Barb Carlson Photo
Maddy Trinh didn’t plan to be playing tennis at Centre College. She was verbally committed to go to hometown Georgia Tech in Atlanta for academics before former high school teammate Hannah Doherty helped change her mind.
“She was two years older than me and wanted me to come visit (Centre College) just for fun. At that point I valued academics more than tennis but I came here and I really, really liked it,” the Centre College senior said. “But there’s no way that I could afford it because I already had a really great scholarship offer from Georgia Tech.”
Trinh applied for the prestigious James Graham Brown Fellowship at Centre. A few months later she found out she got the full scholarship fellowship and committed to Centre.
“Tennis is definitely just a bonus. I wanted to save up as much as I could for grad school and things like that. So whatever the best offer was on the table, I kind of decided to choose that one.”
Trinh’s parents are first generation immigrants from Vietnam who connected with the Vietnamese community in Atlanta through tennis.
“My mom had contractions on the tennis court with me, so I was basically born on the tennis court. I grew up playing tennis. I was homeschooled for two years to train for tennis. They thought I was gonna be like a big prodigy,” Trinh said. “I started when I was like 3 or 4. I just remember my dad like taking me out into the courts. We couldn’t afford the smaller racket, so I had the big racket and the real tennis ball and I’m missing it most of the time. A lot of my early memories with my parents were on the tennis court and them teaching me what they knew.”
She trained with Coco Gauff, who has won the U.S. Open and seven WTA Tour tournaments, and her parents even toyed with the idea of sending her to the legendary Nick Bollettieri Academy in Florida.
“Then I just kind of think I got very burnt out. Transitioning after homeschooling I realized I cared a lot more about my academics and my social life,” she said. “It was more sustainable for me to choose academics in the long run. So that’s kind of what we went with.”
Trinh has been a successful singles and doubles player at Centre that coach Morgan Cook says is a “fiery player” who never lacks for energy on the court.
“She is fist pumping and jumping around. But she is also a very crafty player. She can do it all. Has a great drop shot and is great at the net. She is unbelievable in doubles but is just a great all-around player,” Cook said.
Trinh doesn’t deny that she’s competitive and is prone to yell and be loud during matches.
“I think that that has developed more in college tennis. I wasn’t like that in high school tennis,” Trinh said. “But it’s just such a big part of my personality and how I am. I like to be loud and that really translates to my tennis game. I’m constantly yelling if I hit a good shot.”
Sometimes her own doubles partner can be intimidated by her personality. Kayla Harger was her double partner during the 2023 season and this season she’s become more fiery. Trinh’s partners this year have been sophomores Carlie Mitchell and Grace Williams and they are not nearly as excitable.
“But I think that they get excited when I get excited and it kind of feeds into the energy of keeping the momentum going which is really fun,” Trinh said.
Trinh’s tennis success at Centre has surprised her. She considers it an “added benefit” to the academic work she’s doing to prepare her for attending the Yale School of Nursing.
“The main difference between juniors and college tennis is there’s no pressure. I’m not going to be a pro tennis player after this. This is it for me,” Trinh said. “In juniors I was under so much pressure. Here nobody’s mad at you if you’re losing or anything like that. I don’t have any stress or any nerves going out there. This is what I wanted to do in the first place,” Trinh said.
“Now you’re still playing to win. I definitely am competitive playing but I’m not scared to lose like in junior tennis when it would affect recruiting.”
Trinh admits her parents were “disappointed” when she burnt out on big-time tennis after spending thousands of dollars for her training that put pressure on her “knowing they poured” so much of their money into her potential career.
“But now seeing me so happy at this school and having such a balance between academia and tennis has paid off and they’re very excited. It’s so balanced here and I can have everything that I want in my life,” Trinh said.
Her next move will be to the graduate entry pre speciality program at the Yale School of Nursing. Her goal is to be a nurse practitioner.
“I can still see my own patients and have my own schedule. I can write my own prescriptions, do my own diagnosis,” she said. “Most people go to school, they do four years and they become an RN (registered nurse) after four years. We don’t have that option here,” Trinh said. “So this program, basically in one year,I’ll become an RN. And then two years after that, I can become an advanced practice nurse.”
Trinh came to Centre interested in some type of pre med and becoming a doctor was a possibility. However, she realized her social personality might be better suited for a patient/provider interaction.
“I did a research project in Greece and then I also did research in Vietnam. I realized how hands on I was and I didn’t want to be a doctor because they might only see a patient for 15 minutes. Doctors do amazing things but I felt like my personality is better suited to help people so I decided to switch from pre med to nurse practitioner,” Trinh said.
She adjusted easily to small town life in Danville compared to growing up in Atlanta.
“I hate traffic and I hate driving so Danville was like perfect for me in that sense, but at the same time I think I’m excited to go to Yale and New Haven is a really big city,” she said. “I really like Yale’s program and there’s an older girl in my sorority that’s already there. She said really good things about the program.
“I know after Yale that I want to be in the Northeast and in one of those major cities. I’ve loved my time in Danville, but I am in my 20s. I want to live somewhere where there’s a lot of youthfulness and a lot of bustling energy. I want to go more out of my comfort zone, so I am looking at major cities like Boston and New York to live in after I finish at Yale.”
