“I would say she’s (Coach Jackson’s) very experienced as a player on the tour… we can feel it during practice that she’s treating us as professional players,” Piestrzynska said. “She’s trying to prepare us for a professional career. She has this long-term approach just trying to prepare us.”
Prior to becoming a coach, Jackson competed full-time on the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) tour from March 2003 until August 2009 with a career record of 120-87 in singles play and reached a career-high ranking of No. 43 in 2006.
She competed in all four grand-slams and represented the red, white and blue in the Fed Cup competition in 2006. Over the course of her professional career, she notched top-20 victories over Maria Sharapova, Amy Frazier, Maria Kirilenko and Jelena Jankovic.
As important as the future is to the players, there is still a season left to play. Just as Jackson prepares players for life beyond ASU, she is building a foundation for her tenure with the program, understanding the importance of each day and knowing that a slow start doesn’t necessarily mean a rough or long-lasting one.
“There’s not a crystal ball that I can say the results are going to happen at this moment, but I know if we do the right things, the results will happen. One thing that I want to instill in these kids is that we bring our best each and every day,” Jackson said.
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