By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            As much as Baylor freshman Alina Shcherbinina is trying to treat this like "it's just another tournament," the 18-year-old Russian is making her first appearance at the U.S. Open.
            "I'm trying not to think about it too much, that it's just like a basic tournament," said Shcherbinina, who is 38^th in the latest ITF world junior rankings. "Because if I get overwhelmed, I might not perform well. Actually, it's my very first time being at the U.S. Open, so that's kind of exciting."
            The singles and doubles winner of the U18 Moscow Cup, Shcherbinina will face U.S. National Clay Court champion Amelia Honer Monday in the first round of the Junior Girls Singles at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York City.
            "We are excited for Alina. That's an amazing accomplishment that very few tennis players experience," said Baylor head coach Joey Scrivano, who is in New York for the Grand Slam tournament. "Although she has only been training with us for a couple of weeks, our message has been simple: Don't hold anything back, enjoy the moment and have fun on the court. We believe in her and look forward to seeing her give it her all."
            While this is Shcherbinina's first appearance in the U.S. Open, it's her fourth Grand Slam in the last 11 months, getting to the second round of the French Open Juniors last October and suffering first-round losses this summer in the French Open and Wimbledon Juniors.
            "All my Grand Slams didn't really go that well because I didn't prepare for them the right way. That was very unprofessional of me," she said. "Wimbledon was so weird. It was the first time I had played on grass. I went with the national team, and the coaches from Russia as well, and they got us the flights right before the first match. I didn't even get to practice on grass."
            Shcherbinina lost to seventh-seeded American Alexandra Yepifanova, 7-6(3), 6-2, at Wimbledon. A month earlier, she lost a tight three-setter to Greece's Michaela Laki, 7-5, 5-7, 6-3, at the French Open Juniors at Roland Garros.
            In April, she earned her career-best ITF ranking of No. 29 after winning a Grade 1 tournament in Kazan, Russia, beating fellow Russian Ekaterina Malkakova, 6-4, 6-1, in the final.
            "When COVID first hit, every country was in lockdown, so all the tournaments were canceled," she said. "After about 2 ½ months, the tournaments started to open. My life (during the COVID-19 pandemic) didn't really change that much. Some of the tournaments did close, but I would just go to the ones that were open. They have exceptions for athletes, so I didn't have any problem with travel or anything."
            One thing that was affected by COVID was Shcherbinina's recruiting. Scrivano was the only college coach she met before the pandemic and she wasn't able to make any campus visits.
            "Joey was one of the first ones that reached out to me," she said. "Outside of the U.S., it's not a common practice to go play for college. We don't have that kind of system, so I had to figure out what was next. My mom told me, 'I have to get a degree.' And I agreed. I was a 60, 70% yes to go to college. Then, I started talking to other schools, and I was getting more into it. Baylor was one of the top universities, so I knew it was the right choice for me."
            Shcherbinina also got a strong recommendation from former Baylor player Kristina Sorokolet (2017-21), who "told me that she loved it here," she said. "I got very good vibes from her about Baylor."
            One of five first-year freshmen, Shcherbinina joins a Baylor team that returns a pair of All-Big 12 players in Mel Krywoj and Alicia Herrera-Linana from a 24-5 team that finished second in the Big 12 and made it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
            If Shcherbinina gets past Honer, a freshman at UC Santa Barbara, she will face ninth-seeded Natalia Szabanin from Hungary in the second round.