Luciana Perry was encouraged to try different sports while growing up in Export. But she always came back to tennis.
There was a natural pull to the sport.
Her father, Craig, grew up in Florida and played tennis at Rollins College before moving to Pittsburgh to teach the sport at a club in Monroeville and now is the pro at Fox Chapel Golf Club. Her mother, Mariana, hails from Argentina and came to the States to play tennis at Duquesne. (She still ranks second in career winning percentage and is tied for the most singles win in a season in Dukes history.)
Luciana, meanwhile, was involved in soccer, basketball and a variety of other activities. She also watched as her two older siblings, sister Natalia and brother Craig, chose their paths. Natalia Perry stuck with tennis and went on to play at William & Mary, whereas Craig chose ice hockey.
“My parents were really good about exposing me to a lot of different sports,” said Luciana Perry, a sophomore on the Ohio State women’s tennis team. “They never forced me into tennis. They never instilled it in me. They always kind of gave me a lot of room to choose what I loved, and tennis was just, by far, my favorite.
“I really like the individuality of it. I loved being out there by myself and having to figure it out on my own. … And I really like the competitiveness of it, that 1-v-1 competitiveness.”
Perry did her schooling through PA Cyber Charter so she could work around her tournament schedule as well as training sessions with her mother. Mariana Perry gave private lessons after regular school hours, so she and Luciana would have to work out during mornings and early afternoons before pupils started arriving.
Perry’s prowess in junior tournaments caught the eye of a number of Division I schools. She wound up at Ohio State, and she has become one of the top singles players in the country. As of the most recent Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings, Perry was at No. 9 with a 17-6 record at No. 1 singles.
Her rise to the top 10 was hardly unexpected.
Perry ended her freshman season, during which she played mostly No. 2 and No. 3 singles, at No. 47 in the ITA rankings. She peaked at No. 41. Along the way, she compiled a 27-12 record and achieved a number of milestones for the Buckeyes program:
• She was Ohio State’s first ITA Midwest Regional champion.
• She was the ITA Midwest Region Rookie of the year, the first Buckeye to win the award.
• She earned ITA National Rookie of the Year, again the first OSU player to be so honored.
• She reached the NCAA round of 16 and earned All-American honors while being the only freshman to advance that far in the bracket last season.
Perry also was successful in doubles, entering the national rankings with three different partners and finishing the season No. 25 with Irina Cantos Siemers and No. 27 with Sydni Ratliff.
“It’s a great experience,” Perry said about her freshman season. “I would say I’m very blessed to have the awards and rankings that I have earned. It’s nice to see that recognition of my hard work, but it’s definitely just a start.”
Coach Melissa Schaub, now in her 12th year at Ohio State, knew she was getting a talented player. Siemers was the unquestioned No. 1 singles player last season, but Perry showed right away she had boundless promise.
Schaub recalled a summer workout leading up to Perry’s freshman year: She and Siemers were watching Perry hit, and, at one point, Siemers gave Schaub a look as if to indicate she knew she was seeing something special.
“I think she just gets effortless power,” Schaub said. “Her hands are very good, and she’s got incredible footwork and movement. … And that was probably the biggest progression from juniors up until when she came into (college) was developing a little more power as she was getting older and continuing to develop.”
Perry also showed a willingness to learn. As a freshman, she said, she didn’t have any set-in-stone expectations of herself. Rather, she watched Siemers’ play and how she conducted herself as a leader and tried to follow that example.
“My goals are never really awards and achievements and rankings,” she said. “So my goals really haven’t changed. My goal is to just learn more about the game of tennis.”
Her end game is to play professionally.
For many years, most of the world’s best tennis players eschewed college competition in favor of turning pro right away. Seeing a teen sensation on the WTA and ATP tours was commonplace.
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Now, Perry said, more players are choosing the college route before making the segue into the pros. She pointed to two successful American players as examples: Emma Navarro played at Virginia and is the current No. 10 in the WTA rankings. Last season, she earned her first title (at the Auckland Classic) and reached the quarterfinals of the French Open.
On the men’s side, Ben Shelton (Florida) has two ATP titles and is No. 14 in the world.
“College tennis is growing, and a lot of people are saying that the level is right up there with professional,” Perry said. “That’s really exciting.”
Added Schaub: “I think she has the game to play at the next level. … It’s all she ever wants to do. For us, it’s just making sure we’re giving her all the tools that she needs to be successful not only here at Ohio State but at the next level.”
In the meantime, there’s still two months of college tennis to be played in the 2025 season, and Perry is optimistic she can continue her progress.
“That’s my ultimate goal,” she said, “try to figure out how I can be a better competitor and a better tennis player.”