After an undefeated high school career in Cohasset, MA, Emma Davis came into her freshman year at Wake Forest boasting four state championships. She was a five-star recruit out of high school and earned a career-high ranking of No. 14 in the country in 2013. She has won multiple USTA singles and doubles tournaments, as well as the 16s National Open title. Her freshman campaign at Wake Forest saw her reach No. 103 ranking in singles throughout the year. No. 103 was the highest a Wake Forest freshman had been slotted since 2006. She ended the season at No. 14 in the ITA Carolina Region singles rankings. Throughout her freshman season, Davis led the Deacs in fall singles wins. As a sophomore, Davis continued to play well, becoming a mainstay on the singles courts. She played 24 out of 25 singles matches in the spring of 2017 in the No. 2 spot, reaching singles ranking as high as No. 61 in January 2017. Davis made it to the NCAA Championships, defeating No. 72 Neda Koprcina of Texas in the opening round. As a junior, Davis led the team with a combined 61 wins, a 30-14 singles record and a 31-13 doubles record, ranking ninth in Wake Forest history for the best single season combined record and the best since 2002. Her 31 doubles wins is seventh in Wake Forest history and the best since 2002. She finished her junior campaign ranked 28th and earned a No. 25 ranking late in the season. With that ranking, she was the first player to break into the top-25 since 2011. A First Team All-ACC selection, Davis was the first Wake Forest player to make first team since 2014. She picked up 10 wins over nationally ranked players and earned the ninth spot in UTR’s Top-10 American Players in College in March. Now, Davis looks to lead the team to glory in her final season as a Deacon. She is playing at the No. 1 singles spot and is a leader both on and off the court.
Samantha Wexler: Walk me through last year’s season; how did the team feel about it and what did you all take away to build on?
Emma Davis: We had a lot of ups and downs last season. We started off the spring really well, making it to National Indoors, but then struggled in certain ACC matches. We were able to finish strong with a win against Arizona State in the first round of NCAA’s before losing to a very good Georgia team. I think we definitely learned a lot from last season in terms of never letting up and always pushing to be our best in every single match. When you start off really well, it is sometimes easy to let up. I know we have learned from that mistake and will come out for every match with a lot of energy and passion.
SW: What newcomers are particularly making a splash this year, and how are they contributing to all sides of the team?
ED: Our three freshman have all played an incredible role on our team. They all bring a lot of energy and positivity to our practices. Anya is an incredible singles and doubles player. Saby has been playing amazing singles in our lineup. Peyton is one of the fastest players I have ever seen and makes you win the point three or four times because she gets so many balls back. I can see them all making a big impact in the singles and doubles lineup in years to come. They are all just amazing people, and I am so happy they joined our team!
SW: There has been a very high standard of play under this coaching staff. What in particular do they bring to the program?
ED: Andy and Jeffrey are both awesome coaches. They work really well as a team and always know how to push us to be our best not only on the court, but off the court as well. Andy’s sense of humor always makes us laugh and reminds us to have fun on the court. He is also very knowledgeable when it comes to the technical parts of our game. Jeffrey always keeps us on track and focused on achieving our goals. He pushes us to be our best every single day at practice and truly believes in every single one of us. I can see this program continuing to rise with their leadership and coaching ability.
SW: What’s your favorite Wake Forest tennis memory so far?
ED: There have been so many great memories, it’s hard to pick just one. However, one that comes to mind is when we upset Ohio State to make it National Indoors. We hadn’t made it to National Indoors for a long time, so it was a very exciting feeling!
