The Daily Orange's December Giving Tuesday. Help the Daily Orange reach our goal of $25,000 this December


Tennis

Dina Hegab’s offseason work solidifies role for No. 43 Syracuse

Max Freund | Staff Photographer

Dina Hegab, despite losing her last two matches, is playing significantly better this season.

Last summer, SU head coach Younes Limam met with junior Dina Hegab to discuss her future with the team. Following a sophomore campaign that saw her overall record regress from the previous season, Limam wanted to talk offseason strategy.

For her to stay consistently in the lineup, she needed to stabilize her first serve and add vigor to her game, Limam said. More than that, Hegab needed to learn how to attack the game from a mental standpoint, something she said was a pitfall during her first two seasons at Syracuse.

“She used to get down on herself fast,” Limam said. “(Dina needed) a short memory and the ability to shake things off.”

After returning to her hometown of Giza, Egypt, Hegab began to exercise more for in-game strength and started to build her skills on hard courts instead of clay courts, an approach that bolstered the speed of her game back in 2016.

Coming off a disappointing year last season, one that she ended with a .421 winning percentage, Hegab’s offseason commitment has ensured her role as a reliable player at the bottom of No. 43 Syracuse’s (8-1, 1-1 Atlantic Coast) lineup. So far this season, Hegab has gone 5-1 while playing in the fifth and sixth slot.



Hegab’s style of play has been concrete for most of her life. As Limam puts it, Hegab is “an aggressive baseliner who dictates with her forehand,” a label that she has taken pride in during her three-year stint at SU, she said.

Before coming to the United States, Hegab played a slower, more defensive pace, but said indoor hard courts forced her to move faster. Now, she stays closer to the baseline and approaches the net with more emphasis, she said.

Hegab transitioned smoothly to American tennis her freshman year, resulting in a winning singles record. In her sophomore season, she dropped off, winning six of 18 singles matches.

“I wasn’t as consistent last year,” Hegab said, “I needed to put in work.”

Hegab spent part of last summer at Syracuse working with Limam alongside Libi Mesh, Gabriela Knutson, and Miranda Ramirez. After finishing her summer class at SU, Hegab went home and looked to correct what went wrong the previous season.

In the latter part of the summer, Hegab had little contact with her teammates and coaches, Limam said, so it was up to her to improve her play. To fit the mold of a true aggressive baseliner, she learned to move more during points.

“My arms and legs needed to help me win more points,” Hegab said, “not just technique.”

Though fitness was important to the process, Hegab’s real obstacle was tackling her in-game mindset.

Calmness was key. She learned when to attack the ball and when to hold back, and if she made a mistake, to not dwell on it. Her personal coach in Egypt, who spoke to Limam prior to Hegab’s return home last year, helped her approach the game situationally.

When she returned back to Syracuse in the fall, something felt different.

“We knew she was being more confident,” teammate Anna Shkudun said, “and that just makes her better.”

Shkudun said Hegab has become a better communicator. When the two played doubles together, conversation wasn’t their strong suit. This year, Hegab talks to the team more and lets them know when she’s struggling.

Before this weekend, Hegab was SU’s last remaining player to be undefeated in singles play, 6-0, until she dropped two matches against Brown and Harvard. Her hiccup ended a stretch of dominance where she commanded the back end of lineups of opposing teams.

But this isn’t the same Dina Hegab who fell off last season — she’s a different player, Limam says.

Now, when Hegab serves, she doesn’t let her mind wander. It’s all about singular moments. She takes a deep breath, clears her head and, as she put it, takes “one huge rip at the ball.”





Top Stories