The Journal

Issue date: 5/3/07 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Jamie Ford Rolf Rothermel and his sister Raquel Rothermel are international students from London who play tennis for Webster.

Freshman Rolf Rothermel was in Barcelona, Spain, when he committed what might have been the biggest double fault of his tennis career. However, Rolf Rothermel's error didn't occur on the surface of a tennis court. While rehabbing his recently operated shoulder, Rolf Rothermel, 22, trained so rigorously he blew his knee out.


Around the same time, Rolf Rothermel's sister Raquel Rothermel, 20, was at Webster University orchestrating a dominating start to her tennis career, going 7-1 combined in her singles and doubles matches.


One year later, Rolf and Raquel Rothermel are united at Webster and looking to help push the Webster tennis teams to the top of the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.


Rolf and Raquel Rothermel were born in London. However, their stay there would be the first in a series of moves. When the Rothermels were young, their family moved to the Caribbean. Several years later, the Rothermels returned to England for boarding school, then came to the United States to attend high school in Florida before moving to Barcelona, Spain.


While the Rothermels relocated more times in two decades than many people have in their entire lives, their tennis games haven't been deterred. In fact, the moves helped fuel the Rothermel's tennis careers. They first started playing tennis seriously as pre-teens while attending the Junior King Boarding School in England. They enhanced their skills in a tennis academy and camps while in Florida. The move to Spain was prompted after Rolf Rothermel and his twin brother Felix wanted to take a couple of years off to play tennis after they graduated from St. Stephens Episcopal in Florida.


"We decided Spain would be the best place to go," Rolf Rothermel said. "There is a really high level of competition over there."


Raquel Rothermel joined her brothers in Spain after she graduated from St. Stephens in 2004. However, she wasn't there to play tennis. She was taking a year off between high school and college - a practice she said is common in Europe.


Rolf Rothermel's career in Spain was promising in the beginning, after several strong showings in local tournaments. He even began competing in satellite and futures tournaments - which he said are the beginning levels of playing professionally.

Continued...

Page 1 of 4 next >

Article Tools