By Randy Walker
@TennisPublisher
Anastasija Sevastova may be from Latvia but she has a special home in the United States in Vero Beach, Florida.
For the past three years, following the Miami Open, Sevastova has trained at the ultra-luxury Windsor community in Vero Beach, Florida, where Tom Fish, the father of former U.S. Davis Cup Team member Mardy Fish, serves as the director of tennis. The community is also the home of three-time U.S. Open champion Ivan Lendl, former 1960s tennis standout Herb Fitzgibbon and Advantage International co-founder Lee Fentress among other titans of business, entertainment and government.
“She’s such a sweet girl, one of the nicest people you would ever meet,” said Fish of their “adopted” female tennis pro. “She’s just so friendly and nice to everyone and she’s so easy to talk to and she’s become friendly with our members and we all look forward to her coming. We all hope she’ll keep coming for a long, long time.”
Sevastova’s coach, Ronald Schmidt, is good friend’s with Fish’s assistant pro Jony Leitenbauer, who facilitated the invitation to Windsor. While at the beach-side Florida paradise, Sevastova frequently encouraged the Windsor pro shop staff out on the courts to hit balls, knowing that they might be shy to ask to hit with a professional player, and gives these 3.0-level players a chance to hit with her. She also will play hit-and-giggle matches with members or, in some cases, competitive matches against top men’s club members.
“She’ll hit with anybody,” said Fish, who also runs the U.S. Tennis Association Pro Circuit men’s tournament in town, the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships, the benefits the family foundation in his son’s name.
“We could be her lucky charm,” joked Fish, when presented with the fact that Sevastova has reached at least the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open each time she has visited Windsor.
Fish was in attendance in New York for Sevastova’s third-round victory over Elena Makarova and fourth-round victory over Elina Svitolina and was impressed with improvement and her increased belief in being a top professional player.
“I feel like the sky is the limit to her,” said Fish. “I really think she could be one of the best players in the world. She keeps getting better and better and better. She’s very, first of all, talented physically. Mentally she’s very, very creative and she makes it real awkward for her opponents to play. She’s got this incredible drop shot and she mixes her speeds really well. She’s really improved her serve. She’s a great returner. She moves well and she’s really fit. The sky is the limit for her for sure.”
Since Windsor only has clay courts, Sevastova’s visits works perfectly for her preparation for the clay-court season, starting in Charleston, S.C. If Vero Beach is able to add more hard courts in town, Sevastova could also train in Vero Beach leading into the Australian Open in January and also leading into Indian Wells, Miami and during the summer leading into the U.S. Open.
Burned out from pro tennis, Sevastova quit pro tennis in 2013 and began courses in “Leisure Studies” in anticipation of a new career. However, missing the professional circuit, she returned to the tour in 2015, with her goal being simply to be a top 100 player. In 2016, en route to her first run to the U.S. Open quarterfinals, she discussed her visit to Windsor and how it linked to her “Leisure Studies” here: http://www.worldtennismagazine.com/archives/13434
