Rebecca Dirksen '00 is really nice. This is the first thing that strikes me about Dartmouth's No. 1 singles player, whom I have heard, read, and written about, but never actually met. I show up for our interview frazzled and searching frantically for my list of questions, and she catches me off guard because she is just so darn friendly.
Dirksen, a four-year fixture at lead singles whose name has become synonymous with the women's tennis program, will graduate this spring the most decorated player in College history. Uninitiated tennis fan that I am, I take to the web to investigate the all-time records for women's tennis. Her name is everywhere. It appears an easier task to pinpoint a record that she does not hold.
Dirksen has played more matches and won more matches " both in a single season and over the course of her career " than any player in college history. She has been a first-team All-Ivy selection for the past three years. With longtime partner Allison Taff '00, she comprises half of the best doubles duo Dartmouth has ever seen. She's smart, too: as a junior and a senior she claimed prestigious Academic All-Ivy honors.
"All heads turn when Rebecca Dirksen steps on the court," sums up first-year head coach Jen Callen. "Her presence is felt " and it is like no other." Dirksen solidified her legacy last year when she went undefeated in singles play in the Ivies and became the first Dartmouth player to be named Ivy League Player of the Year. Says Callen: "[She] returned to the court this year with the intention of repeating this incredible feat."
Unfortunately, an injury in early March thwarted her plans. Dirksen twisted her foot on the court, initially assuming her pain to be a minor inconvenience that would quickly disappear. "I always assume everything is psychological," she says. Two singles matches, two doubles matches, and two weeks later, she finally saw a doctor, claiming even then that it didn't really hurt. Her foot was broken.
Uncertainty abounded as to whether Dirksen would be able to take to the court again before graduation. Her doctor said it might be possible if she could win 6-0, 6-0: more games than that would make the pain unbearable. Dirksen proved him wrong, shedding her cast after three and a half weeks instead of the prescribed six and returning to the court by mid-April. "She has returned in the typical Rebecca style as a winner," Callen says.
Although the foot might still require surgery this summer, Dirksen showed no signs of her extended leave from the court or of any continuing pain, picking up right where she left off and continuing to storm through Ivy opponents. "I got to the point where I wasn't thinking about it," she says. "And that was key."
Dirksen finished her Dartmouth career with an exclamation point, amassing four resounding straight-set singles victories against opponents from Princeton, Yale, Brown, and Harvard. In each instance, she and Taff also combined to win in doubles.
"Allison called it 'poetic'" Dirksen says of the team's final match of the season against Harvard last Wednesday. "You couldn't have picked a better way to end."
Dartmouth's 6-3 victory in the match marked the end of a five-year losing streak to Harvard. The Crimson's No. 2 player, who was beaten by Taff, had been a teammate of Dirksen's at Gann High School in Palo Alto, California. She played No. 1 singles then, ahead of Dirksen. It was "a weird culminating thing."
Now, having taken the court for Dartmouth for the last time, Dirksen reflects positively on her experiences and on the future of the program. "I think it's the bad times that stick with you," she says.
"The times when everyone sticks togetherwhen you're not actually doing that well and you cry together." Without that, "I wouldn't have realized how amazing everyone is."
"I am so proud of the women's tennis team," she continues. "I am so proud of the women's tennis program. I see a great future for our team. We have a great new coach, great recruits, a great new facility." And her current teammates? "I see in them more than they see in themselves, and I think they do the same for me."
As of now, Dirksen is uncertain about the role tennis will continue to play in her life. Fifth in a family of six, she has plenty of "role models people who do different things and love what they do," and consequently feels no pressure to have a concise map of the future. She is considering playing in some semi-pro tournaments for fun and for travel. But most importantly, she says: "I want to find something that I really want to do."
Asked about whether it was ever difficult to handle the pressures of being a four-year student-athlete who seemed to succeed with flying colors on all fronts, she shrugs. "I've played tennis every day since I was seven years old. I knew I'd never quit."
Dirksen's legacy will far outlast her presence here at Dartmouth. "Rebecca [has] the reputation of being one of the best players in the history of Ivy League women's tennis," says Callen. "Her success, stature, and natural leadership qualities have become well known throughout the athletic department and the Dartmouth community."
Dirksen is not quick to praise herself, and sitting here in Collis in the spring of her senior year, just having staged the grand finale that concluded four years of hard work and stunning success, she offers a simple explanation. "I love tennis for me it was never difficult."
And then she asks me if I'll be at her sorority's party that night. Geez, I love this girl.
