Sanjana Chintalapudi is the epitome of the student athlete, and she has the winsand now the scholarshipto prove it. The 14-year-old Chintalapudi went 18-8 in a year's worth of events in the First Serve National Student Athlete Competition and finished her freshman year at Brien McMahon High School with honors. Chintalapudi will receive a $5,000 college scholarship, as well as recognition for her achievement at the U.S. Open in Flushing Meadows.
Chintalapudi came to America from India with her family when she was five and took up tennis just three years ago. She discovered her love of tennis thanks to Grassroots Tennis, the non-profit Norwalk community tennis program that provides tennis instruction to economically disadvantaged children. Chintalapudi is now a junior instructor with the organization and said that she owes a lot of her success to Grassroots Tennis.
"I learned tennis from Grassroots," Chintalapudi said. "It's fun. I've always been into all kinds of sports, but tennis is the one that stuck with me. I hope I go far in it."
She has skyrocketed to the upper ranks of youth players and knocked off two-time defending First Serve winner Jessica Foley of Florida to win the scholarship by a whopping 410 points. Chintalapudi's success in the First Serve competition almost didn't happen because she and Grassroots had to lobby the tournament directors to waive or reduce the entry fees so she could compete. Chintalapudi let her tennis talent do the talking after that as she won five out of six Connecticut tournaments in the final few months of the scholarship competition.
Chintalapudi has been offered a spot in the incoming sophomore class at St. Luke's School in New Canaan.
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