Suburban Life Athletes of the Week: Elen Ryson and Maddie Hoden, St. Francis, tennis, seniors

Names: Elen Ryson and Maddie Hoden

School: St. Francis, seniors

Sport: Tennis

Why they were selected: The two-time All-State doubles team of Ryson and Hoden went 5-0 this past week in dominant fashion, winning all five matches in straight sets by a combined margin of 60-9 in games won. They were voted the Athlete of the Week in an online vote by readers. Here is their interview with Sports Editor Joshua Welge.

Welge: How do you feel about the start to your season?

Ryson: It’s going well. I think we started off really strong. We have these two really good freshmen. After last year, we lost some seniors but the freshmen are doing really good. We have these bus rides to matches that we do karaoke on. It unites everyone. We get along really well.

Welge: How did the two of you get paired up?

Hoden: My original doubles partner my sophomore year had to quarantine due to a COVID exposure. Elen and I played sectionals together and played all together junior year.

Ryson: I was playing singles at the time. We had a girl at No. 1 singles that was injured a lot and I had to fill in for her. It was fun, but I think I’m more of a doubles player. I got in my own head that I liked having my partner Maddie to talk to. We went to state, we had a great connection and the rest is history.

Welge: How do the two of you complement each other?

Ryson: She is a lefty and I am a righty. I like to think of it as our personalities complement each other. She says that she is the brains and I am the brawn. She’s super calm, easy going, super stable. That helps me. I like to think that I’m stable, too, but on the court it gets me stressful. She is there to keep me sane. We even each other out.

Welge: Why do you like doubles?

Hoden: I played some singles my freshman year, but the majority of high school tennis I’ve played doubles. I prefer doubles. I like having another person with me on the court. I find it more fun and I like the strategy of doubles. There are more combinations and more strategy.