CLEVELAND — Cleveland native, Dalayna Hewitt, is currently one of the city’s top-ranked women's tennis players and she’s beating her own odds.
Hewitt competed in the Women’s Tennis Association’s “Tennis in the Land” tournament with two of three singles matchwins. Hewitt fell short in doubles play with a one-to-two final. Yet, she maintains a 410 ranking.
“This was probably my biggest tournament that I’ve played so far…I had my mom there, my dad there, my brother there,” said Hewitt. “I was just like wow I’m really here. Like I was just really happy to be out there.”
Hewitt admitted she never imagined she’d be competing on a stadium court amongst some of the highest-ranked players. The 21-year-old grew up not knowing she’d fall in love with the sport.
“My neighbor got me into it…I didn’t like it first but the tennis pro that we were working with said I was naturally good at it,” Hewitt said. “I was more of a basketball girl because my family is full of basketball players.”
Now 10 years later, tennis is embedded in who she is; an athlete and a woman of color advocating for equality and systematic justice, while also making sacrifices to do what she loves. Back in 2020, at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, Hewitt found herself without the joy brought on by playing.
“COVID hit and I kind of went from training full-time [and] playing tournaments, to taking a little bit of time off of tennis and working 6 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. in the warehouse three or four days a week,” Hewitt said.
Hewitt, who has always funded her own career apart from past sponsorships, found herself back home and in need of more work when “they canceled fully the International Tennis Federation (ITF) circuit, and they weren’t going to start up.” Her search for financial stability landed her at the Amazon warehouse where she was employed for nearly two years and was forced to stop training.
“I kind of took a good two months off because I couldn’t keep going back and forth,” she said. “
“I had to do extra training just to get back and I’m still on my way.”
Hewitt says while working she was adamant about saving up money for when she could return to the court. She says the professional circuit can be lonely, with her family unable to take off time from work to travel, but also expensive.
“You have to pay for flights there and back. You have to pay for the hotel the whole time you’re there. You have to pay for meals sometimes. You have to pay for the balls that you practice with.”
Hewitt added it also costs to travel with her coach, which leads to her navigating some matches with coaching from afar. Most of her match earnings and contributions from her family are put towards those expenses.
Despite the grind and sacrifices, Hewitt says “in the long run I think it helped because it made me realize that I wanted it more.” As she works to perfect her craft, Hewitt is determined to continue climbing the rankings and make her mark.
“There’s only a couple of pros that came out of Cleveland so you gotta represent,” she said.”
In the meantime, she’s set on making her younger self proud along with the many other girls that will come after her.
“You have to try to enjoy yourself out there because it does get lonely, so you just have to try to have as much fun as possible,” she said. “To be here now is for sure worth it.”
Hewitt is set to compete next in California.
