Senior Laylo Bakhodirova (Tashkent, Uzbekistan) started playing tennis at 9 years old. She recounts not having a babysitter and spending the day at the tennis courts while her mom was at work.
“I used to spend the whole day there until she got out of work. I got to play with many different groups of kids, it wasn’t just one coach, I would join whatever team was playing,” said Bakhodirova.
One day a coach offered to work with Bakhodirova individually until she went to train at a boarding school, Tennis Academy, at 12 years old where she trained until she was 15.
“Because I was one of the best players among the girls, they made me play qualifying with the guys for a spot on the team. I ended up beating one of the guys. That was very eventful for me,” said Bakhodirova.
After high school, she took a year off to play professionally but had a hard time finding sponsors and keeping up with the money to play professionally. She started looking for colleges when Head Coach Ricardo Rojas reached out and Bakhodirova came to ETSU.
During her time at East Tennessee State University, she has maintained the top singles spot over five years. In her freshman year, she was named to First Team All-SoCon with an 8-10 record in singles and a 7-13 record in doubles with partner Alejandra Morales (Santiago, Chile).
Her sophomore year her singles record was 8-4, winning seven singles matches in a row, and has a record of 6-4 with doubles partner Morales before the season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In February, she won the SoCon Player of the Week.
In her junior season, she held an overall record of 11-11 in singles, winning six out of seven SoCon matches. She was awarded a second First Team All-SoCon selection this year.
Last season, Bakhodirova held a 17-6 record in singles playing at the number one spot and held a 6-1 record for SoCon matches. She ended the season ranked number 117 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA). In addition, she earned awards SoCon Player of the week twice on Jan. 25 and March 15, SoCon Student-Athlete of the Week, SoCon Tennis Player of the Month in January, and her third First Team All-SoCon selection.
“It means a lot being recognized in the Southern Conference and in the University. Representing ETSU is a big deal for me. Getting the Student-Athlete of the Week meant the most for me because it’s not just athlete, it’s student-athlete. It means I am excelling not only in sports but in school also,” said Bakhodirova.
One of her favorite individual memories happened this season when she beat Abigail Renchell from N.C. State, who was ranked number 25. She lost the first set 4-6 and came back to win the next two sets 6-0 and 1-0 (10-8).
“I cried after the match because I couldn’t believe it and it was on my birthday last year. I ended up coming back and winning the match!” said Bakhodirova.
Some other fond memories she has as a team were the win over Virginia Tech her freshman year and a win over South Florida.
“Even though I lost my singles match in three sets, we still won as a team. Just seeing coach happy and almost in tears,” said Bakhodirova. She also recounts wins from last season against Xavier University and UNC Charlotte.
Bakhodirova will be graduating this spring with a triple major; Marketing with a concentration in management, marketing data analytics, management supply chain logistics, and a minor in finance.
“After graduation I want to try to play professionally, see how it goes; whatever is around in the U.S. travel, drive there and try to play those. I am also actively applying for jobs, maybe if that works out. I have a lot of options, so I am not being closed-minded if pro doesn’t work out, I’m going to go into the business world,” said Bakhodirova.
To her coaches and teammates, she wants them to know to “have more fun. Sometimes we get stuck in the routine and it gets very repetitive, and we forget why we do it in the first place. Sometimes you just have to go out there, just have fun, play with a smile on your face and enjoy what you are doing,” said Bakhodirova.
