Watching Clervie Ngounoue play tennis, it’s easy to experience a kind of cognitive dissonance. The teen’s demeanor is calm and introspective. Her movement is smooth and deliberate. But when she’s ready to strike, what comes off her racquet is nothing but seismic.
It’s a power-centric game that the 18-year-old has been playing for years, and it put her at the top of the junior tennis world at the age of 16. After kicking off her summer by reaching the semifinals in girls’ singles at Roland-Garros (not to mention winning the doubles title with fellow American Tyra Caterina Grant), she transitioned to the grass of Wimbledon and took home the singles title without dropping a set. And, if that wasn’t enough, she returned home to win the USTA 18s National Championships in San Diego, which earned her a wild card into the 2023 women’s singles draw at the U.S. Open to cap off her summer.
In those incredible few months in which she also became the top junior in the world, there were some lessons. Maybe grass isn’t so bad, after all. Playing doubles was a key to her success. And it was time to leave junior tennis behind.
