary school, China’s sports government bureau selected Tung to train professionally for tennis. While thirty students were originally chosen for the highly competitive program, only five players in that group, including Tung, stuck through the entirety of the practices and still play competitively today.

Mastering the basics of tennis requires lots of practice and repetition. While Tung was always extremely hardworking and practiced every afternoon, the familiar drills began to become a “drag” for her as the number of her training mates began to dwindle. When her parents continued to push her and her coach continued to provide support, she continued to work hard. After finally mastering the basics, Tung finally moved on to working on more advanced skills which sparked a newfound interest in the sport for Tung.

Tung is now grateful for the support of her coach and her parents. Tung is now a top 3 member of EGNETs A team in singles. She is also currently ranked number one in doubles with her partner, upper Taylor Jean-Jacques. This duo has maintained this impressive position for the entirety of their Exeter tennis careers.

Ever since Tung joined the tennis team, the Big Red culture has strongly influenced and cultivated her passion. According to Tung, in China, most players only work for themselves. Tung discovered that teams function differently at Exeter. Each player’s main goal was not their backswing, their serve or their personal records; rather, it was always the team’s record. Because a win from a low-seeded player means just as much as one from the best players. The players view all their teammates, the last seed, the first seed and everyone inbetween - as equals.

“Starting from my lower year to now, I have always loved the people on the team and enjoyed spring term more because of tennis and being able to talk to my teammates after practice.”

The girls’ varsity tennis team is no exception from this team style. The players have grown close to each other during past and the ongoing season. According to Tung, between cheering for each other and constantly sharing advice, the team has made tennis feel like more of a team sport for her than an individual one.

While Tung thanked her teammates for always nurturing such a warm environment on the courts, lower Connie Cai claimed that Tung has been one of the biggest influences on the team’s supportive attitude.

“She got voted as captain because she is one of the most well-respected people on the team,” Cai said. “No one has anything bad to say about her. In and out of the season, she makes an effort to welcome you, say ‘hi’ to you, ask how you are doing. During practices, she is the one that always encourages everyone, helping us get past our mistakes.”

Jean-Jacques agreed with Cai. “Dana serves the role of captain well,” Jean-Jacques said. “She is very responsible and has had an unwavering dedication to the team. She has earned great respect amongst her fellow teammates and coaches.”

Tung’s strong set of tennis skills have also helped the team push through many close games. Jean-Jacques went on to describe one of Tung’s most valued talents: her consistency. Whether the rest of the team is dominating or struggling to hit their shots over the net, Tung’s teammates can always count on her to play well and lead the team to victory.

According to Jean-Jaques, one of Tung’s superb attributes her groundstrokes, which is a key factor in helping her win grinding points. “She has mastered a solid, unwavering groundstroke that allows her to win longer points,” Jean-Jaques said.

However, while Tung’s teammates idolizes her as a strong asset of the team, her tennis career at Exeter has been filled with just as many challenges as it has been with successes. One of the main difficulties Tung faced was learning the technique of doubles matches, which differ significantly from the singles she had grown accustomed to prior to arriving at Exeter.

But no challenge was too large for Tung to overcome. According to girls’ tennis coach Jean Chase Farnum, Tung has consistently improved her doubles game, evident by the current ranking of her two-woman team with Jean-Jacques.

“Over the past two seasons Dana has learned more and more about the importance of doubles play as well,” she said. “The competition that she and her partner have faced has forced Dana to continue to become a stronger tennis player overall.”

This friendly, competitive nature of the team pushes Tung to improve more and more each season. Although the level of her play has changed throughout the years, one thing remains constant: the team atmosphere and chemistry.

“Starting from my lower year to now, I have always loved the people on the team and enjoyed spring term more because of tennis and being able to talk to my teammates after practice,” she said. “Coach Farnum has always been very supportive of me and we talk about a lot of things.”

Despite receiving numerous compliments regarding her leadership, personality and skills and despite all her “top rankings,” awards and wins, Tung finds a way to remain humble and, whenever possible, looks to credit her successes to others.

“This is my last year,” Tung said, “And I am very grateful for Exeter’s tennis team and everyone on it, as well as my coach and parents for always supporting me.”