Estela Perez-Somarriba of the University of Miami women’s tennis team is the top-ranked player in the country in the year-end rankings, as announced Wednesday, June 2, 2021.
It is the third straight time Perez-Somarriba sits atop the rankings and, by holding the top spot at the end of the season, she has clinched ITA National Player of the Year accolades. This is the fourth time in the last 16 full seasons a Hurricane has placed first in the final rankings. Megan Bradley did so in 2005, followed by Audra Cohen in both 2006 and 2007. No other school has even had two first-place finishers during that stretch.
Perez-Somarriba concludes her career with a top-10 ranking in each of the last 32 ITA releases of her career. She placed top-five in 27 of the final 30, with a top-three position in 23 of them. Five times, she came in at No. 1 overall.
A fifth-year senior, Perez-Somarriba went 24-3 in her final collegiate campaign, making her one of 14 players in the year-end rankings with at least 24 victories.
All three of the Madrid native’s losses came to players who ended the year ranked in the top three, while she also defeated two of those individuals. She logged a victory over the players who placed second, fourth, sixth, seventh, ninth, No. 10, and No. 13 in the final rankings—six of the other 12 players in the top 13—as well as twice topped the No. 24 player.
Along with her spot atop the singles rankings, Perez-Somarriba placed No. 26 in the final doubles rankings alongside freshman Isabella Pfennig. The duo, which competed in the NCAA Doubles Championship, held a top-30 spot in the six of the last seven releases of the season.
Dear Estela,
When you entered the University of Miami, you were a young lady with so much to learn, so much to embrace and so much to prove. Your eyes showed that you wanted to be the best from the very beginning. You listened each and every day to our words, you listened to your older teammates’ advice and you absorbed what everyone around you had to offer a student-athlete.
Estela, I always told you to work as hard as you could each day and leave it behind you. I have never seen anyone in my career do just that like you did. Each day you showed up, you worked harder than all of your teammates, you never complained, you never made an excuse and you just continued to improve. With each tournament won, with each match secured, with another record broken, you just worked harder. You stayed focused, humble and relentless.
More than half of your career was played with a huge target on your chest, but you just continued being you. You acquired confidence and you never played to protect, but rather played to prove. You realized that your strengths were your ball tolerance, your mind and your legs, and so you transformed your body into an absolute machine. Your opponent may beat you, but not on fitness, and so each day was met with another level of preparation.
With all the success that came along the way, you were still one of the most respectful, grateful and endearing players I have coached. It’s very rare, Estela, that a coach’s vision and a player’s desire are aligned. Neither one of us knew where this road would take you. Looking back, Stel, we really didn’t make any wrong turns.
Thank you for believing in me, putting up with me, trying to understand me and even embracing my music along the way. You will always have a special place in my heart. Keep going my little Champ.
Love, Paige