A touch of déjà vu was present at the championship match of the 2019 girls state tennis finals.
The North Central High School courts, where Greenwood junior Andrea Calvert lost in three sets in the individual singles state title match 31 years earlier, were about to host a classic.
Calvert-Sanders was back at North Central coaching her 23-1 Park Tudor squad against Cathedral in the team finale. The Panthers fell, 3-2, with matches at Nos. 2 and 3 singles extending to thrilling third sets and ultimately decided by tiebreakers.
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Calvert-Sanders had been here before, only this second defeat hurt more.
“The match we played against Cathedral last year was the most exciting team match I’ve ever been part of,” she said. “As a player, I was just so happy to be there. As a coach, that was heartbreaking, but it was just so exciting to see where the program has gone.”
Calvert-Sanders, 49, is athletic director at Park Tudor Middle School and Director of Tennis Operations and Summer Athletics. She and her husband John have two children: Willie, 16, who’ll be starting his junior year at Park Tudor, and Jessie, 14, an incoming freshman.
Andrea Calvert’s interest in tennis began at a young age. She and her twin sister, Angie (younger by three minutes) graduated from Greenwood in 1989. Preceding them in the same hallways were older siblings Lisa (1981) and Jay (1983).
“I started playing tennis when I was 7 years old at Craig Park,” Calvert-Sanders said. “I just wanted to find a sport that I could beat my brother Jay in. We would go to Greenwood High School to practice, and I was entrenched in it.
“When I was around 13, my dad (Pat) dropped me off at North Central for the summer clinics. It would be from 7 a.m. to 3 or 4 p.m. in the afternoon five days a week, and tournaments on the weekends if you could.”
Summer matches against some of the state’s premier girls players sharpened Calvert-Sanders’ skill level and grew her confidence for the high school state tournament in 1988, her junior season. She won the first set in her singles final against North Central senior and defending state champ Stephanie Reece but wound up losing, 6-7 (7-3), 6-0, 6-2.
She and Reece have remained friends through their love of the sport.
“Stephanie had beaten me on a regular basis, so it was kind of surprising that I won that first set,” Calvert-Sanders said. “When we worked together we joked about it. We’re great friends. I aced her down the middle to win that first set, and she couldn’t believe it.”
As a Woodmen senior, Calvert-Sanders advanced to the quarterfinals of the state singles tournament but was defeated by Park Tudor senior Allison Turner.
Calvert-Sanders played at the University of Iowa, where she graduated with a sports management degree. She was part of 70 doubles victories as a Hawkeye, at one point climbing as high as seventh in the NCAA Division I doubles rankings.
After college, Calvert-Sanders played one season on the WTA Tour before returning to Indiana to become a teaching pro at the Indianapolis Racquet Club and for the Washington Township tennis programs.
Among her many accomplishments is being named 2018 Indiana Pro of the Year by the United States Professional Tennis Association.
Calvert-Sanders’ love of tennis, born on the courts of Craig Park more than four decades ago, hasn’t lessened over time. Her desire to teach and coach remain as true as the ace she delivered against Reece all those years ago.
“I’ve been so fortunate to still be in a sport I’ve loved since I was 7 years old. I love teaching tennis, and I love anyone who wants to play tennis,” she said. “It doesn’t feel like a job. There are just so many facets of the game that make it enjoyable for me.”
