Tennis

Valeria Salazar shines in doubles for Syracuse after representing Mexico in worldwide tournaments

Long before Valeria Salazar dominated the hard courts for Syracuse, she was solely a clay-court star. In Mexico, that was primarily the surface she played on, and the long points forced her to get better.

“I think on clay you can develop more in your game,” Salazar said. “It takes more for you to win the point.”

Salazar currently shines for No. 67 Syracuse (6-4, 1-3 Atlantic Coast) as part of a doubles team with partner Komal Safdar. But before that she was a multi-time champion representing her country in International Tennis Federation tournaments around the world.

She started from a young age, practicing with her tennis coach and father Saul, and eventually participating in international tournaments at as young as 7.

“It was awesome,” Saul Salazar said in an email. “Teaching Valeria was very easy for me because she was very natural and talented. She learned quickly everything I taught her.”



Salazar eventually built an impressive resume for herself in Mexico, becoming a national champion in 10U, 12U and 14U tournaments. She also was a three-time ITF doubles champion, one-time singles champion and represented Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean in the European Summer Cup.

Playing in national tournaments helped develop Salazar’s game in a way that was uniquely different than many of her American-born teammates.

While Salazar enjoyed her time in the national spotlight, it soon became apparent that if she was to ever become a professional tennis player, she would have to take on a tougher degree of opponent.

Six years ago, Salazar and her family moved to Cresskill, New Jersey in order to be provided with tougher competition and a chance to eventually become a professional tennis player.

“In Mexico, well, the national level wasn’t that good,” Salazar said. “There’s very good players, but then there’s only a few. In the U.S. there’s a lot of good players so I had a better opportunity in developing my game.”

A friend of Saul Salazar’s, tennis coach Carlos Cano, assisted the Salazars as they transitioned to both American culture and the American game. Salazar’s father and Cano worked on a number of aspects of her game in order to prepare her for the competitive American game.

Cano hoped to improve her serve, and he believes he succeeded in making it one of the better ones he has seen.

“For her height, she happens to have one of the best serves in the business,” Cano said of Salazar, who is listed at 5 feet, 4 inches, in an email. “The other aspects of her game that we had worked on were the forehand, decision making and footwork.”

Salazar and her father worked very closely together to help make her an international competitor, but Saul Salazar says that there was a clear line between his role as her coach and his role as her father.

After spending 34 years as a coach and seeing many overzealous parents drive their children away from tennis, Saul Salazar made a conscious effort to keep his role as a coach outside of their home.

“We were a team,” Salazar said. “I always tried to make Valeria feel supported. I always told her I was her coach, her dad but especially her friend. And she knew she could count on me for everything.”





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