Her freshman year is the definition of a strong first impression.
Freshman Lara Stojanovski has had a strong first year, finishing with a spring record of 10-4 and helping her team finish second in the Ivy League this season. Now she looks to the individual fall season to hopefully qualify for the NCAA Division I tournament.
Born and raised in Belgrade, Serbia, Stojanovski began thinking about collegiate tennis relatively late by American standards, as she was already a freshman in high school. Growing up an energetic child, her parents quickly realized that they had to put her in some type of sport.
At age five, she began playing tennis. By age eight, Stojanovski was competing in local tournaments, beginning to fuel her competitive spirit. As she got older, she began to travel further and further throughout Central Europe for tournaments.
Once she started high school, she began to receive offers from different schools. The idea of coming to the United States was really appealing to Stojanovski, but it was also stressful.
“[College in the US is] completely different from what university is back home. … You have to know what you want to study before you [enroll], and you cannot change it. … I was [initially] really concerned. … I talked to a lot of coaches, and they were like, it's very flexible. … You're not stuck in one thing.”
In the summer of 2023, Stojanovski came to the U.S. to visit different schools, but Penn immediately won her over for being in a big city, along with the coach and team dynamic.
“Penn was actually my first visit, and as soon as I came, I met the coach, I was like, 'Okay, I know I want to come here,'” Stojanovski said.
On her official visit, coach Sanela Kunovac was struck by Stojanovski’s mindset.
“I like how she talks about tennis, how she talks about her game. She's so independent," Kunovac said. "She'll commute for an hour [in her hometown on public transportation] … taking care of everything on her own. … When you're independent, but also you take initiative and you love what you do."
Not only is she independent, but her social, outgoing personality shines through and adds to the team.
"[Stojanovski is] light-hearted, very much. A great person to be around. [There’s] always positive energy whenever you're around Lara,” Kunovac said.
On the court, Stojanovski’s outgoing nature transforms into an offensive, aggressive play style, which has been elevated by “an element of power and element of speed” she’s gained since coming to Penn, according to Kunovac. She loves a good serve and volley play, and finishing a point at the net.
Playing for a team was certainly a change for Stojanovski. Now, a whole team was there to cheer for her, not just her dad, who took her to tournaments back home.
“Being on a team, we're competing for each other, in a sense, right? So it's really nice to have, like, people who are uplifting you," Stojanovski said. "All my teammates are so open to talking and really helping me figure things out. And it's been great."
Aside from her life as an athlete, Stojanovski is a political science major in the College of Arts & Sciences and is keeping law in mind for her future. She’s particularly enjoying a legal studies class that she’s taking this semester and is considering picking up a minor in American public politics.
But no matter what she does, Stojanovski notes how tennis will always be a part of her life, whether that is her playing for herself after college, or travelling as a hitting partner for a professional player.
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