Girls tennis: Erie’s Nanoha Nakamura named Times-Call player of the year

Erie’s Nanoha Nakamura poses for a portrait on Monday, June 3, 2024. (Matthew Jonas/Staff Photographer)

The first time Wendy Hempen saw her Japanese foreign exchange “daughter” play tennis, she didn’t know what she’d be in for. Nanoha Nakamura, who joined Erie’s program during her year abroad, put away her opponent swiftly and efficiently.

She even achieved the feat with a hole in her sock that left her with a blister.

Just a few months later, Nakamura stood near the top of the Class 4A No. 1 singles pecking order in Colorado, finishing state runner-up to defending state champion Lila Moldenhauer from Kent Denver.

That initial match altered the tennis outlook for Hempen as well as for Nakamura, who ended her season with the Tigers with a nearly perfect record. Her only losses came at the hands of Moldenhauer and Fairview’s Stella Laird, earning her the Times-Call player of the year honors.

“It was pretty amazing,” Hempen said. “When we first got her application, it said that she liked tennis. That was one of her hobbies, so we knew that she really enjoyed tennis and it had been part of her past. We didn’t really know how good she was until she started playing. At the athletic night, after her first practice, we walked in, and she was with some friends and her friends were like, ‘She’s going all the way to state.’ They were so impressed by her just that first day.”

For Nakamura, tennis was a way to socialize and have fun. She joined the EHS boys tennis staff in the fall, then realized how far the sport could actually take her if she picked up a racket herself.

“Back to August, I couldn’t really speak English, but I realized we have (something in) common, even though we don’t really talk,” she said. “We can communicate through tennis. I realized that, and then I thought it was so fun. I played tennis as manager in the fall for boys tennis season, and then I realized through tennis, I can make friends. I realized how good I was compared to all of the boys.”

Nakamura played competitively in Japan for a while but gave the sport up for a couple of years to focus on her studies. She said that the weight of the competition, as well as the isolated nature of tennis there, affected her perception of it.

She fell back in love with the sport at Erie, and that was evident through her ever-present smile on the court.

“I think I got a little bit better because there was no pressure for me,” Nakamura said. “Back to Japan, I spent a lot of time for tennis. I had a feeling that I have to do really good and I have to compete with a lot of good people. I had a lot of pressure on me and then a lot of expectation from others. Here, I didn’t really have to think about that side, so I played more relaxed.”

In the individual state tournament alone, she put on a masterclass against her first three opponents from Mountain View, Mullen and Cheyenne Mountain. All three fell in just two sets, up until Moldenhauer flipped it around in the title match and did the same to Nakamura.

Nakamura still enjoyed herself, even through the 6-1, 6-2 defeat.

“Every time I heard some cheering or some nice words from my teammates, it helped a lot, and then my family cheered, too,” she said. “Every time I heard that sound, I tried to smile.”

Nakamura will head back home to Japan soon, but she may not have shaken the American bug quite yet. She only has half a year left in high school but is already considering coming back to the United States to play tennis in college.

No matter what she decides, she’s already impacted the sport here through at least one person.

“I didn’t know anything about tennis, and now I love this game. It’s really awesome and it’s been really amazing to see her play. I don’t want her to go,” Hempen said through a laugh. “This has been a really enriching experience, all around, for my kids, for me and my husband, for all of our friends, even. We’ve learned so many Japanese traditions and customs, and I think she and Japan will be a part of our lives forever. We’re just going to miss her a lot.”