New Canaan's Alyssa Baker and Kimberly Glerum are the nearly perfect doubles team. In two years playing together at No. 1 doubles, Baker and Glerum have dropped just one match. They are undefeated this season as the Rams have reached the semifinals of the Class M tournament.
Baker, a senior, and Glerum, a junior, said they were aware of each other since they were about 10 years old and played at the New Canaan Field Club. Coach Gail Overbeck paired them together last spring and they have flourished. Their only loss came in the State Open final last year, when the Weston pair of Marie Gargiulo and Lindsey Gersh beat them in three sets. Baker and Glerum were named the MVPs of the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference each of the past years.
There is no secret to Baker and Glerum's success. "There is a lot that goes into it,'' says Alyssa, who will attend Georgetown University. "We know each other's strengths and weaknesses." Adds Kimberly: "The more we play together, the better we get."
The New Canaan pair enjoys doubles so much that they can't envision returning to singles play. "It was difficult making that transition,'' Alyssa says, "but it's so much fun to play. I wouldn't want to go back to singles." Glerum is even looking ahead to next year and wants to remain at doubles. "Our singles lineup is so strong, and I wouldn't be able to qualify for states if I played No. 4 singles,'' she says. "I would love to play at No. 1 doubles again."
Tennis is an individual sport, but Baker and Glerum enjoy working as a team. They also take more satisfaction out of the team's accomplishments than their success as a doubles tandem. Their current focus is to win the Class M team title for the seventh straight year, and worry about State Open next week. "The State Open is an afterthought,'' Glerum says. "Once we enter it, we'll start to think about it. Right now it's all about the team aspect."
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